One season ago, the Milwaukee Bucks had the worst record in the NBA at 15-67.
They made forward Jabari Parker the second pick in the draft, and he went down in mid-December with a left knee injury. He underwent season-ending surgery in January.
Despite all that, Milwaukee is headed to the playoffs.
With a 96-73 rout of the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, the Bucks (40-40) clinched a spot in the Eastern Conference postseason field.
“It feels great for the guys in the locker room to be able to obtain a goal, which was to reach the playoffs,” first-year Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. “We did that this afternoon.”
The Boston Celtics moved to the verge of joining the Bucks in the playoffs. Boston demolished the second-place Cleveland Cavaliers 117-78 to take sole position of seventh place in the East.
The Nets and Indiana Pacers, a 116-104 winner over the Oklahoma City Thunder, are both one game behind the Celtics, tied for eighth place. Brooklyn owns the tiebreaker with the Pacers by virtue of winning the season series, 2-1.
The lost spot in the Western Conference playoffs is also up for grabs with two games to go. The New Orleans Pelicans and the Oklahoma City Thunder are tied for eighth place at 43-37, but the Pelicans own the tiebreaker thanks to a 3-1 season-series win.
New Orleans lost 121-114 at Houston on Sunday, while Oklahoma City fell 116-114 at Indiana.
The big winner in the West on Sunday was the San Antonio Spurs, who grabbed the Southwest Division lead and moved into second in the conference thanks to a 107-91 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
The Spurs hold a half-game lead on the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies and Houston. Two of those four teams will fail to earn home-court advantage for the first-round of the playoff, as the Pacific Division champion Golden State Warriors are assured of being the No. 1 seed, and the Northwest Division champion Portland Trail Blazers are locked into the No. 4 seed.
On Monday, the Nets play host to the Chicago Bulls, who are tied with the Raptors for third place in the East. Toronto, Boston and Indiana are all idle Monday before playing both Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Clippers (home against the Denver Nuggets), Grizzlies (at the Warriors) and Rockets (home against the Utah Jazz) all could move into a tie with the Spurs if they can win Monday.
If the Pelicans can beat the Spurs and the Thunder fall to the Timberwolves in Minnesota on Monday, New Orleans could clinch a first-round playoff series against Golden State.
NBA PLAYOFF PICTURE THROUGH GAMES OF APRIL 12
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1. *Atlanta Hawks (60-20), Southeast Division champions
2. *Cleveland Cavaliers (51-29), Central Division champions
3. *Toronto Raptors (48-32), Atlantic Division champions
4. *Chicago Bulls (48-32)
5. *Washington Wizards (46-34)
6. *Milwaukee Bucks (40-40)
7. Boston Celtics (38-42)
8. Brooklyn Nets (37-43)
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9. Indiana Pacers (37-43)
10. Miami Heat (35-45)
WESTERN CONFERENCE
1. *Golden State Warriors (65-15), Pacific Division champions
2. *San Antonio Spurs (55-26), Southwest Division leaders
3. *Los Angeles Clippers (54-26)
4. *Portland Trail Blazers (51-29), Northwest Division champions
5. *Memphis Grizzlies (54-26)
6. *Houston Rockets (54-26)
7. *&Dallas Mavericks (48-31)
8. New Orleans Pelicans (43-37)
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9. Oklahoma City Thunder (43-37)
* — clinched playoff berth
& — late game not included