The NBA made some history this afternoon with its first-ever play-in series, and the results could help make it a permanent part of the league’s postseason.
The Trail Blazers rallied from an eight-point fourth quarter deficit to edge the Grizzlies and claim the West’s final playoff spot. Because Portland held the eighth seed, it only took one victory to advance, while Memphis would have needed to win two in a row.
“I was thinking I don’t want to play again tomorrow,” Portland’s CJ McCollum, who is dealing with a back injury, said in an ESPN interview. “We had to get this done tonight, [and] make sure we came in and finished them off. We’re thankful to be in a position to be able to make the playoffs, and we didn’t want to squander an opportunity.”
Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday he hopes the play-in series will become an annual event, and it seems many fans and reporters agree. Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News called on the league to replace its “outdated” tie-breaker system that is based on head-to-head records, along with division and conference results.
The set-up used in Orlando called for a play-in series as long as the eighth and ninth seeds were within four games of each other. Winfield believes that’s too much of a margin to use in a normal season and suggests the series only be implemented if the teams are tied or no more than a game apart.
Silver has long been a fan of the play-in series concept and introduced the idea last fall as part of a switch to a 78-game season. His proposal would have had teams seven through 10 in each conference competing for the final two seeds. This year’s series added a lot of drama to the final days of seeding games as the Blazers, Grizzlies, Suns and Spurs all entered Thursday with a chance to qualify.
We want to get your input. Should the NBA hold a play-in series every year, regardless of how close the race is for playoff spots? And should one or two playoff spots be at stake in each conference? Please leave your comments in the space below.
The old saw, There’s a good way, and there’s the army way.
It is possible to tweak every series to give the higher seed some motivation to play hard through the RS, to get more than of an advantage than just the seventh game at home. I would support that in theory, which might deter load management arragements.
And, messing with losing teams’ playoff chances could be merged with the problem of tanking, to find a two-for-one solution that is an improvement.
However, just “creating some excitement” by itself, risks taking away RS excitement.
No
Can anyone confirm where the stats from this single play in game are going towards? Like is it considered a playoff game or is it just another regular season game?
It’s a playoff game, not like when they play game #163 in baseball.
Nah man, actually, it was still considered a seeding game, which by definition was a regular season game. All stats from yesterday’s game went towards a player’s regular season stats, like a game 163 in baseball does. Hence, if the Spurs would have made it and lost, it would not have been considered making the playoffs this season.
Also, if you want to fact check it, go to Lillard’s bball reference page, game logs, regular season, and yesterday’s game will show up there, and not in his postseason history.
The NBA’s response when asked about this the other day:
“Any play-in games are standalone and won’t be counted in regular season or playoff statistics.”
All tiebreaker need play in series
Fair, exciting, revenues generator
im not a basketball fan, (just checking in on this part of TR out of curiosity) but i think its a good idea.
Against play-in games. Seem gimmicky and winners will get blown out in next series.
What’s the point if you play all yr to be in top 8. Play to be in top 8 and you are in. Why would you give a team another chance. At end of season. Keep the 82 gms. Cut down on back to back gms. This was gd cause it’s a pandemic version. Never want that again.
Maybe Silver is throwing some meat to the dogs so he can later give it up so he can get his in season tournament going instead. His ideas are more circus related than pro ball related.
Here some ideas for Silver to consider:
1. Designated free throw shooter. No more hack a shaq.
2. No limits to player fouls but when he commits one he has to sit out for the next 2 minutes.
3. When fouled in the act, a player can shoot a 3 point shot or 2 free throws.
4. A team can add 10 points to their score but has to play the next 3 minutes with 4 players.
5. A player receiving a flagrant 2 can choose between ejection or having the ball thrown at his private parts from 15 feet away.
#2 would revive an original Naismith peach-basket rule. Commit a foul, sit. That would cut down on fouls called in order to avoid the sit-down.
#5 might be both hard to watch and fun to watch
No to the whole concept.
I just really don’t care about this. The 7th and 8th seed aren’t meaningful in any way. I don’t care how many games they play because I ignore them all anyway.
I personally think too many teams make the playoffs but it’s not hard to simply skip games so I’m fine with whatever.
Too many teams in the east make the playoffs. The fact that 13 of the 22 teams in the bubble were from the West shows why 8 of them need to be in the playoffs. The first round in the east is basically a formality since only the top 4 teams actually belong in the postseason.
But if fewer teams in the east made the playoffs, fewer fans in the east would GAF. Which is kind of the whole point, keeping fans engaged.
Yeah that’s why I don’t really complain too frequently about it. Fans that want to watch a 1 seed crush an 8th seed get to do that, and fans that don’t (like me) can simply not watch. It’s not my preference but I guess it isn’t a big deal
Hate it. Understand why in this shortened season but in no way should they do a play in for the 8 seed during a full season.
Great idea
As long as the season doesn’t run longer so the proposed 78 games with the final 4 playin games.
The excitement it would create in those cities and fans with would be amazing.
Here’s my solution how to stop tanking and improve competitiveness: just make it so that all non-playoff teams have an equal chance (7.14%) of getting either of 1-14 lottery picks. Done deal – that way, everyone would try to win games nad compete hard for the playoffs.
Somebody yesterday suggested only using play-in games when the teams involved have sub-.500 records. I totally agree, as it would only punish teams that don’t really deserve to make the postseason in the first place. That way, those squads would essentially need to fight their way in