Now the Cleveland Cavaliers have to wait.
They lost a meaningless final game in double overtime to the Indiana Pacers and finished the regular season with 64 wins, tied for the second-most in franchise history. They are the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, set to play the 8th and "worst" playoff team in the East.
The problem is, they don't know who that will be.
The Boston Celtics are in a similar position, but they will have the mystery solved Tuesday night. The winner of the Play-In Tournament Game between the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks will advance to play the Celtics. They will know before going to bed on Tuesday.
The Cavaliers, however, will not find out their opponent until Friday night, when the loser to the 7-8 game between the Magic and Hawks plays the winner of the 9-10 game between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat. That will likely give them less than 48 hours of time to prepare for their opponent.
On the surface they remain the No. 1 seed and will be an overwhelming favorite no matter who they face, but a lack of time to prepare could make defending the opposing team's star player all the more difficult. And while the Cavaliers should expect to win, they can't take anything for granted, not in a league this packed with star talent.
The preparation therefore begins now, laying the groundwork for whichever star emerges from the Play-In Tournament. Who could those stars be? Let's look at three that the Cavs could face - and who they need to have a solid plan to stop.
No. 3: Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat
The Cleveland Cavaliers have a rocky history against the Miami Heat, even if they haven't faced them in a playoff series in recent vintage. South Beach remains an uncomfortable place for the Cavs to play, and it wasn't until this season that they finally picked up a win in Miami, ending a years-long streak.
The Heat may be the 10th and lowest seed in the Play-In Tournament, but they still have multiple players who remember what it takes to win in the playoffs, headlined by Bam Adebayo. One of the best defensive players in the league, Adebayo remains on the short list of those who can match up with Evan Mobley and effectively shut him down.
On offense, Adebayo is the Robin to Tyler Herro's Batman, but he is a dangerous foe who will stretch the Cavaliers' defense with his versatile offensive game. He has added a 3-point shot, hitting 35.7 percent of his 2.8 attempts per game; Adebayo had 104 3-point attempts in his seven-year career before this season, and got up 221 this year.
With the Heat playing big most of the time with Kel'el Ware starting at center and Bam at power forward, the Cavs will need to stay big themselves to keep Adebayo off the glass and from barreling through smaller forwards like Dean Wade and De'Andre Hunter.
No. 2: Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
The mercurial point guard of the Atlanta Hawks remains one of the league's more overrated players, rightly maligned for his defensive shortcomings but often praised for his raw box score numbers without an understanding of his poor efficiency. He is a middling 3-point shooter who merely takes a lot of shots. On the surface, the Cavaliers don't need to be afraid of "Ice" Trae.
The danger with Young is his passing, and it's a danger that the Cavaliers have run headlong into this season. Young led the Hawks against the Cavaliers three times this season, defeating them twice. In a 135-124 win over the Cavs in November, Young had 20 points and a whopping 22 assists! In three games he averaged 14.3 assists per game.
Young will have less help with multiple key Hawks players injured and out for the season. If he finds his rhythm, however, and the Cavaliers do not stay home on shooters and overreact to his penetration off the pick-and-roll, his one truly great skill -- his passing -- could burn them.
No. 1: Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic
The secret of the Orlando Magic that no one wants to tell you is that Franz Wagner is actually the Magic's best player -- he is a more versatile player, he is more efficient, and he is a more consistent defender.
Yet the highest heights for a Magic star continue to be reached by Paolo Banchero; if the Cavs prove vulnerable to a first-round upset, it will be because Banchero finds his groove and plays at his ceiling. That ceiling is explosive and quite dangerous.
Banchero broke the 40-point mark four times in 46 games this seaso, including 50 points against the Indiana Pacers in the greatest game of his career. Yet he also found his groove against the Cavaliers, including dropping 24 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in the Magic's win in Cleveland last month.
If the Cavs are at full strength, they have the interior defenders to smother Banchero. Yet he does possess that ineffable quality to get hot and torch a team, making him the most dangerous star the Cavaliers may have to face in the first round.