NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and league owners and executives wanted to create more interest — for teams and fans — in the playoff race.
They created the play-in tournament to give more teams a chance to make the 16-team postseason field. Teams in seventh place through 10th place from the Eastern and Western conferences are placed in separate tournaments to determine the final two playoff teams in each conference.
“We’re very pleased with what we’re seeing so far,” Silver said a year ago. “As I mentioned before, when examining it we were very focused on the actual play-in games themselves, and what we’re seeing is a far greater impact essentially on the last month of the season where teams are either jockeying to get into the play-in tournament itself or jockeying to get out of the play-in tournament with a locked-in sixth seed.”
NBA PLAYOFFS: Which teams made the postseason and how did they get in?
STAY UP-TO-DATE: Subscribe to our Sports newsletter now!
The NBA used an abbreviated play-in game during the 2020 bubble and have used the current format starting with the 2021 postseason.
Here’s everything you need to know about the play-in setup this season:
NBA play-in tournament teams
East: No. 7 Miami, No. 8 Atlanta, No. 9 Toronto, No. 10 Chicago
West: No. 7 Los Angeles Lakers, No. 8 Minnesota, No. 9 New Orleans, No. 10 Oklahoma City
How many games are in the NBA play-in?
The seventh-place team plays the eighth-place team, and the ninth-place team plays the 10th-place team in both conferences. The winner of the 7 vs. 8 game gets the seventh seed in the playoffs, and the loser of that game plays the winner of the 9 vs. 10 game for the eighth seed. The No. 7 and No. 8 teams just need to win one game to make the playoffs, and the No. 9 and No. 10 teams need to win twice.
When are the NBA play-in games?
Tuesday’s games
Atlanta Hawks at Miami Heat, 7:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers, 10 p.m. ET, TNT
Wednesday’s games
Chicago Bulls at Toronto Raptors , 7 p.m. ET, ESPN
Oklahoma City Thunder at New Orleans Pelicans, 9:30 p.m., ESPN
Friday’s games
Loser of Atlanta-Miami vs. winner of Chicago-Toronto, 7/7:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Loser of Minnesota-Lakers vs. winner Oklahoma City-New Orleans, 9:30/10 p.m. ET, ESPN
Why is there an NBA play-in tournament?
Creating more opportunities to make the playoffs has worked. In late March, 26 of 30 teams were in contention, and headed into the final weekend of games, just nine teams were officially eliminated from the postseason.
Also, league executives believed giving more teams a chance to make the postseason would help curtail tanking.
What have been the results?
The seventh-place team is 4-0, earning the seventh seed in 2021 and 2022. The ninth-place team is 4-0 against the 10th-place team, and the ninth-place team is 3-1 against the eighth-place team for the eighth seed.
A play-in team has not won a playoff series.
Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How NBA play-in works: Who’s in, 2023 schedule, TV times, more
Source link: https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-play-tournament-teams-qualified-103609123.html?src=rss
