The most closely watched games of Wednesday night, by far, will feature the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers, because their games will determine the winner of the race for the Western Conference's final playoff spot . But there are still a handful of other pieces to the playoff-positioning puzzle that will be put into place on Wednesday, too. Here's what's still up for grabs, playoffs-wise, heading into the mammoth 15-game, all-30-teams-in-action, season-ending NBA slate: EASTERN CONFERENCE • Whether the Atlanta Hawks or Chicago Bulls will finish in fifth and sixth place. After Atlanta's 113-96 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night, the Hawks and Bulls both enter the final day of the season at 44-37. Chicago holds the head-to-head tiebreaker after winning two of its three meetings with Atlanta this season. If Atlanta wins its regular-season-ender against the New York Knicks and Chicago loses its Wednesday home finale against the Washington Wizards, the Hawks will be the No. 5 seed and face the Brooklyn Nets in the opening round of the playoffs, while the Bulls will finish sixth and head to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to take on the Indiana Pacers. If Atlanta wins, but Chicago beats Washington, the Bulls will take the fifth spot and the matchup with Brooklyn, due to that head-to-head tiebreaker. If the Hawks lose, the Bulls finish fifth no matter what they do on Wednesday, and Larry Drew's squad will face the Pacers. (Given the reserve-heavy, regulars-resting approach the Hawks took against the Raptors on national television on Tuesday, one suspects this doesn't bother Atlanta too much ... which seems odd to me, but that's a story for another time.)
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