NBA

How the NBA playoff races currently shake out

A look at where things stand in the NBA playoff picture, with seven days remaining in the regular season:

East update

Frank Vogel had a good Wednesday.

Indiana’s coach gave his starters a day off, watched his backups beat Milwaukee, and climbed back atop the Eastern Conference standings.

Ex-Knick Chris Copeland scored a season-high 18 points and made a difficult driving layup with 1.2 seconds remaining, giving the Pacers a hard-fought 104-102 win.

“It’s big for our confidence, the second unit,” said Copeland, who came in averaging three points. “Just to get the opportunity out there. A lot of us have been waiting for that all year. So it was very cool for us to get out there and get a win and show the starters that we’ve got their backs when they need rest.”

Next stop: Miami, which lost at Memphis (despite 37 points from LeBron James) and is now a half-game behind the Pacers. The East rivals play Friday night in Miami with the winner getting the inside track to the No. 1 seed on that side of the bracket.

Toronto and Chicago stayed tied in the race for No. 3 with victories, Charlotte passed Washington for No. 6 by topping the Wizards in overtime, and Cleveland was eliminated by Atlanta’s win over Boston.

In the five boroughs:

The Nets essentially locked themselves into No. 5 with their loss at Orlando.

The Knicks’ chances got bleaker when the Hawks won, bringing the tragic number down to 2.

West update

Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Clippers will almost certainly enter the playoffs seeded No. 2 and No. 3 in some order, meaning they’ll be on track to meet each other in the Western Conference semifinals. And the way those clubs went at each other Wednesday night served as a reminder that such a series could be outstanding.

The race for No. 4 got tighter, with Portland within 1½ games of Houston. The Trail Blazers held on at the buzzer to beat Sacramento, while the Rockets lost to Denver. Memphis bolstered its hopes of getting into the playoffs by beating short-handed Miami, but the Grizzlies are still ninth out West — Phoenix remains a game up in the race for No. 8, thanks to its win over New Orleans.

Thursday’s games

San Antonio at Dallas: Spurs on brink of wrapping up No. 1 seed throughout NBA playoffs. Mavs still need to clinch their playoff ticket.

Denver at Golden State: Warriors scored a season-high 130 points on Sunday. Nuggets are no defensive juggernaut. Big chance for Golden State.

Current bracket

First-round matchups if the season ended Wednesday …

East: (1) Indiana vs. (8) Atlanta, (2) Miami vs. (7) Washington, (3) Toronto vs. (6) Charlotte, (4) Chicago vs. (5) Brooklyn

West: (1) San Antonio vs. (8) Phoenix, (2) Oklahoma City vs. (7) Dallas, (3) Clippers vs. (6) Golden State, (4) Houston vs. (5) Portland