It's playoff time in the NBA — here are some Canadians to watch

This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.

The NBA post-season tips off tonight with the first set of play-in games for teams hoping to crack the 16-team bracket. Here's a look at the top Canadians who have already qualified for the main tournament:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder): The marvelous 26-year-old guard is favoured to become the first Canadian to win the NBA MVP award since Steve Nash in 2005 and 2006 after leading OKC (68-14) to the best record in the league. SGA led the NBA in scoring with 32.7 points per game (more than a bucket better than runner-up Giannis Antetokounmpo) and ranked second in Player Efficiency Rating to Denver's Nikola Jokic, who some believe ought to win his fourth MVP in five years after he averaged a triple double. But Jokic's porous Nuggets finished a disappointing fourth in the Western Conference after firing their coach and GM with a week left in the season, while Gilgeous-Alexander pairs his efficient scoring with valuable work at the other end for the league's (by far) top defensive team.

Lu Dort (Oklahoma City Thunder): Speaking of valuable defensive players for the Thunder, Dort is one of the premier perimeter defenders in the league, using his tenacity and solid frame to harass the opposition's star ball-handlers. Guarding the other team's best player is a draining job, and so Dort is averaging only 10.1 points per game. But his willingness to do the dirty work epitomizes the Thunder's exceptional team spirit. OKC awaits the winner of the play-in game for the eighth seed in the West.

Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets): The talented but oft-injured guard was a huge disappointment for Canada at last summer's Olympics, plodding through the group stage before eking out just seven points on an atrocious 3-for-13 shooting (with no free-throw attempts) in an upset loss to France in the quarterfinals. Murray's awful performance that night wasted 27 points from Gilgeous-Alexander, and now he's helping Denver squander the best statistical season of Jokic's career. Though he's second on the team in scoring with 21.4 points per game, Murray's shooting efficiency is down and he was sidelined 15 times, bringing his total of missed games to 38 over the last two seasons. The Nuggets will see another star with a lengthy medical chart in the first round when they face Kawhi Leonard and the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers.

Dillon Brooks (Houston Rockets): The feisty starting forward helped Houston to a surprising second-place finish in the West after they placed 11th last year to miss the playoffs for the fourth straight time. Brooks (14 points per game) and former Toronto Raptor Fred VanVleet (14.1) are among seven players averaging at least a dozen points for head coach Ime Udoka, who's turned the Rockets into one of the better defensive teams in the league after Boston dropped him in 2022 under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Brooks, whose physical play and trash-talking can rub people the wrong way, racked up 18 technical fouls this season — second-most in the league. Houston's first-round opponent will be the winner of tonight's play-in game for the No. 7 seed between Memphis and Golden State.

Bennedict Mathurin (Indiana Pacers): Indy's young sixth man ended up starting a career-high 49 games due to injuries elsewhere on the roster and averaged 16.1 points. That ranked third on the team behind ex-Raptor Pascal Siakam (20.2) and star guard Tyrese Haliburton (18.6), and Mathurin chipped in 5.3 rebounds per game — tops among Pacers guards.

Andrew Nembhard (Indiana Pacers): The third-year point guard started all 65 games he appeared in this season while missing a dozen in November due to a knee issue. With his playing time up, Nembhard is averaging career highs in points (10) and assists (5) for the Pacers, who finished fourth in the Eastern Conference and will face Antetokounmpo's fifth-ranked Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. Giannis' sidekick Damian Lillard is out indefinitely with a calf injury.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Minnesota Timberwolves): Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's cousin averaged 9.4 points in 82 games (all but 10 off the bench) for the T-Wolves, who finished sixth in the Western Conference and will face LeBron James and Luka Doncic's Los Angeles Lakers in one of the most exciting matchups of the first round. Last year, young star Anthony Edwards led Minnesota on a surprising run to the Western Conference final, where they lost to Doncic's Dallas Mavericks, who shockingly traded Luka to the Lakers in February.

How the play-ins and playoffs work:

While the top six finishers in each conference rest up for the first round of the traditional playoffs, the teams that placed seventh through 10th compete in the play-in tournament for the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds over the next few days.

First, the seventh- and eighth-place teams square off, with the winner advancing directly to the playoffs as the No. 7 seed. The loser can still get the No. 8 seed by beating the survivor of the ninth vs. 10th matchup.

Both of the seventh-vs.-eighth games take place tonight. In the East, the Orlando Magic host the Atlanta Hawks for the right to face defending NBA champion Boston in the first round of the playoffs. The more-enticing West matchup sees Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and the Golden State Warriors host controversial Ja Morant's Memphis Grizzlies, with the winner moving on to meet No. 2 seed Houston in the first round.

The ninth-vs.-10th matchups are on Wednesday night. The Chicago Bulls host the Miami Heat in the East, while in the West the post-Luka Dallas Mavericks visit the Sacramento Kings.

The final play-in games for both conferences are on Friday night, with the winners meeting top-seeded Oklahoma City (West) or Cleveland (East) in the best-of-seven first round, which tips off Saturday.

The following first-round matchups are set: in the East, No. 3 New York vs. No. 6 Detroit and No. 4 Indiana vs. No. 5 Milwaukee; in the West, the No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers vs. No. 6 Minnesota and No. 4 Denver vs. the No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers.