Who will the Dallas Mavericks play in the first round? Here's the latest playoff picture

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks clinched at least the No. 5 seed in their 111-92 win over the Miami Heat..

The next question is: Who will the Mavericks take on in the first round? Dallas has locked up playing the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round. Here is how the standings shake out as of April 12:

NBA Western Conference standings

1. x-Minnesota Timberwolves
2. x-Denver Nuggets
3. x-Oklahoma City Thunder
4. y-LA Clippers
5. y-Dallas Mavericks
6. New Orleans Pelicans
7. Phoenix Suns
8. pb-Sacramento Kings
9. pb-Los Angeles Lakers
10. pb-Golden State Warriors
11. e-Houston
12. e-Utah Jazz
13. e-Memphis Grizzlies
14. e-Portland Trail Blazers
15. e-San Antonio Spurs

• X -- Clinched Playoff Berth
• PB -- Clinched Play-in Berth
• E -- Eliminated From Playoff
• Y -- Clinched Division

Dallas Mavericks playoff opponent

The Dallas Mavericks would take on the LA Clippers in the first round. The only question that remains is who will have homecourt advantage. If Los Angeles wins one of its final two games, they'll lock up the No. 4 seed and get home court against Dallas. However, if Dallas wins out and Los Angeles loses their final two games, the two teams will swap places.

The Clippers won the regular season series, 2-1, but have not faced the new-look Mavs post trade deadline. The final game of the series was a 120-111 loss on Dec. 20, before Dallas traded for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford. Kyrie Irving did not play in the December matchup, either. The Mavericks are no stranger to taking on the Clippers in the playoffs, having faced them in the 2020 and 2021 playoffs. Dallas has not beaten the Clippers in a playoff series (lost in six games in 2020; lost in seven games in 2021).

Sixteen teams will qualify for the NBA Playoffs – eight from the Western Conference and eight from the Eastern Conference. The top six teams from each side will automatically qualify. Seeds No. 7 through No. 10 will compete in the NBA Play-In tournament for the final two spots. The No. 7 seeds and No. 8 seeds will play each other, with the winner slotting into the No. 7 spot in their respective conferences. The No. 9 seeds and No. 10 seeds will play each other, with the loser being eliminated and the winner taking on the loser of their conference's 7-8 matchup. The winner of this game will be slotted into each conference's No. 8 seed in the playoffs.

With all sixteen teams determined, the first round will pit the following seeds against each other in a seven-game series:

• No. 1 vs. No. 8
• No. 2 vs. No. 7
• No. 3 vs. No. 6
• No. 4 vs. No. 5

Conference semifinals 

• No. 1/8 vs. No. 4/5
• No. 2/7 vs. No. 3/6

Conference finals

• No. 1/4/5/8 vs. No. 2/3/6/7

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