Eastern Conference Playoff Seeding

9:38pm: The Heat have beaten the Raptors, meaning we know the playoff pairings and seeds for the Eastern Conference.

• Raptors (No. 1) vs. Wizards (No. 8)
• Celtics (No. 2) vs. Bucks (No. 7)
• Sixers (No. 3) vs. Heat (No. 6)
• Cavaliers (No. 4) vs. Pacers (No. 5)

9:32pm: The Magic have beaten the Wizards.  We now know the following.

• The Wizards are the No. 8 seed, which means the only seeds still up for grabs are the 6 and 7 seeds.
• If MIA wins, they are the No. 6 seed and MIL is No. 7.
• If TOR wins, MIL is the No. 6 seed and MIA is No. 7.

9:05pm: Philadelphia now leads Milwaukee by 34 points with less than eight minutes remaining. Safe to say, the Sixers aren’t losing this game. As such, we now know the following.

• The Sixers are the No. 3 seed.
• The Cavaliers are the No. 4 seed.
• The Heat will be the No. 6 seed with a win over the Raptors.

8:18pm: At halftime of both games, the Knicks lead the Cavs by 20 and the Sixers lead the Bucks by an all-but insurmountable 36 points. Barring an epic turnaround, the Sixers will be the No. 3 seed and the Cavs will be the No. 4 seed.

6:07pm: While not as undecided as the Western Conference, the Eastern Conference still has some seeding implications in tonight’s games as well. Like the top two seeds in the West, both the Raptors and Celtics are locked in to the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the East, respectively.

Likewise, the Pacers will be the No. 5 seed regardless of tonight’s results. However, seeds three, four, and six through eight are still up in the air, as follows:

Sixers: 3 or 4

Cavaliers: 3 or 4

Bucks: 6, 7, or 8

Heat: 6, 7, or 8

Wizards: 6, 7, or 8

As we did for the Western Conference, here are some initial notes that are not conditional upon other game results:

• The Sixers will be the No. 3 seed with a win over the Bucks.
• The Cavs will be the No. 4 seed with a loss to the Knicks.
• The Bucks will be the No. 6 seed with a win over the Sixers.
• The Wizards will be the No. 8 seed with a loss to the Magic.

We will be updating the Eastern Conference playoff seeding scenarios as the night goes on, so stay with us throughout the evening. The playoff seeding should be set by the time we sign off.