Play‑In starts in two days
The NBA Play‑In Tournament kicks off in two days, with seeds No. 7 through No. 10 in each conference competing for the final playoff berths. (usatoday.com) The bracket and schedule were finalized as the regular season closed. (x.com)
The National Basketball Association Play-In Tournament opens Tuesday, April 14, with four games over four days to decide the final two playoff seeds in each conference. (nba.com) The field is set: in the East, the Philadelphia 76ers are No. 7, the Orlando Magic No. 8, the Charlotte Hornets No. 9 and the Miami Heat No. 10; in the West, the Phoenix Suns are No. 7, the Portland Trail Blazers No. 8, the Los Angeles Clippers No. 9 and the Golden State Warriors No. 10. (nba.com) Tuesday’s games are Heat at Hornets at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and Trail Blazers at Suns at 10 p.m. Eastern; Wednesday’s games are 76ers vs. Magic at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and Clippers vs. Warriors at 10 p.m. Eastern. The final play-in games are scheduled for Friday, April 17, and the first round of the playoffs starts Saturday, April 18. (sportingnews.com, nba.com) The format gives the No. 7 and No. 8 teams two chances to reach the postseason and forces the No. 9 and No. 10 teams to win twice. The 7-8 winner becomes the No. 7 seed, the 9-10 loser is eliminated, and the remaining teams meet for the No. 8 seed. (nba.com) That setup has been in place leaguewide since 2021 after the National Basketball Association tested a version in the 2020 restart at Walt Disney World. The league kept it as a way to hold more teams in the postseason race deeper into the regular season. (nba.com) This year’s bracket also locked in the first-round opponents waiting on the other side. The East’s No. 1 Detroit Pistons and No. 2 Boston Celtics will face the play-in survivors, while the West’s No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder and No. 2 San Antonio Spurs are already through. (nba.com) The top six teams in each conference avoided the extra round entirely. In the East, Detroit, Boston, New York, Cleveland, Toronto and Atlanta clinched direct playoff spots; in the West, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver, the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston and Minnesota did the same. (nba.com, usatoday.com) Every play-in game will be carried on Prime Video, according to the published schedule, before the postseason shifts into the broader playoff television rotation. By Friday night, the 16-team bracket will be complete. (sportingnews.com, nba.com)
