The 2025-26 NBA regular season is officially in the books. With the Play-In Tournament set to begin Tuesday and the first round of the playoffs on Saturday, here’s a look at the matchups and series schedules that we know so far. Before we get to that, let’s take a look back at the final day of the season and suss out the winners and losers in terms of how it all shook out.

Winner: Houston Rockets

Three weeks ago, everyone in the West wanted to play the Rockets in the first round. They looked broken, and the Lakers were firing on all cylinders. Oh, how things have changed. Now the Rockets have nine of 10 heading into the playoffs, and they get the banged-up Lakers in the first round. L.A. is going to be playing without Austin Reaves and likely Luka Dončić for the duration of the series. 

It could have gone another way. Had the Spurs beaten the Nuggets on Sunday, which they had incentive to do (we’ll touch on this below), the Rockets would’ve had to play Denver in the first round. Getting the Lakers sans Doncic and Reaves instead is a gift from the basketball gods. 

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Loser: New York Knicks

This is by no means the Knicks fault, but they would’ve rather played the Raptors in the first round. Instead, they’ll get the Hawks, who lost to Miami on Sunday to fall to No. 6 in the East bracket. Atlanta is one of the hottest teams in the league. Trae Young isn’t around anymore, but the 2021 series isn’t forgotten. Since the All-Star break, the Hawks are making 15 3-pointers per game, fifth most in the league, while the Knicks are bottom-10 in 3-point defense. It will be a major factor in this series, which I expect the Knicks to win, but it may not be nearly as easy as you would like a first-round series to be. 

Winner: Cleveland Cavaliers

If the Knicks are losers for having to face the Hawks in the first round, then it stands to reason that the Cavs are winners for not having to. Instead, the Cavs get Toronto (no disrespect, but the Raptors are the weakest playoff team in the East) while also ending up on the opposite side of the bracket from the Celtics, the best team in the East with Jayson Tatum back and trending up every game. So now, if seeds hold, New York and Boston have to play each other in the second round while Cleveland is looking at Toronto-Detroit in the first two rounds. Detroit is no cakewalk, but that’s a cleaner path to the conference finals.

Loser: San Antonio Spurs

After Victor Wembanyama played on Friday night, I really thought the Spurs would go the extra mile and play him again against Denver in the season finale. There was a lot at stake. Had San Antonio beaten the Nuggets, Denver would’ve fallen to No. 4 in the West, which would’ve meant a second-round series vs. OKC if chalk is to hold. For the Spurs, forcing OKC and Denver to battle it out and only have to potentially play one of them in the playoffs would’ve been a big deal. Instead, the Spurs sat Wemby, lost to Denver, and now are likely going to have to defeat Denver and OKC in consecutive rounds in order to make the Finals. 

Winner: Portland Trail Blazers

The Blazers headed into Sunday needing a win over the Kings to secure the No. 8 seed, and they got it. This isn’t going to register on the national radar — a barely-.500 team making the Play-In Tournament. Who cares, right? Well, No. 8 is a lot different than No. 9. It means the Blazers, instead of having to win two straight play-in games, now have two chances to win one to get into the playoffs. 

The Blazers almost certainly won’t get out of the first round if they make the playoffs, but it’s important for a team building through a young core to get some payoff for a positive season and feel the heat of the playoffs first-hand. They still have to beat the Suns, or if they lose that one, the Warriors or Clippers to get there, but again, two shots is better than one and they gave themselves that with the win on Sunday. 

Winner: Milwaukee Bucks

Doc Rivers is reportedly out as Milwaukee’s coach, which doesn’t necessarily mean Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to stay but it can’t hurt with the sales pitch. Giannis has already taken thinly veiled shots at Rivers by way of publicly admiring Joe Mazzulla’s no-excuse approach, and it feels fair to say that had Milwaukee been tone deaf enough to run it back with Rivers next season, it would’ve been very hard to sell Giannis on the idea that things are going to turn around with the same old leadership. Chances are the Giannis era is over anyway. But this is at least a step in the direction of growth. 

