It's playoff time in the NBA — here are some Canadians to watch

Jesse Campigotto · CBC Sports

· Posted: Apr 15, 2025 4:49 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

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The NBA post-season tips disconnected contiguous with the archetypal acceptable of play-in games for teams hoping to ace the 16-team bracket. Here's a look astatine the apical Canadians who person already qualified for the main tournament:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder): The marvelous 26-year-old defender is favoured to go the archetypal Canadian to triumph the NBA MVP grant since Steve Nash successful 2005 and 2006 aft starring OKC (68-14) to the champion grounds successful the league. SGA led the NBA successful scoring with 32.7 points per crippled (more than a bucket amended than runner-up Giannis Antetokounmpo) and ranked 2nd in Player Efficiency Rating to Denver's Nikola Jokic, who immoderate judge ought to triumph his 4th MVP successful 5 years aft helium averaged a triple double. But Jokic's porous Nuggets finished a disappointing 4th successful the Western Conference aft firing their manager and GM with a week near successful the season, portion Gilgeous-Alexander pairs his businesslike scoring with invaluable enactment astatine the different extremity for the league's (by far) top antiaircraft team.

Lu Dort (Oklahoma City Thunder): Speaking of invaluable antiaircraft players for the Thunder, Dort is 1 of the premier perimeter defenders successful the league, utilizing his tenacity and coagulated framework to harass the opposition's prima ball-handlers. Guarding the different team's champion subordinate is simply a draining job, and truthful Dort is averaging lone 10.1 points per game. But his willingness to bash the soiled enactment epitomizes the Thunder's exceptional squad spirit. OKC awaits the victor of the play-in crippled for the eighth effect successful the West.

Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets): The talented but oft-injured defender was a immense disappointment for Canada astatine past summer's Olympics, plodding done the radical signifier earlier eking retired conscionable 7 points connected an atrocious 3-for-13 shooting (with nary free-throw attempts) successful an upset nonaccomplishment to France successful the quarterfinals. Murray's atrocious show that nighttime wasted 27 points from Gilgeous-Alexander, and present he's helping Denver squander the champion statistical play of Jokic's career. Though he's 2nd connected the squad successful scoring with 21.4 points per game, Murray's shooting ratio is down and helium was sidelined 15 times, bringing his full of missed games to 38 implicit the past 2 seasons. The Nuggets volition spot different prima with a lengthy aesculapian illustration successful the archetypal circular erstwhile they look Kawhi Leonard and the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers.

Dillon Brooks (Houston Rockets): The feisty starting guardant helped Houston to a astonishing second-place decorativeness successful the West aft they placed 11th past twelvemonth to miss the playoffs for the 4th consecutive time. Brooks (14 points per game) and erstwhile Toronto Raptor Fred VanVleet (14.1) are among 7 players averaging astatine slightest a twelve points for caput manager Ime Udoka, who's turned the Rockets into 1 of the amended antiaircraft teams successful the league aft Boston dropped him successful 2022 nether somewhat mysterious circumstances. Brooks, whose carnal play and trash-talking tin hitch radical the incorrect way, racked up 18 method fouls this season — second-most successful the league. Houston's first-round hostile volition beryllium the victor of tonight's play-in crippled for the No. 7 effect betwixt Memphis and Golden State.

Bennedict Mathurin (Indiana Pacers): Indy's young sixth antheral ended up starting a career-high 49 games owed to injuries elsewhere connected the roster and averaged 16.1 points. That ranked 3rd connected the squad down ex-Raptor Pascal Siakam (20.2) and prima defender Tyrese Haliburton (18.6), and Mathurin chipped successful 5.3 rebounds per game — tops among Pacers guards.

Andrew Nembhard (Indiana Pacers): The third-year constituent defender started each 65 games helium appeared successful this play portion missing a twelve successful November owed to a genu issue. With his playing clip up, Nembhard is averaging vocation highs successful points (10) and assists (5) for the Pacers, who finished 4th successful the Eastern Conference and volition look Antetokounmpo's fifth-ranked Milwaukee Bucks successful the archetypal round. Giannis' sidekick Damian Lillard is out indefinitely with a calf injury.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Minnesota Timberwolves): Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's relative averaged 9.4 points successful 82 games (all but 10 disconnected the bench) for the T-Wolves, who finished sixth successful the Western Conference and volition look LeBron James and Luka Doncic's Los Angeles Lakers successful 1 of the astir breathtaking matchups of the archetypal round. Last year, young prima Anthony Edwards led Minnesota connected a astonishing tally to the Western Conference final, wherever they mislaid to Doncic's Dallas Mavericks, who shockingly traded Luka to the Lakers successful February.

How the play-ins and playoffs work:

While the apical six finishers successful each league remainder up for the archetypal circular of the accepted playoffs, the teams that placed seventh done 10th vie successful the play-in tourney for the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds implicit the adjacent fewer days.

First, the seventh- and eighth-place teams quadrate off, with the victor advancing straight to the playoffs arsenic the No. 7 seed. The loser tin inactive get the No. 8 effect by beating the subsister of the ninth vs. 10th matchup.

Both of the seventh-vs.-eighth games instrumentality spot tonight. In the East, the Orlando Magic big the Atlanta Hawks for the close to look defending NBA champion Boston successful the archetypal circular of the playoffs. The more-enticing West matchup sees Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and the Golden State Warriors host controversial Ja Morant's Memphis Grizzlies, with the victor moving connected to conscionable No. 2 effect Houston successful the archetypal round.

The ninth-vs.-10th matchups are connected Wednesday night. The Chicago Bulls big the Miami Heat successful the East, portion successful the West the post-Luka Dallas Mavericks sojourn the Sacramento Kings.

The last play-in games for some conferences are connected Friday night, with the winners gathering top-seeded Oklahoma City (West) oregon Cleveland (East) successful the best-of-seven archetypal round, which tips disconnected Saturday. 

The pursuing first-round matchups are set: successful the East, No. 3 New York vs. No. 6 Detroit and No. 4 Indiana vs. No. 5 Milwaukee; successful the West, the No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers vs. No. 6 Minnesota and No. 4 Denver vs. the No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers.