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NBA wraps up regular season Sunday with much already settled

AP photo by Chris Szagola / Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, left, works toward the basket against the Miami Heat's Kyle Lowry, right, and Haywood Highsmith, center, on Thursday in Philadelphia. Embiid is set to repeat as the NBA's scoring champion with the regular season wrapping up Sunday.
AP photo by Chris Szagola / Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, left, works toward the basket against the Miami Heat's Kyle Lowry, right, and Haywood Highsmith, center, on Thursday in Philadelphia. Embiid is set to repeat as the NBA's scoring champion with the regular season wrapping up Sunday. AP photo by Chris Szagola / Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, left, works toward the basket against the Miami Heat's Kyle Lowry, right, and Haywood Highsmith, center, on Thursday in Philadelphia. Embiid is set to repeat as the NBA's scoring champion with the regular season wrapping up Sunday.

By TIM REYNOLDS / The Associated Press 5 min read

As the NBA wraps up the regular season Sunday, the drama may be somewhat limited.

The Eastern Conference play-in tournament matchups are already set, as are the top four playoff seeds in the Western Conference.

Also apparently decided: the league’s scoring race.

The Brooklyn Nets clinched the No. 6 seed in the East on Friday night, which locked the Miami Heat into No. 7 in the standings — and with it, the play-in tournament. Brooklyn will play the Philadelphia 76ers in the opening round of the playoffs, meaning the Nets will be up against a player on the brink of repeating as the NBA’s scoring champion.

Philadelphia center Joel Embiid — he didn’t play in Friday’s overtime win against the Atlanta Hawks, and there’s no need for him to in the 76ers’ regular-season finale on Sunday, either — will almost certainly finish the season with a per-game average of 33.1 points. Barring something mathematically improbable in the season’s final two days, Embiid will become the 13th player to win back-to-back scoring crowns.