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Loser: Orlando Magic

This has not been Orlando’s season, but, coming into Sunday, they still had a chance at a guaranteed playoff berth with a win over the Celtics. True, they also needed Toronto to lose to Brooklyn, which was a super long shot and ultimately didn’t happen, but Orlando, playing at full strength, wasn’t even able to hold up its end of the bargain in losing to a Celtics team that basically ran out a G-League squad. 

Even with the Toronto win, the Magic could’ve secured the No. 7 seed with a win of their own, which, in the play-in era, has been as good as a guaranteed playoff spot. All No. 7 seeds have made the playoffs in the Play-In Tournament era. But now the Magic fall to No. 8 and have to play the 76ers on the road. If they lose that, there’s a good chance they face the Hornets, who have been one of the best teams in the league for some time, in a do-or-die play-in game. 

NEW DELHI: Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder Tim David left the umpire slightly annoyed with a playful act during their IPL 2026 clash against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

The incident unfolded in the 18th over of the RCB innings when David smashed a towering six off Hardik Pandya over deep mid-wicket. The strike was so powerful that it altered the shape of the ball, which had also become wet, forcing the umpires to call for a replacement.

As the box of used balls was brought out, David picked one up and began casually playing with it. Despite repeated requests from the umpire to hand it back, the Australian continued to toy with the ball for a few moments, leaving the official visibly miffed. After a brief delay, David finally returned the ball, bringing a smile back to the situation.

The SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) will lock horns with the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 21st match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad will host the game on Monday, April 13.

The Riyan Parag-led side have made a terrific start to the IPL 2026 season, winning all their first four matches. They successfully chased 202 against Royal Challengers Benglauru (RCB) in their last game, winning the match six wickets with 12 balls to spare. The top three – Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel have looked solid this season.

On the other hand, SRH will look to avoid a hat-trick of losses after defeat to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Punjab Kings (PBKS). Having said that, they posted 219 against Punjab in their last game. Abhishek Sharma top-scored with 74 off 28 balls.

Here are three batters who are likely to score big in SRH vs RR IPL 2026 match:

Travis Head

Travis Head enjoys a terrific record against RR in IPL. The Aussie opener has amassed 159 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 154.37, including two half-centuries. Last year, he smashed 67 runs off 31 balls against the Royals. With 102 runs in four innings, Head has made a firm start to IPL 2026. After scoring 46 (21) and 38 (23) against KKR and PBKS, he’ll now look to convert his starts into a big score. In the IPL, the 32-year-old has scored 1248 runs in 42 matches at a strike rate of 169.79, including a century and eight fifties. Overall, he has 4654 runs in 178 T20s, hitting two tons and 27 half-centuries.

Ishan Kishan

Like Travis Head, SRH captain Ishan Kishan enjoys a promising record against the Royals in IPL. The southpaw has 392 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 147.37, including three half-centuries and one hundred. In his last innings, he smashed an unbeaten 106 off 47 deliveries at a strike rate of 225.53, including six maximums and 11 boundaries at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. In the IPL, the wicketkeeper-batter has 3120 runs in 116 innings with the help of the aforementioned ton and 18 fifties. In his first four outings, he’s managed 122 runs in four innings at a stunning strike rate of 179.41, including 80 off 38 deliveries against RCB. Overall, in T20s, he has 6441 runs in 233 games, comprising seven centuries and 36 fifties. On his day, he can disrupt any team in the world.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has dominated bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood in IPL 2026. The 15-year-old has already scored 200 runs in four innings at a stunning strike rate of 266.67, including two half-centuries. Notably, he slammed a quickfire 78 off 26 balls against RCB in the last game. The youngster will now look to continue his carnage against SRH, who failed to defend 219 in their previous game against PBKS.

In the IPL, Sooryavanshi has scored 452 runs in 11 innings at a strike rate of 229.44, including one century and three fifties. Overall, in T20s, he has 901 runs in 22 games, hitting three centuries and as many fifties. Despite scoring 52 (17) and 78 (26) against CSK and RCB, he looked disappointed after failing to convert his starts into a century.