With the regular season finishing Sunday, the NBA’s postseason is set to begin Tuesday with the play-in tournament.
The Lakers, who finished third in the Western Conference, and the Clippers (fifth) qualified for the first round of the playoffs, which begin next weekend.
The NBA’s inaugural play-in tournament came during the COVID-19-interrupted 2019-20 season as a way to make it more competitive when the regular season resumed in the bubble at the Walt Disney World sports complex near Orlando, Fla. After another experimental postseason utilizing the play-in tournament, the NBA’s board of governors voted in July 2022 to keep the format.
Here’s the two-round, three-game format in each conference:
The top six teams in each conference at the end of the regular season qualify for the first round of the playoffs while the teams in seventh through 10th place enter the play-in tournament from Tuesday through Friday for the final two playoff spots.
The No. 7 team hosts No. 8 with the winner earning the seventh seed into the playoffs while the No. 9 team hosts No. 10 in an elimination game. The loser of the 7-8 game then hosts the winner of the 9-10 game with that winner earning the eighth seed.
Here’s the play-in schedule (teams, times to be determined):
FIRST ROUND
Tuesday, April 15
East: No. 8 Atlanta at No. 7 Orlando, time TBD, TNT (winner seeded 7th)
West: No. 8 Memphis at No. 7 Golden State, time TBD, TNT (winner seeded 7th)
Wednesday, April 16
East: No. 10 Miami at No. 9 Chicago, time TBD, ESPN (loser eliminated)
West: No. 10 Dallas at No. 9 Sacramento, time TBD, ESPN (loser eliminated)
SECOND ROUND
Friday, April 18
East 9-10 winner at East 7-8 loser, time TBD, TNT (winner seeded 8th)
West 9-10 winner at West 7-8 loser, time TBD, ESPN (winner seeded 8th)
The post How the NBA’s play-in tournament works and when it starts appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
