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Breakdown of the Play-In Tournament and what significance it holds for the remaining teams!

This is the breakdown of the Play-In Tournament and what significance it holds for the remaining teams! Look, with the NBA season coming to an end the Play-In Tournament, and the playoffs rolling in. This is leading to many questions like “Is the Play-In Tournament really worth it?” “What are the benefits and drawbacks?” “Why so much hate for it?” And so many more questions are flooding.

However, most of these questions are coming from Giannis, LeBron, and Cuban. With all due respect to these people; they don’t know anything. They don’t. LeBron doesn’t want to be in it because his team may be potentially in it, Cuban has to always has to say something that is idiotic. Then Giannis, he’s great but he just sides with the narrative that the NBA is forced or wants to be forced to adopt.

Anyways, those questions still need to be answered and they are very important. So, where do we begin? I believe we begin on the positive side of the Play-In Tournament.

What are the benefits of having the Play-In Tournament?

The most obvious benefit would be that more teams are given the chance of competing, potentially, in the post-season. What does that mean exactly? Well, we originally had 16 teams competing in the playoffs. Now we have 20 teams and four of them are in the Play-In Tournament.

Case in point, the Grizzlies nor the Spurs would be qualifying for the post-season if it was not for this tournament. And that is just one conference, but you get the gist of it. Now, what makes this even better is the fact that this goes up to the tenth seed of each conference and this is a do-or-die game. Meaning, it is only one game. Sudden death, no redos.

That is both a good and bad situation; the good would be not too much wear and tear on your body and mentally, while the bad would be a one-and-done type situation. However, if you competed during the regular season just fine you should be able to do one more game that means a lot.

Also, this gives a newer and more innovative feel to the playoffs. This gives something new that would be a fresh breathe of air for the fans, players, and even the NBA as a whole. I believe that this would be a huge positive for this league and for something experiemetary that may lead into something more explosive and more dynamic. I would bet this would work perfectly if we have an open-mind about it.

What are the downsides of having the Play-In Tournament?

We have seen some of the benefits, however, what are the downsides because whatever has positives must have some negatives too. Correct? Sure enough, they do and this was the biggest concern. First of all, this was a big one among fans and players, was this one: Wouldn’t that potentially kill all the work that a seventh seed has done?

Yes and no, but mostly yes. What I said there was confusing, but we can all see where the negatives are in that. For example, take the reigning champs (The Lakers) that would seem like an unfair situation. Right? Because they have had their ups and downs and have battled their way through some tough stretches. If there was no Play-In Tournament then they would be facing the Suns in the first round.

However, that is now not the case for the Lakers. They would need to battle through the tournament to get to the playoffs, which may seem like a lot. Especially on the mind and body of these players and coaches. Plus, it can also be frustrating to see a poor 10th seed team come in and upset you. But shouldn’t that say more about your team and strategy? However, no one will see it that way and thus make it a negative.

The what-ifs…

But still going off of records may be better in some cases, but for now we have that. Now the second would be this, which has been spoken out for by the NBA Players. Why the new system? Rudy Gobert especially pondered the idea of introducing a new idea of the playoffs and they aren’t loving it. He does have a valid question because the NBA in the past decades, and recent memory, have seen them go based off of record and overall standings. Recently they want to change that and I get to a certain point of how confusing and frustrating that may be. However, it wouldn’t be hard to adjust in the near future. This season? Yes. Next season? Possibly; however, again, it shouldn’t be that hard to condition for that especially when you have millions upon millions of dollars to help recover and stay in shape.

Now, this opinion, and truth, may differ when asked to different people – whether fans, reporters, or even people within the NBA. That all varies.

What would happen if the NBA kept this Play-In Tournament?

My guess? If the National Basketball Association did decide to make this permanent then I believe a few things are going to change:

First of all, we will be seeing a condensed season – like this season – and have it between 60 to 70 games. Like they have been discussing for the past two seasons because they wanted change and did not want to bore their fans. And for their players to make sure they have all the amenities to suit their well-being.

