The NBA Play-In Tournament is the league’s newest addition to the playoff format and will provide immediate do-or-die games before the postseason officially starts.
Here’s a quick refresher on what it consists of, and how this year’s rundown will look:
For the Eastern Conference, the No. 7 Brooklyn Nets will face the No. 8 Cleveland Cavaliers with the winning team officially earning the No. 7 seed in the conference. The No. 9 Atlanta Hawks will face the No. 10 Charlotte Hornets with the loser of that game eliminated and winner of that game then advancing to play the loser of Nets-Cavaliers.
For the Nets and Cavaliers, they will have two opportunities to win one game. For the Hawks and Hornets, it is single elimination with the hope they win two games and then, in turn, earn the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.
It will be identical for the Western Conference.
The No. 7 Minnesota Timberwolves will play the No. 8 Los Angeles Clippers with the winner officially claiming the seventh seed in the conference. The loser between Timberwolves-Clippers will then face the winner of No. 9 New Orleans Pelicans against No. 10 San Antonio Spurs. The winner of that second play-in round will claim the eighth and final seed in the West.
The tournament begins Tuesday and will conclude Friday with the first round of the NBA Playoffs set to take place next weekend.
