5 biggest games remaining on the NBA schedule

There are a total of two playoff spots up for grabs heading into the final few days of the NBA regular season. Both are in the Western Conference.

Whoever comes out on top there will dictate who the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs go up against in the first round.

Making it more interesting, none of the final four seeds are decided in terms of positioning. With the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz set to do battle in Salt Lake on Monday, something could come close to being decided on that front.

Back east, all playoff spots have been clinched. Though, only one game separates the third and fifth seeds. The common denominator here is a Boston Celtics squad that will take on both the Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets to end the regular season.

These are the five biggest games remaining on the NBA schedule heading into the final three days of the regular season.

1. Dallas Mavericks at Utah Jazz (Monday, 9:00 p.m. ET) 

There’s a heck of a lot going on here. Dallas currently holds the seventh seed out west, one game ahead of the eighth-seeded Jazz. The Houston Rockets are just one game behind Utah for the final playoff spot.

Coming off a seven-point loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday, Dallas still hasn’t clinched a playoff spot. If it were to lose its final two games (Utah and San Antonio) with Houston winning its final two games (Lakers and Sacramento), the Mavericks would be on the outside looking in.

Of course, that’s dependent on Utah defeating Dallas on Monday and coming out on top against the Lakers in its season finale.

Simply put, whoever wins this titanic matchup Monday evening will have the upper hand for one of the final two playoff spots. More than that, and depending on what happens with Houston, the winner could very well avoid Golden State in the first round.

For Dallas, the final week could also give it the ability to avoid both Golden State and San Antonio in the first round. It’s just one game behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the sixth seed.

With Memphis having to take on the Clippers and Warriors in their final two games, there’s a decent chance Dallas can earn the sixth seed should it win out. Then again, the team could miss out on postseason basketball altogether.

The last time these two teams met was in early February in Dallas. That game saw the Jazz come out on top by two points in overtime. Gordon Hayward and Rodney Hood combined for 49 points and 15 boards in the win. Meanwhile, Chandler Parsons paced Dallas with 24 points.

2. Miami Heat at Boston Celtics (Wednesday, 8:00 p.m. ET) 

It sure looks like these two teams stand a good chance of meeting in the first round. Tied for the fourth seed back east heading into the final two games of the regular season, Wednesday’s matchup could be absolutely huge.

There’s a decent chance the winner will earn home-court advantage in the potential first-round series.

With a 2-0 record against Miami this season, Boston holds the tiebreaker. This means a win on Monday would clinch a higher seed than the Heat.

We then have the Charlotte Hornets (more on them later), who are just one game behind these two teams. This means the loser here could very well drop to the sixth seed.

On the other hand, the Heat wouldn’t only need a win here. They would need to take out Detroit the day before and see the Celtics fall to Charlotte on Monday.

Here’s the bottom line. Should Boston come out on top over the Hornets early in the week and the Heat take out Detroit, the winner of this season finale on Wednesday would be guaranteed a top-four seed.

Even more interestingly, the Atlanta Hawks are just one game above each of these two squads for the third seed. Should one of them win out with Atlanta losing out, the third seed would be right there for the taking.

Both of Boston’s two wins against the Heat this season have come by double digits. Each game saw six different Celtics players hit double-digits. Meanwhile, Heat big man Hassan Whiteside averaged less than 10 points in these two outings.

3. Atlanta Hawks at Cleveland Cavaliers (Monday, 7:00 p.m. ET)

Rather simple equation here for Cleveland. If it beats Atlanta on Monday, the team will be the top seed back east.

In fact, the only way LeBron James and Co. can’t earn home-court advantage throughout the playoffs is by losing its final two and seeing the Toronto Raptors win out. That’s a highly unlikely scenario, especially considering Cleveland’s season finale comes at home against Detroit.

The larger question here is where Atlanta might be seeded. It’s currently the a top-three seed and would be taking on the Hornets in the first round. If the Hawks win out, they can finish no lower than that third seed.

Interestingly, there’s a scenario in play here that would push Atlanta down to the fourth seed. That would include it losing out with the Miami Heat winning one of their final two games. If the Hawks were to lose one game, Miami could earn the third seed by winning out.

Needless to say, the Hawks don’t want to be put in a position where they might have to take on Cleveland in the conference semifinals. That’s what is at stake for the team heading into the final two games of the regular season.

4. Charlotte Hornets at Boston Celtics (Monday, 7:30 p.m. ET)

Currently the sixth seed, there’s a scenario in play here that could push Charlotte to a top-five spot. This would include the Hornets winning out with either Boston or Miami losing out.

With an opportunity to make half of that scenario come true on Monday, the Hornets would like nothing more than to be able to scoreboard watch come Wednesday. Not only would this entail handing Boston a loss, it would require a win over Orlando on the final day of the season and a Celtics loss to the Heat.

In two- and three-way ties for seeding, Charlotte falls short against both Boston and Miami. Meanwhile, as mentioned above, the Celtics hold the tiebreaker over Miami. They can earn the fourth seed by winning out.

They can also earn the third seed by winning these remaining two games and seeing the Hawks fall flat in their final two regular season outings.

5. Memphis Grizzlies at Golden State Warriors (Wednesday, 10:30 p.m. ET)

By defeating the Spurs for the first time in 34 attempts in San Antonio, Golden State has now tied the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls for the most wins in a single season. A win Wednesday night in Oakland and the defending champs will be all by themselves with a 73-9 regular season record.

There’s very little chance that Steve Kerr decides to rest any of his star players in this one. And with the Grizzlies still battling for seeding, Dave Joerger is going to go all in here.

Memphis can still earn a top-five seed out west. There’s also a chance it could finish as the eighth seed by losing out, which would force the team to go up against Golden State in the first round.