So you still dislike the Play-In, eh?

[Schiltzenberger]

144-117
118-100
Well that was really exciting!!!!!!
Those games meant so much!!!!

The play-in is absolute trash

[Mk0]

144-117
118-100
Well that was really exciting!!!!!!
Those games meant so much!!!!

The play-in is absolute trash

It hasn't been a good showing, and Memphis/San Antonio isn't exactly must-see-tv. I really hope we get a huge Ja game.

Lakers/Warriors will be the league office's rally point, but if either gets knocked out by Grizz/Spurs its going to be a nightmare for the ratings

[NPZ]

I don't like it, it's just another example of Silver changing sh that didn't need to be changed. As my team stands, they could theoretically get bounced from the playoffs by the Spurs who won 9 fewer RS gms than they did. How is that a good thing? Silver would be constipated for a week if the Lakers got bounced and the lousy Spurs made it in due to his new fangled idea. And while it's the Lakers and yallz want them to lose (I get that), it's not only gonna be LA in this position. That very scenario will eventually happen to some team whose base will be pissed. Or it could've meant something like the Lakers and Clippers NEVER meeting in the playoffs when they could have given a normal schedule. Or it could prevent some juicy matchup and stick the Spurs in there with anyone, making for an instant snoozefest. It makes 2 meaningless games equal to as many as NINE RS games this season. What's the point then of trying to win in the RS? Fans were already griping about RS gms not meaning all that much as it was. NBA played their hand and showed that they agree with the fans that the RS is nothing more than a long ass preseason.

[NPZ]

144-117
118-100
Well that was really exciting!!!!!!
Those games meant so much!!!!

The play-in is absolute trash

It's not must see TV. It's musty TV.

[NPZ]

If this is what the play in looks like I'm not a fan.

I had hopes for the play in. Not impressed at all.

We all found out that it looks like the prior 70 RS gms. Stupid idea. Arbitrary.

[Capn'O]

I don't like it, it's just another example of Silver changing sh that didn't need to be changed. As my team stands, they could theoretically get bounced from the playoffs by the Spurs who won 9 fewer RS gms than they did. How is that a good thing? Silver would be constipated for a week if the Lakers got bounced and the lousy Spurs made it in due to his new fangled idea. And while it's the Lakers and yallz want them to lose (I get that), it's not only gonna be LA in this position. That very scenario will eventually happen to some team whose base will be pissed. Or it could've meant something like the Lakers and Clippers NEVER meeting in the playoffs when they could have given a normal schedule. Or it could prevent some juicy matchup and stick the Spurs in there with anyone, making for an instant snoozefest. It makes 2 meaningless games equal to as many as NINE RS games this season. What's the point then of trying to win in the RS? Fans were already griping about RS gms not meaning all that much as it was. NBA played their hand and showed that they agree with the fans that the RS is nothing more than a long ass preseason.

I won't guarantee an outcome of tomorrow's game because Steph is in it but if it comes to the Lakers against the Spurs or Grizz the Lakers are just gonna wax them. They're not good teams. Warriors/Lakers could be excellent though.

Look what happened today. This isn't the NCAA. In a do or die a much better team will do what they need to do.

[NPZ]

I don't like it, it's just another example of Silver changing sh that didn't need to be changed. As my team stands, they could theoretically get bounced from the playoffs by the Spurs who won 9 fewer RS gms than they did. How is that a good thing? Silver would be constipated for a week if the Lakers got bounced and the lousy Spurs made it in due to his new fangled idea. And while it's the Lakers and yallz want them to lose (I get that), it's not only gonna be LA in this position. That very scenario will eventually happen to some team whose base will be pissed. Or it could've meant something like the Lakers and Clippers NEVER meeting in the playoffs when they could have given a normal schedule. Or it could prevent some juicy matchup and stick the Spurs in there with anyone, making for an instant snoozefest. It makes 2 meaningless games equal to as many as NINE RS games this season. What's the point then of trying to win in the RS? Fans were already griping about RS gms not meaning all that much as it was. NBA played their hand and showed that they agree with the fans that the RS is nothing more than a long ass preseason.

