NBA adopts Play-In Tournament on full-time basis
NBA club owners voted Tuesday to have the Play-In Tournament become a full-time path to the playoffs.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Play-In Tournament has generally been considered a success, so it was no surprise that the league is keeping it around.
The Play-In Tournament — in its current form — has been used in each of the last two seasons, where the teams that finish seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th in the East and West meet to determine the final two playoff spots in each conference.
The No. 7 team plays the No. 8 team, with the winner clinching the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. The No. 9 team plays the No. 10 team, with the loser eliminated and the winner moving on to face the team that lost the 7-8 game. The winner of that matchup is the No. 8 seed.
It’s been a hit, primarily because it tends to give a March Madness feel — four elimination games before the playoffs even begin — and gives more teams incentive to not tank for better odds in the draft lottery.
There was a play-in element in 2020 as well in the restart bubble at Walt Disney World, when Portland beat Memphis for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. Memphis could have gotten the No. 8 seed that year by beating Portland twice; the Blazers had to win only one game to claim the spot.
