NBA playoff watch, Friday, April 20: Celtics-Hawks battle for homecourt

A look at three Friday night NBA games that will impact the playoff picture:

Boston Celtics at Atlanta Hawks

With the Magic resigned to finishing the season without Dwight Howard, and with the Celtics guaranteed no worse than a No. 4 seed because they won the Atlantic Division, it is looking increasingly likely that the Hawks will finish with the No. 5 seed and play Boston in the opening round of the playoffs. The only remaining drama is whether the series starts at Philips Arena or TD Garden—even though Boston is the No. 4 seed, the team with the better record will get homecourt.

The Hawks are a half-game up on the Celtics, but Boston holds the tiebreaker, which means a win here puts the Celtics in the driver’s seat. Boston has been banged up, though, and sat Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen and Mickael Pietrus on Wednesday. Asked where he stands on making a push for homecourt, coach Doc Rivers said, “If you can get it, it’s great. But health, rest, if I am going to choose, I am clearly going to go with rest and health.”

L.A. Lakers at San Antonio Spurs
Both the Spurs and Lakers have something left to play for. The Lakers are trying to top their L.A. rival Clippers for the Pacific Division edge and the No. 3 seed in the West. The Spurs lead the Thunder by a half-game and are trying to maintain their edge in the race for the top seed in the West—San Antonio has beaten the Thunder two out of three times, and holds the tiebreaker.

This will mark the third meeting between the Spurs and Lakers in the last nine days, with the Lakers winning in San Antonio before the Spurs (winners of 16 of their last 18 games) blew out the Lakers by 21 in L.A. Both of those games were played without Kobe Bryant, who could return from his shin injury to play Friday.

Oklahoma City Thunder at Sacramento Kings
The Thunder should bear in mind what happened the last time they were in Sacramento, in early February—OKC led by seven with just under six minutes to go, but the Kings came roaring back in front of a sold-out arena and, thanks in large part to two 3-pointers by Marcus Thornton, pulled off a 106-101 upset. While the mood has changed in Sacramento, with the Maloofs having backed out of a deal for a new arena, the Thunder need a win to give them a boost in their race with the Spurs for the West’s top seed.