I won't guarantee an outcome of tomorrow's game because Steph is in it but if it comes to the Lakers against the Spurs or Grizz the Lakers are just gonna wax them. They're not good teams. Warriors/Lakers could be excellent though.

Look what happened today. This isn't the NCAA. In a do or die a much better team will do what they need to do.

I agree, broskie, but it's the principle of the situation and one day it won't be a hated team that gets punk'd. And any team can win a game on any given night, but I think the Lakers will pull thru.

It's just that the NBA is saying win this ONE single game here and that'll make up for the 15 gms of the RS that it took you (for example) to win 9 more times than worst team of the play-in group. It actually took LAL 18 games to win their last 9. I'm sure they were too dumb to realize how much of a season they were eliminating at the blink of an eye if the Lakers (or the next good team in their shoes) loses this ONE game (or 2 gms). How's that fair and why are the 7th and 8th seeds being punished while other teams aren't? If you wanna say it incentivizes getting a top seed, then how come they only chose the 7th and 8th seeds to F with? These 4 teams get the booby prize while all the other 12 teams' RS wins and losses counted equally? It's not fair and it truly does a disservice to the notion that the RS means anything unless you happen to be a 1-6 seed OR a lottery team. The other teams between those are thrown into some unnecessary tournament. Lame stuff. And the Lakers would have a good gripe because their RS was more difficult than any Eastern team's as it already was. Out West, you already have to be better than the top 4th seed out East just to get yourself into the playin territory. The NBA under Silver needs to stop tinkering w/ sh. Silver makes me long for David Stern, that's something I'd never thought I would say. Silver is an idiot. The league already as it was didn't have a way to equalize the worth of a RS win from East to West and they just made the situation for the 7th and 8th West seeds that much worse. Win this 1 game and that'll instantly make up for 9 straight RS wins or the however many number of gms it took you to win your last 9. That's pretty weird.

That said, it's been awhile since I've posted, and we used to joke about NY making the playoffs. I'm glad they actually did for however many games the Knicks are in it.

[Lunartic]

So what do you feel about the 5 game series the first round had for years?

Was losing 2-3 or 0-3 somehow different/better than 0-2?

I wasn't a fan actually, I prefer all rounds to be the same length but at least it respected the RS and didn't provide a team with far less wins the opportunity to take a better team's playoff spot.

So is it fair a #1 seed can lose in the first round to the #8 when they could have 20-30 more wins?

They would have a best of 7 series, that is fair. It's no different than any other series or team's opportunity.

You're making my point for me, we should be treating all teams and series with the same respect, not arbitrarily deciding that a bad team winning two regular season games propels them past a far better team despite their record.

The entire purpose of a best of 7 is because we all accept and acknowledge that any team can win a game or two if they get hot and it may not reflect who the better team is. The 72 win Bulls lost to an atrocious team, Lebron-led teams frequently lost game 1of a series, it's just the nature of the game.

If the purpose of the play-in is to increase entertainment value and competitiveness in the final few games of the season, isn't the chance that a worse team could supplant a better team in the playoffs even less competitive and entertaining? #1 seed beating up on an even worse 8th seed for a best of 7 is far less competitive.

[Chanel Bomber]

The play-in is predictably trash.

We could've had an epic go win or go home final game between Golden State and Memphis, but the game ended up being fairly irrelevant as neither team was in danger of being eliminated.

Just another gimmick for money by Adam Silver.

[ATRAIN53]

Tonight will make up for it, LA vs San Fran is going to be off the charts.

but I do think it will get scaled back after those pathetic games last night.

I still want to se how it plays out before I totally bag on it.

