NBA play‑in starts Tuesday

The National Basketball Association play-in tournament starts Tuesday, April 14, with eight teams chasing the last four playoff spots before the first round opens April 18. (nba.com) The field is set: Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic are the East 7-8 matchup, Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat are the East 9-10 game, Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers are the West 7-8 matchup, and Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors are the West 9-10 game. (nba.com) Tuesday’s schedule has Miami at Charlotte at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time and Portland at Phoenix at 10 p.m. Eastern time. Wednesday’s games are Orlando at Philadelphia at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time and Golden State at Los Angeles at 10 p.m. Eastern time. (espn.com) The format gives the No. 7 and No. 8 teams two chances to qualify. The winner of each 7-8 game becomes the No. 7 seed, while the loser gets one more home game against the winner of the 9-10 game for the No. 8 seed. (nba.com) The No. 9 and No. 10 teams do not get that cushion. Their game is single elimination, and the loser’s season ends that night. (nba.com) The play-in was adopted on a permanent basis in 2022 after the league first used the format in the restart at Walt Disney World in 2020 and then again in the shortened 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. The tournament expanded the postseason race from 16 locked-in teams to 20 teams with a path to the playoffs. (nba.com) This year’s bracket leaves the top six seeds in each conference already through to the playoffs. In the East, Detroit, Boston, New York, Cleveland, Toronto and Atlanta are in; in the West, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston and Minnesota are already through. (nba.com) The first round begins Saturday, April 18, after the final play-in games on Friday, April 17. That turns the last week of the season from tiebreaker math into win-or-go-home basketball. (nba.com)