THE regular NBA season is done, it’s time for the postseason to take centre stage.
Tonight the NBA Play-In tournement gets underway.
The teams that finished in seventh to tenth in both the East and West conferences will now play in, to make the playoffs
The teams that finished seventh and eighth in their respective conference will face off against each other, with the higher seed getting home advanatge in one game, with the winner advancing to the playoffs as the 7th seed.
The loser will then face the winner of the ninth and tenth play-in game to determine who will be the eighth and final seed in both conferences, completing the playoff bracket.
Tonight in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat, who have struggled this season due to injuries of key players Tyler Hero and Jimmy Buttler, who was then traded to the Golden State Warriors, have forced players who are not starter quality from the bench into the starting five, impacting Miami’s rotation and squad depth.
Miami face the Charlotte Hornets, who, if they win tonight, will be one game away from their first playoff appearance since 2016.
The addition of Moussa Dibate to the starting five, who has improved a lot this season, contributing 2 more points per game than last season. Where Moussa has helped the Hornets improve this season, though, is defensively, with an increase of three rebounds per game as opposed to last season.
Number four draft pick in the 2025 draft, Kon Knueppel, has had a standout rookie season since coming into the starting five, averaging 18.5 points per game.
This has put less pressue on key players Miles Bridges who has been able to become more a playmaker this year rather a scorer.
More importantly, the franchise’s key player Lonzo Ball has played a 70+ game season for the first time since the 2021-22 campaign, which is the only the second time Ball has completed 70+ games in a regular NBA season in six season in the NBA.
The loser will be eliminated, and the winner goes on to face whoever loses the 7th seed game between the Orlando Magic and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Orlando had high expectations going into this season, with star player Paolo Banchero supported by Desmond Bane Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner, fans had hope they would take that leap and become top contenders in the East, however, due to injuries to Wagner and Suggs, with their offence style becoming predictable and lack of fulid movement is has not been the season, Magic fans wanted.
The Magic face the 76ers, who have struggled since losing James Harden in recent years but have now found something that has clicked within the team, with Joel Embiid, Tarysse Max, and the inclusion of Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr., with key rotation players like Quinten Grimes and Andre Drummond over the past few years, the 76ers have got a really solid team.
Both the Magic and the 76ers finished the regular season with the same record, so this game is too close to call as to who will win and become the 7th seed.
Whichever two teams miss out on the playoffs in the East will be frustrated, as the four teams in the play-in were only separated by two wins in the regular season.
So the Eastern Conference is evenly matched up.
As for the Western Conference.
Tonight will see the Portland Trailblazers take on the Phoenix Suns, with the winner earning the seventh seed in the west.
The West play in race wasn’t as close as the East’s, but Phoenix, who finished seventh in the regular season, will be very much the favourites heading into the game tonight.
The Suns, like many teams, have gone through a rebuild themselves, with Devin Booker the only surviving player from the 2021 Suns team that lost in the NBA finals to the Milwaukee Bucks
After the Kevin Durrant expirment failled, the Suns instead went about building a team not with multiple big-name players but instead focusing on building a very strong squad to complement Booker.
As for Portland, a complete rebuild of the team has been done over the past few seasons to get them into playoff contention. The focus of that is a young core consisitng off Scoot Henderon, Shadon Sharpe and Donovan Clingan.
However, whoever loses that game will still have one more chance, as they will face the winner of the LA Clippers vs the Golden State Warriors
The Clippers could miss out on the playoffs for the first time in three 3 years if they lose,
It has been a strange season for the Clippers, where off-court has been where the focus has been for them rather than on the court, with the NBA investigation into potential salary cap circumvention involving owner Steve Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard’s endorsement deal.
As for the on the court, having the oldest roster in the NBA has not helped with Chris Paul 40, Brook Lopez 37, and James Harden 35, limiting the lack of sharpness and speed, led to poor transition defence and limited athleticism.
Golden State have also had one big loss this season, with Bradley Beal only playing six games before a hip fracture ended his season.
The Clippers have the talent and experience to get through the play-in and into the playoffs, and they may have the slight advantage as the Golden State Warriors are without Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry has played no more than 29 minutes in his four games since returning from injury.
If we were to go off recent form, it is certainly an advantage for LA, as the two teams played each other just a few days ago on the last day of the regular season, with LA winning 115-110.
It is going to be an interesting play-in tournament, but who will grab the final playoff places?
