The NBA playoffs officially start today with the play-in tournament. While the idea of the play-in tournament has not been very popular across the league, it’s here for now. The bottom 4 teams from each conference play for a chance to take the final 2 seeds of the 8 teams that make the playoffs.
Tonight, the Hornets and Pacers go at it for the first game of the playoffs. Those 2 teams finished at the bottom of the standings in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards and Celtics will be the other 2 teams playing from the East tonight.
The Spurs and Grizzlies get things started in the West tomorrow at 7:30 pm Eastern Time. The Lakers and Warriors follow them up at 10 pm Eastern Time. Those 4 teams make up the bottom of the Western Conference.
The winners of game 1 play the losers of game 2 on May 20th, while the winners of game 3 play the loser of game 4 on May 21st. It’s all very complicated, but the 7th and 8th seeds will have two opportunities to win one game to earn a playoff spot. Teams with the 9th and 10th seeding have to win 2 consecutive games to move on.
Funny enough, the Lakers finished with the same record as the 5 seed Mavericks and 6 seed Trail Blazers. The rules for the NBA tournament dictate that head-to-head matchups come into play when teams finish with identical records in each conference.
All of that news and more, this week in the NBA! Check back weekly with GMS Sports for the most up-to-date information on your favorite sports.