2. Second of all, this may take place of the All-Star Weekend. With the NBA potentially adding this to their schedule they may want to entertain the possibility of eliminating the ASG. Why? Because it would be one less thing for the NBA to worry about and that would allow more healthier bodies heading into the post-season. Less wear and tear, and whatnot. However, with their poor ratings and with their ideologies they are losing their fans. They need all the viewership they can get especially with their TV-contract deals they have with ESPN, ABC, TNT, etc.

Those are the only two things that would most likely happen if the Play-In tournament was here to stay. Look, I believe having a more condensed season is better. Why? It is due to the fact that this would entice fans to keep watching the season and not quitting after the ASG because of how many more games they have until the postseason. It is like baseball as nobody cares until the playoffs begin because they have over 160 games; that is a lot and that can be a lot of content for a single person to handle. Especially a devoted one. I could go even more in-depth but that is pretty much the main reason why you need to cancel out some games. That is just my opinion and probably truth as many fans, players, and league officials are pushing for this.

Blast us to the present day!

With us talking about the Play-In Tournament, we need to talk about what is currently taking place. While this may not all be solid currently, we do have, going off of standings, this list of teams participating.

Celtics (confirmed)
Hornets (confirmed)
Wizards (confirmed)
Pacers (confirmed)
Warriors (confirmed)
Grizzlies (confirmed)
Spurs (confirmed)
Lakers (probably)
Trail-Blazers (probably)

I’ll get to the concerning and awkward news of the Blazers-Lakers situation. First of all, we have all of these teams heading for a spot into the postseason. The Celtics have been a mess with COVID and injuries as that has been the same with the Hornets, Wizards, Warriors, and even the Lakers. Who remembers the 2-8 stretch that the Lakers had? It was rough just like Bostons.

Besides two teams, everyone is having problems that need to get settled in. The Wizards are trying to pull through and so are a few other teams. Now, since talking about current situations, let us talk about the most recent issue.

What is the looming situation over the Lakers-Blazers debacle?

Why would I call it a debacle? Well, originally the Lakers were suppose to be in the Play-In Tournament and the Portland Trail Blazers were going to be in the regular playoffs. Needless to say we have the LakeShow in at 7th while Portland is at 6th seed. However, seeding does not matter currently.

Both teams are 41-30 as the only way the Lakers make it out of the Play-In Tournament is having the Blazer’s lose to the Nuggets and the Lakers beating the Pelicans. We obviously know that the poor Pelicans, who are already eliminated from playoff contention, are not going to stand a chance to the Lakers. Especially when you have LeBron and Davis on your team; however, again, the Trail Blazer’s just cannot win or they will be forced into the tournament.

Lakers win and Portland wins, it cancels out into Lakers staying in the tournament while the Blazers pick a fight against the Nuggets. How funny their last game is against the Nuggets and they have a potential bout in the playoffs – interesting – if the Lakers were to go into the tournament they would face the eighth seed and then face the second seed, which would be the Suns.

With all that being said, that news is that. It will be interesting when it all goes down today, Sunday, as it is do-or-die for both teams. Note: whenever you are reading this article the games might have already played and the situation and landscape of the tournament may have changed by then.

Here is what to know about the Play-In Tournament:

With us coming to the end of this article what better way to go out than to talk about how the Play-In Tournament works? The concept is simple, in essence, as the 9th and 10th seed teams of each conference will have to play two rounds. So what exactly does that mean? That means that the winner of the 9th/10th seed game goes on to battle against the loser of the 7th/8th seed team. The winner of the 7th/8th seed team goes onto play the second seed team. Sounds confusing at first glance? Same here. However, here is an image to give a better picture of what to expect.

This photo above belongs to the NBA and full credit goes to them and them alone.

This starts on the 18th of May and does not conclude until the 21st of May; that is a day before the actual playoffs begin.

Conclusion:

With all that being said here we have it; we have gone through the good, the bad, and the interesting parts of the NBA Play-In Tournament. Plus we ran through what would happen if it stayed permanently, how this tournament even works, and so much more. I personally want it to stay for multiple reasons as it would give a more awesome feel to the playoffs. It switches it up, it makes it feel newer.

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