What NBA games are on today, Thursday, 7 April?
With just a handful of games to go in the 2021-22 NBA regular season, the playoff bracket is now becoming clearer as we move towards post season.
The 2021-22 NBA regular season draws to a close on Sunday with the major talking point in this final stretch of the campaign being the LA Lakers failure to miss out on a possible play-in spot as they fell to high flying Phoenix Suns last Tuesday. Their absence will see LeBron James miss the playoffs for only the fourth time in his 19-year career, in which he has played in 10 NBA Finals and won four titles.
With most teams having just two or three games remaining, almost all the post-season places have been secured with just the sixth spot in the West still up for grabs with Denver looking a solid bet to secure the final place, despite Minnesota still mathematically being able to aspire to the spot.
There are seven NBA games on Thursday night with the action getting underway at 7pm (ET).
Thursday’s NBA games:
Celtics @ Bucks: 7:30 pm start (ET)
Fresh from their win in Illinois, the Boston Celtics have been the best defensive team in the NBA this season, and made life miserable for the Chicago Bulls for a 117-94 road win on Wednesday night.
Boston (50-30) have thrived in the second half of the season and look like a serious championship contender as they face last season’s NBA champions with both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on a hot-streak for the Celtics at present as they face the Bucks who currently sit third in the East (79-49).
76ers @ Raptors: 7:30 pm start (ET)
The Scotiabank Arena in Toronto hosts another of tonight’s attractive match-ups as fourth in the East (Philadelphia) face the Raptors in third with both teams eyeing their post-season campaign having sealed play-off places.
Toronto have won two of their three meetings this season and all eyes will be on 76ers Joel Embiid after he moved past Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James into first place in scoring with an average of 30.4 points per game with LeBron on 30.3.
“It’s great, but the win is also great,” Embiid said. “So that’s all I can control. Just go out there and do whatever is needed. You know, at times, like (Tuesday), I started off the game and they doubled hard and tried to make the right plays. Also, my teammates got me a bunch of easy baskets, which got me going.”
Other Thursday NBA games:
Magic @ Hornets: 7pm start (ET)
Spurs @ Timberwolves: 8pm start (ET)
Trail Blazers @ Pelicans: 8pm start (ET)
Grizzlies @ Nuggets: 9pm start (ET)
Lakers @ Warriors: 10pm start (ET)