The final night of the NBA regular season is always a wild one. Playoff seeds are determined, retirees receive their farewells and players you've never heard of put up ungodly stat lines. Can't it be like this every night?
Wednesday night was no exception, as the highlights of the night ranged from sentimental to just plain mental. Here's a recap of all of the craziness that went down on the final night of the 2018-19 regular season.
Playoff matchups set ... with some drama
It wasn't quite as exciting as last season's winner-take-all game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets, but the game between those same two teams on Wednesday provided the night's most dramatic moments. Denver was on the cusp of a home loss to the Wolves, which would have dropped the Nuggets to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and earned them a first-round matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder -- which also would have put the Rockets in the No. 2 seed.
Instead Denver launched a late comeback to secure the No. 2 seed, and the Trail Blazers miraculously overcame a 28-point deficit to beat the Kings by playing only six players -- most of which had played only minuscule minutes this season. That victory gave the Blazers the No. 3 seed and the Rockets No. 4. Here are the complete first-round playoff matchups:
Eastern Conference
- No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks vs. No. 8 Detroit Pistons
- No. 2 Toronto Raptors vs. No. 7 Orlando Magic
- No. 3 Philadelphia 76ers vs. No. 6 Brooklyn Nets
- No. 4 Boston Celtics vs. No. 5 Indiana Pacers
Western Conference
- No. 1 Golden State Warriors vs. No. 8 Los Angeles Clippers
- No. 2 Denver Nuggets vs. No. 7 San Antonio Spurs
- No. 3 Portland Trail Blazers vs. No. 6 Oklahoma City Thunder
- No. 4 Houston Rockets vs. No. 5 Utah Jazz
Houston, we have a problem
In mere minutes, the Rockets went from a possible No. 2 seed to No. 4, which means they'll now face a tough Utah Jazz team in the first round and, should they survive that, will now likely face the Warriors in the second round, rather than in a Western Conference finals rematch. Houston finished the season playing well, but wins by the Nuggets and Blazers on Wednesday made their playoff path much more difficult to navigate.
The banana boat crew is back!
There was a bit of mystery and intrigue leading up to the game, but you knew the Banana Boat would be in full force for Dwyane Wade's last NBA game. LeBron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony made their way to Barclays Center to watch their buddy mess around and get his fifth career triple-double (25 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists) in his finale. To cap off the night, Wade chose Melo for his final jersey swap of the season.
Dirk with the waterworks
Excuse me, I've just got something in both my eyes. Dirk Nowitzki finished his career by putting up 20 points and 10 rebounds in a loss to the Spurs, and got understandably teary-eyed when they played his final tribute video on the AT&T Center jumbotron.
He was misty once again when he delivered his final postgame interview, discussing his upcoming plans now that he doesn't have basketball to worry about.
"My family's here for a couple more days, friends from all over the world. I'm gonna enjoy that, and it'll probably start slowing down by next week," Nowitzki said. "Get up in the morning, take the kids to school, pick them up, in-between a lot of laying around and just letting go a little bit."
Grayson Allen drops 40 -- yes, that Grayson Allen
Despite building quite the reputation at Duke, we had seen very little of Jazz guard Grayson Allen in his rookie NBA season -- but he announced his presence with authority on the regular season's final night. Allen scored a career-high 40 points (including 13-of-14 free throws) to go along with seven rebounds and four assists in Utah's overtime loss to the Clippers. He might not play much in the postseason, but, as Jeff Van Gundy said on the broadcast: It's really hard to score 40 points in an NBA game. We might be hearing from Mr. Allen in the future.
Little-known players have big nights
The last couple nights of the NBA season remind you just how good each and every NBA player is at basketball. Even the guys who spend most of their time in the G League or on an NBA bench would dominate your local pickup games, and quite a few of them took advantage of their extra playing time on Wednesday. Here's a look at some players who might not be household names but put up big stat lines:
- Anfernee Simons, Portland Trail Blazers: 37 points, nine assists, six rebounds
- Jevon Carter, Memphis Grizzlies: 32 points, four rebounds, two assists
- Tim Frazier, Milwaukee Bucks: 29 points, 13 assists, six rebounds
- Skal Labissiere, Portland Trail Blazers: 29 points, 15 rebounds, two steals, one block
- TJ Leaf, Indiana Pacers: 28 points, 10 rebounds, two steals, two blocks
- Luke Kennard, Detroit Pistons: 27 points, five rebounds
- Georges Niang, Utah Jazz: 24 points, six rebounds, three assists
- Bruno Caboclo, Memphis Grizzlies: 21 points, four rebounds, two assists
- Bonzie Colson, Milwaukee Bucks: 21 points, 10 rebounds, three steals
- Walter Lemon Jr., Chicago Bulls: 20 points, six rebounds, four assists
- Cameron Reynolds, Minnesota Timberwolves: 19 points, six rebounds
- D.J. Wilson, Milwaukee Bucks: 18 points, 17 rebounds, four assists
- Zhaire Smith, Philadelphia 76ers: 17 points, five assists, four rebounds
- Duncan Robinson, Miami Heat: 15 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals
- Kadeem Allen, New York Knicks: 13 points, eight assists, five rebounds, two steals