Play‑in begins this week
The NBA regular season has given way to the Play‑In Tournament, which opens Tuesday and runs through Friday before the full first round begins Saturday. ( ). Toronto clinched the final guaranteed playoff spot to join Detroit, Boston, New York, Cleveland and Atlanta among the top six, leaving Philadelphia, Orlando, Charlotte and Miami to battle in the Play‑In — Philadelphia will face Orlando in one of those games. ( )
The National Basketball Association postseason starts Tuesday, April 14, with eight teams playing for the final four spots in the playoff bracket. (nba.com) The SoFi Play-In Tournament runs from April 14 through April 17, and the first round begins Saturday, April 18. The league says all four play-in nights will air exclusively on Prime Video. (nba.com) The format keeps teams ranked seventh through 10th in each conference alive after the 82-game regular season. The seventh-place team hosts the eighth-place team for the No. 7 seed, while the ninth-place team hosts the 10th-place team in an elimination game. (nba.com) The losers of the seventh-versus-eighth games get one more chance. They host the winners of the ninth-versus-10th games on Friday, April 17, with those winners taking the No. 8 seeds. (nba.com) In the Eastern Conference, the play-in field is set as Philadelphia at No. 7, Orlando at No. 8, Charlotte at No. 9 and Miami at No. 10. Philadelphia hosts Orlando on Wednesday, April 15, and Charlotte hosts Miami on Tuesday, April 14. (nba.com) Toronto avoided that scramble by clinching the East’s last guaranteed playoff berth at No. 5. The top six in the East are Detroit, Boston, New York, Cleveland, Toronto and Atlanta, according to the official bracket. (nba.com) That means Detroit and Boston already know they will open against play-in winners, while New York will face Atlanta and Cleveland will face Toronto in the East first round. The bracket lists Detroit as the No. 1 seed and Boston as the No. 2 seed. (nba.com) In the Western Conference, Phoenix and Portland meet Tuesday for the No. 7 seed, and the Los Angeles Clippers face Golden State in the nine-versus-10 game. Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver, Los Angeles, Houston and Minnesota already advanced directly as the West’s top six. (nba.com) The play-in was introduced to expand the postseason race beyond the top eight and give teams near the cutoff a path into the bracket. The league’s current rules make finishing seventh or eighth safer than ninth or 10th, because those teams can lose once and still qualify. (nba.com) By Friday night, the bracket will be complete. On Saturday, April 18, the full first round begins and the short sprint to reach the playoffs turns into a best-of-seven tournament. (nba.com)
