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With nearly 95 percent of the season over for most of the NBA teams, it’s time to start looking at the standings to plan for potential first-round playoff matchups.
Of course, with the rule change that was implemented in the NBA bubble, there’s an added twist when looking ahead to the postseason: the highly lauded Play-In Tournament.
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The Play-In Tournament is the round-robin event that precedes the main event, deciding the final four participants that will enter the final field of sixteen that will compete for the NBA title. Seeds 7-10 in both conferences will battle it out to earn the final two playoff spots in their respective conference.
This season, there are at least eight teams that could reasonably wind up in the Play-In Tournament without much surprise. The Los Angeles Clippers are currently in the fifth seed, securely two spots ahead of seventh, and yet, they are only a half-game ahead in the standings of their intercity rival Los Angeles Lakers who hold the seventh seed.
The Utah Jazz all the way in 12th are still mathematically in the race, just a game-and-a-half back from the tenth-seed Oklahoma City Thunder.
With just four and a half games separating the fifth and 12th seeds, chaos is sure to ensue in these teams’ final games in the regular season, and the standings could look drastically different in the Western Conference once the Play-In Tournament actually begins.
| Play-In Tournament | Games |
|---|---|
| Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida |   |
| Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California |   |
| Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Canada |   |
| Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana |   |
The Eastern Conference is an entirely different story. While the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, and Philadelphia 76ers have established themselves as the alpha dogs in the extremely top-heavy side of the bracket. After those three teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks have secured their playoff standings by separating themselves from the other bottom of the pack of playoff hopefuls.
The Brooklyn Nets have also found themselves there, mostly due to the lead that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving built in their time there during the first half of the season.
There should be no chaos for the East’s Play-In Tournament "race."
While the Miami Heat could theoretically overtake the Nets who have a two-game lead on them for the sixth spot, there are only five teams that could reasonably be in the Play-In Tournament representing the East: the Nets, Heat, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors, and Chicago Bulls.
It’d take a miracle for the Washington Wizards to catch the Bulls ahead of them for the 10th seed.
We're a day away from hosting our play-in game vs. Atlanta. 🏀
Don't miss out! Get your tix now – https://t.co/UR1lGBEo3n pic.twitter.com/5oPcsDn07V
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 10, 2023
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| Title: Play-In Tournament has been practically set in the Eastern Conference
| Author: Andy Quach
| Date: Apr 7, 2023
