The NBA’s inaugural play-in tournament will start on Tuesday night as the Eastern Conference takes center stage as the Celtics, Wizards, Pacers, and Hornets will do battle for the final two playoff spots. The West will follow on Wednesday with the Lakers, Warriors, Grizzlies, and Spurs in action, and by the end of the week, the playoffs will finally be set in stone.
Given that this is the first year of this format, we wanted to offer a bit of a refresher on how it’s all going to work, because it’s been a long time since this was announced, it works differently than last year’s tournament in the Bubble, and many fans (rightfully) aren’t reading through every NBA press release. So, here is how the play-in tournament will work, as well as the full TV schedule for the games that will be played this week.
FORMAT
There will be three games played in each conference. The first two will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the 7 vs. 8 and 9 vs. 10. The winner of the 7 vs. 8 games (Wizards-Celtics and Warriors-Lakers) will earn the 7-seed and face the 2-seed in the playoffs (the Nets or Suns). The loser of that game will have one more shot at getting into the playoffs as the 8-seed, playing the winner of the 9 vs. 10 matchup. The loser of the 9 vs. 10 is done and out of contention. The winner of that second game earns the 8-seed and plays the 1-seed in the playoffs (the Sixers or Jazz). Here is an example of how the West will look should the higher seed win each time:
7. Lakers beat 8. Warriors
9. Grizzlies beat 10. Spurs
8. Warriors beat 9. Grizzlies
The West’s first round matchups would then be:
1. Jazz vs. 8. Warriors
2. Suns vs. 7. Lakers
3. Nuggets vs. 6. Blazers
4. Clippers vs. 5. Mavericks
Basically, it is a double-elimination for the 7-8 teams and a single elimination for the 9-10 teams. All of which will take place over the course of this week, with the following schedule.
PLAY-IN SCHEDULE
Tuesday, May 18
6:30 p.m. ET: Hornets at Pacers (TNT)
9:00 p.m. ET: Wizards at Celtics (TNT)
Wednesday, May 19
7:30 p.m. ET: Spurs at Grizzlies (ESPN)
10:00 p.m. ET: Warriors at Lakers (ESPN)
Thursday, May 20
8:00 p.m. ET: Winner CHA/IND at Loser WAS/BOS (TNT)
Friday, May 21
TBD: Winner SAS/MEM at Loser GSW/LAL (ESPN)