The National Basketball Association Play-In Tournament started on Tuesday, April 15. The Play-In Tournament is the NBA’s version of Major League Baseball’s and the National Football League’s Wild Card.
However, this new addition to the NBA’s playoff bracket is very different from the conventional setup.
In its first appearance, during the 2019-20 season, if the eighth and ninth seeds were within four games of each other, the two teams faced off in two Play-In games.
If the eighth seed wins the first game, they advance directly to the next game. If the ninth seed wins the first game, it will advance them to the second round and the winner of that contest will move on to the next round.
However, entering the 2020-21 season, the NBA Board of Governors made a significant change to the layout.
The seventh and eighth seed teams, and the ninth- and tenth seed teams, opened the Play-In with contests against each other. Following this, the loser of the seventh and eighth seed game faced off against the winner of the ninth and tenth seed game.
Finally, the winner of the seventh and eighth seed contest plays against the winner of the middle game, which is between the loser of the seventh and eighth teams and the winner of the ninth and tenth seed teams.
Due to the Orlando Magic clinching their division, they instead faced the ninth-seeded Atlanta Hawks, rather than the eighth-seeded Miami Heat. The final, and tenth seed of the Eastern Conference, were the Chicago Bulls.
On the other side of the sport, the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies sat at the seventh and eighth seeds in the Western Conference, respectively, while the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks finished off the playoffs’ standings as the ninth and tenth seeds.
The first two games bega with the Atlanta Hawks taking on the Magic in Orlando, Florida, and the Memphis Grizzlies taking on the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, California.
In the first game, the Magic ran away with the score from the beginning, outscoring Atlanta 32-17 in the first quarter, and continued to pile on after the fact, with the final coming to 120-95.
A 26-point performance from point guard Cole Anthony fueled the Orlando offense in his 20 minutes of play, as the win over the Hawks instantly clinched a playoff position for the Magic.
On the other side, the first west-coast battle between the Grizzlies and Warriors was a bit closer. However, a 31-25 first quarter in favor of Golden State helped give the Warriors just enough to overcome the Grizzlies.
A 38-point game from trade-deadline acquisition Jimmy Butler and a 37-point performance from all-time Warrior Stephen Curry gave the Warriors the momentum for the win over Memphis.
The Miami Heat quickly put an end to the Chicago Bulls’ season on Wednesday, April 16, as a career game from guard Tyler Herro, which detailed a 38-point performance, as the Heat outscored the Bulls 39-28 in the first quarter, and 109-90 overall.
This is the third consecutive season in which the Heat have ended the Bulls’ season in the Play-In Tournament. The Mavericks were the first of the lower-seeded teams to dethrone their higher-seeded opponent, as they took down the Kings 120-106.
Dallas played off of a dominant 44-19 second quarter, and solid performances from trade deadline acquisition Anthony Davis with 27 points and Klay Thompson with 23 points.
Friday, April 18, held the final Play-In contests with the hot Miami Heat facing the Atlanta Hawks, looking to stay alive after the tough loss to Orlando, and the surprising Dallas Mavericks facing the Memphis Grizzlies, looking to bounce back after the loss to the Warriors.
Beginning with the Eastern Conference contest between the Heat and Hawks, neither team was willing to give up the fight, staying even with an 86-77 score in favor of Miami entering the third quarter. However, with the clock ticking, Trae Young landed a layup to force overtime.
Nevertheless, the Tyler Herro dominance continued, bringing his point total on the day to 30, as Miami outscored Atlanta 17-8 in the overtime period to clinch a playoff spot.
The Grizzlies put up an amazing performance to end the Mavericks’ potential Cinderella appearance in the NBA playoffs, as Memphis bounced back from its loss to the Warriors.
Currently, on the eastern side, the Miami Heat are down 3-0 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were the one-seed in the conference, and the Orlando Magic are just behind the defending champion Boston Celtics in their series, 2-1.
On the opposite end, the Oklahoma City Thunder walked through the Memphis Grizzlies, sweeping the series 4-0 and the Golden State Warriors are currently the only Play-In team with a series lead, as they lead the series against the Houston Rockets 2-1.