NBA bracket set — Play‑In
The NBA's playoff bracket is set and the postseason officially begins April 18, with the Play‑In Tournament scheduled to start Tuesday featuring Heat vs. Hornets and Blazers vs. Suns. (x.com) The league also published its Game 1 schedule as the formal tip‑off to playoff week. (x.com)
The National Basketball Association postseason starts Tuesday, April 14, with four Play-In Tournament games that will decide the final two playoff seeds in each conference. (nba.com) In the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia 76ers host the Orlando Magic in the No. 7 versus No. 8 game, and the Charlotte Hornets host the Miami Heat in the No. 9 versus No. 10 game. In the Western Conference, the Phoenix Suns host the Portland Trail Blazers in the No. 7 versus No. 8 game, and the Los Angeles Clippers host the Golden State Warriors in the No. 9 versus No. 10 game. (nba.com) The Play-In format gives the winner of each 7-8 matchup the No. 7 seed in the main bracket. The loser of that game gets one more chance against the winner of the 9-10 game for the No. 8 seed. (nba.com) The first round begins Saturday, April 18, after the Play-In ends on Friday, April 17. The National Basketball Association lists June 3 for Game 1 of the Finals. (nba.com) The bracket is already fixed for the teams that avoided the Play-In. In the East, the Detroit Pistons finished first, followed by the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors and Atlanta Hawks; in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder finished first, followed by the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves. (nba.com) That means the confirmed first-round matchups already on the board are Cavaliers versus Raptors and Knicks versus Hawks in the East, plus Lakers versus Rockets and Nuggets versus Timberwolves in the West. The top two seeds in each conference will wait for the Play-In winners to learn their opponents. (nba.com) The Play-In keeps teams that finished seventh through 10th alive after the regular season, instead of sending only the top eight straight to the bracket. The league says 20 of its 30 teams reach the postseason structure, with 12 clinching direct playoff spots and eight entering the four-day Play-In. (nba.com) Tuesday’s schedule starts with Hornets versus Heat at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time and ends with Suns versus Trail Blazers at 10 p.m. Eastern time, with all Play-In games set for Prime Video. By the end of Friday night, the full 16-team playoff field will be locked in. (nba.com)
