The slate is wiped clean as 16 teams prepare for NBA championship chase
There are no more back-to-back sets, uneven schedules and excuses. The play-off brackets are set. Everybody's on equal ground. It is time to crown champions.
Let the championship chase begin.
New Orleans and Brooklyn are in. Indiana and Oklahoma City are out. And while San Antonio slipped to sixth in the loaded Western Conference, the defending champions are looking awfully dangerous again.
It feels like the first game of the season. You're excited. There's a renewed energy and a sense of urgency
Forget the 82-game grind of the past six months. There are no more back-to-back sets, uneven schedules and excuses.
The play-off brackets are set. Everybody's on equal ground. It is time to crown champions.
"It's like a new beginning," Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "It feels like the first game of the season. You're excited. There's a renewed energy and a sense of urgency."
It took the final night of the regular season - with more than half the games on the closing docket loaded with intrigue - to clear up the cluttered play-off picture.