The Houston Rockets will get another shot at Golden State, while the Miami Heat took the hard way to a No. 3 seed.
The Rockets earned the final NBA playoff spot Wednesday night with a 116-81 victory over Sacramento, giving them the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference and officially making Kobe Bryant’s final game nothing more than a ceremony.
Utah would have finished eighth with a Rockets loss and a victory over the Lakers in Los Angeles, but the Rockets won their third in a row to finish 41-41 and earn a first-round matchup against the NBA champions, a year after losing to the Warriors in the Western Conference finals.
The Heat blew a big lead in Boston with a five-point third quarter and lost 98-88, but finished third in the East anyway when Atlanta fell to Washington. The Hawks are the No. 4 seed and will face the No. 5 Celtics, while Charlotte is seeded sixth and opens at Miami.
The other two East series were already determined headed into the last night of the season: Top-seeded Cleveland will face Detroit, while No. 2 Toronto will face seventh-seeded Indiana.