The NBA’s new play-in tournament has plenty of fans and critics, but it has created a lot of compelling races as the season heads into its final day.
There’s suddenly a huge difference between sixth place and seventh, as the top six teams in each conference get nearly a week to rest while the teams in the tournament battle for playoff spots. The defending champion Lakers find themselves in seventh place in the West right now and need a win over the Pelicans tonight coupled with a Trail Blazers loss to the Nuggets to avoid the tournament.
The seventh and eighth teams in each conference will meet in the first round, while team No. 9 will face team No. 10. The winner of the 7-8 game will earn a playoff berth, while the loser of the 9-10 game will be eliminated. The other two teams will play for the final spot in each conference.
The scenario sets up several games with high stakes on the last day of the season. The Grizzlies and Warriors will meet this afternoon in Memphis with identical 38-33 records and the eighth seed on the line. In the East, the Hornets, Wizards and Pacers are all tied at 33-38. Washington hosts Charlotte today with the winner claiming the eighth seed and the loser likely falling to 10th.
No matter how the races end up, the tournament will start Tuesday night with both Eastern games, followed Wednesday by the two Western contests. The games to decide the final playoff spots will take place Thursday in the East and Friday for the West.
Commissioner Adam Silver has favored this format for years as a way to add excitement and unpredictability to the postseason. Some prominent league voices, including LeBron James and Mark Cuban, have criticized the idea, especially in a year with a condensed scheduled.
We want to get your opinion. Has the play-in tournament livened up the playoff races? Should the league keep the current format, modify it or get rid of it altogether? Please leave your responses in the comments section.
The Two Top Tens Tournament. Go for it. It does seem to work, based on its own objectives, and it increases the choices available for the predetermined rules of the duels. That would make other seeding worth competing hard for also… if it is possible…
Like it or not, games on the last day mean something and that hasn’t happened in the NBA in a long time. The players hate it but the league/sponsors probably like it, so it’s a success.
I’m not a fan, but it’s not the worst idea ever either. My biggest problem is that in theory the Spurs could finish 8 games worse than the Lakers (or Blazers) over an entire season, but could take their place in the playoffs based on 2 games. And anything can happen in 2 single games against different opponents. Every team in the league lost 2 games in a row this season.
I just can’t seem to get excited about whether the 33-38 Hornets team can hold onto the 8th seed or will they fall to the 10th seed. 67% of the league is now in the playoffs, which really does question why they play the regular season at all.
I thought this would be a poll. Anyway, I like it and think it should be kept moving forward. I think it’s great that on the last day of the regular season every game could either impact the playoffs in terms of seeding or the draft in some way.
Commenters on netsdaily.com pointed out that regular season records have an effect on who would get the home court advantage in a potential finals matchup. The top three teams in the East should have some level of interest in how the Nuggets and Clippers do today. Even the Sixers who already clinched the #1 seed, and will probably rest players like Embiid and Simmons, would benefit from a win today. A loss to the Magic combined with wins by either or both of the Nuggets and Clippers could affect home court in a potential finals matchup.
That’s all great, but everything you mentioned could happen without a play in tourney also. The race for the 8 seed cam down to the last day of the season several times in the past. Home court advantage is a separate thing as well. Even if you just took the top 4 seeds from each conference, you would still have the same home court advantage situation today. And the Nuggets and Clippers would be in a real battle to see who gets in as well. So it can happen no matter how many teams are included.
“It can ” and “It would” are 2 different things –
Teams were gearing towards resting star players before. Now seeding matters a whole lot more moving forward.
By slighting the 7/8 seed a touch (who cares) , they have improved the overall drive for all 30 teams really from January to December . They have in a way made opening night wins more valuable for all franchises, free agency more lucrative, cutting out dump trades from bad teams, and many more hidden positives
Its brilliant Imo, and Im saying that as my home team got the biggest shaft from this format this year
More teams with something to play for to the very end and it keeps teams from sitting on their hands. good.
Well said
I wonder which would benefit the Lakers more..extra rest or extra games for guys like Lebron to further get into game shape and gel with the team. I think it’s obvious that they would prefer to avoid the play-in scenario, but I don’t think those extra games would necessarily be entirely negative. There is, of course, some risk of elimination for any play-in team, but I like the Lakers’ chances for advancing and think they would be very heavy favorites to do so.
I completely support Play in
It increase viewership, which means increase money
As a fan I have absolutely no opinion on this at all. The odds of any of the 8 teams involved in play-ins actually winning a playoff series are almost nil. In other words, none of this will matter two weeks from now. So who cares?
If it helps the league make more money then they should keep doing it. But it doesn’t improve or worsen my NBA experience.
LAL will win a couple series at least, so… bang goes your theory, right?
Statistics are not theories. It is inarguable fact that most teams in 6 seed or lower do not advance in the playoffs. Of course there are exceptions, that is why I said “almost” nil.
But thanks for playing.
Based on how the NBA uses it’s post-season, it makes sense. Personally, I’d like to see the regular season mean more, but that notion has no support (with those that run any professional league or their sponsors).
Perhaps this can lead to a new format that doesn’t increase or decrease the overall number of playoff games, but has all but the top 4 teams or so having to play their way into the final 8. It’s never been used in basketball that I know of, but I’ve always liked the double elimination format as yielding results that have integrity.
Huge huge success
There is literally ONLY 1 game today that has no playoff seeding implications (Orl/Phi) …1 GAME!!!
Here to stay , once again Silver strikes
Let’s see all of the trash talking between Lakers and Warriors fans here.
There’s not enough on Lakers or Warriors pages?