The Eastern Conference play-in tournament matchups are set, as are the top four seeds in the Western Conference. Also apparently decided: The NBA’s scoring race. Brooklyn sealed the No. 6 seed in the East on Friday night, which locked Miami into No. 7 and the play-in tournament. The Nets will play Philadelphia in Round 1 of the playoffs — meaning Brooklyn will be up against a soon-to-be two-time scoring champion.
Philadelphia center Joel Embiid — he didn’t play in Friday’s overtime win over Atlanta and there’s no need for him to in the 76ers’ regular-season finale on Sunday, either — will almost certainly finish the season averaging 33.1 points.
The only player who had a realistic chance entering Friday to catch him was Dallas’ Luka Doncic. But he played sparingly Friday, changed into street clothes at halftime of the Mavericks’ loss to Chicago — one that eliminated Dallas from postseason contention and assured Oklahoma City the No. 10 spot in the play-in tournament. Mavs coach Jason Kidd said Doncic won’t play Sunday in the finale against San Antonio, so his season is over.
Doncic played Friday for only the first quarter and the first 35 seconds of the second quarter. He scored 13 points, his average falling to 32.4.
Barring something mathematically improbable in the season’s final two days, Embiid will become the 13th player to win back-to-back scoring crowns — with the most recent name on that list being his 76ers teammate James Harden, who did it with Houston. Embiid won it last year by holding off Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo by 0.7 points per game and is now poised to edge Doncic this year by the same margin.
Portland’s Damian Lillard will finish with an average of 32.2 points per game; Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is currently fourth at 31.4 per game. For him to catch Embiid, assuming Embiid doesn’t play Sunday against Brooklyn, Gilgeous-Alexander would need to play and score 148 points in the Thunder’s regular season finale against Memphis — so it’s probably safe to start engraving the trophy.
