Play‑In begins tonight

The National Basketball Association play-in tournament starts Tuesday, April 14, with two games that decide who stays alive and who moves one step from the bracket. (nba.com) The opener is Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time, and the late game is Portland Trail Blazers at Phoenix Suns at 10 p.m. Eastern time. The Heat-Hornets loser is out, while the Suns-Blazers winner claims the Western Conference’s No. 7 seed. (nba.com) The format uses the teams that finished seventh through 10th in each conference. The seventh-place and eighth-place teams get two chances to qualify, while the ninth-place and 10th-place teams must win twice to reach the first round. (nba.com) Wednesday’s games finish the other half of the first round setup: Orlando Magic at Philadelphia 76ers at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time and Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Clippers at 10 p.m. Eastern time. The 76ers-Magic winner takes the East’s No. 7 seed, and the Warriors-Clippers loser is eliminated. (nba.com) Friday, April 17, brings the final two play-in games, one in each conference, to settle the No. 8 seeds. Those winners advance to face the No. 1 seeds, Detroit Pistons in the East and Oklahoma City Thunder in the West. (nba.com) The rest of the playoff field is already locked. In the East, Cleveland Cavaliers will play Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks will play Atlanta Hawks; in the West, Denver Nuggets will play Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers will play Houston Rockets. (nba.com) The first round starts Saturday, April 18, before the play-in is even fully cleared from the calendar. National Basketball Association listings show Game 1s that day for Raptors-Cavaliers, Timberwolves-Nuggets, Hawks-Knicks and Rockets-Lakers. (espn.com) This is also the first play-in tournament carried entirely by Prime Video. The league’s schedule page says all six play-in games will air exclusively there, part of Amazon’s new National Basketball Association package. (nba.com) The standings left little room between the play-in teams. National Basketball Association playoff listings show Phoenix at 45-37, Portland at 42-40, Charlotte at 44-38, Miami at 43-39, Philadelphia at 45-37, Orlando at 45-37, Los Angeles Clippers at 42-40 and Golden State at 37-45. (nba.com) By Friday night, four of those eight teams will be in the bracket and four will be done for the season. By Saturday afternoon, the first round will already be underway. (nba.com)