[Anticon]

The play in for the east was always going to be bad. We've had teams below 500 make the 7th and 8th seed; the quality will of course be worse when you're dipping to 9th and 10th. Teams - like Charlotte - that collapse down the stretch have done so for a reason. There's no logic in putting those types of teams into a play in.

In the West, it's a different story. You had great teams like Phoenix with Dragic a few years back that should have been playoff team. There the format makes a lot of sense. And it'll give young teams like Sac, Minnie and NOLA something to play for.

It's partly why I think the play in should only be triggered if you have teams above 500 out of the playoffs, or teams below 500 in.

[Lunartic]

There's a bunch of conjecture and claims that this play-in is forcing teams to play competitively and actually fight but I'm not convinced

Let's look at the Win-Loss records of NBA 9-10 seeds from this season and compare them to 2018 season (last full season), I'm looking at the team's last 12 games before the playoffs. Here's 2018 season-

2018 Kings
5-7

2018 Hornets
8-4 (incl winning last 4 of 5 games of season)

2018 Lakers (injured Bron)
6-6

2018 Heat
5-7

Here's this season's end records thus far;

2021 Grizzlies
7-5

2021 Spurs
2-10

2021 Hornets
3-9

2021 Pacers
6-6

This is just rudimentary analysis and it doesn't take into account who rested players but it does beg the question why the records for the bottom 9-10 seeds hasn't improved despite the League giving them an opportunity to make the playoffs. We also saw a couple teams go on an all out tank-a-thon like the Clippers, Mavericks and Nuggets and teams like the Lakers have rested their players in the final games.

I understand the excitement of a sudden-death sort of tournament especially when players like Lebron and Curry are involved, but as far as a long term permanent change, I don't see how this play-in really improves the NBA. The 8 and 9 seeds will always battle it out for that final spot and depending on records, you will see the 7-11 seeds get involved in the melee too.

[Michael Bradley]

Bad/average teams playing each other for the right to get waxed in the first round results in boring games.

News at 11.

[sasquatchBob]

Yeah, the play-in is pointless. Even if a team like Spurs somehow upset and reach the 8 seed. What's the point? Just so they get swept in 4 games by Jazz? Give it to the teams that have proven themselves in RS.

[Capn'O]

I don't like it, it's just another example of Silver changing sh that didn't need to be changed. As my team stands, they could theoretically get bounced from the playoffs by the Spurs who won 9 fewer RS gms than they did. How is that a good thing? Silver would be constipated for a week if the Lakers got bounced and the lousy Spurs made it in due to his new fangled idea. And while it's the Lakers and yallz want them to lose (I get that), it's not only gonna be LA in this position. That very scenario will eventually happen to some team whose base will be pissed. Or it could've meant something like the Lakers and Clippers NEVER meeting in the playoffs when they could have given a normal schedule. Or it could prevent some juicy matchup and stick the Spurs in there with anyone, making for an instant snoozefest. It makes 2 meaningless games equal to as many as NINE RS games this season. What's the point then of trying to win in the RS? Fans were already griping about RS gms not meaning all that much as it was. NBA played their hand and showed that they agree with the fans that the RS is nothing more than a long ass preseason.

I won't guarantee an outcome of tomorrow's game because Steph is in it but if it comes to the Lakers against the Spurs or Grizz the Lakers are just gonna wax them. They're not good teams. Warriors/Lakers could be excellent though.

Look what happened today. This isn't the NCAA. In a do or die a much better team will do what they need to do.

I agree, broskie, but it's the principle of the situation and one day it won't be a hated team that gets punk'd. And any team can win a game on any given night, but I think the Lakers will pull thru.

It's just that the NBA is saying win this ONE single game here and that'll make up for the 15 gms of the RS that it took you (for example) to win 9 more times than worst team of the play-in group. It actually took LAL 18 games to win their last 9. I'm sure they were too dumb to realize how much of a season they were eliminating at the blink of an eye if the Lakers (or the next good team in their shoes) loses this ONE game (or 2 gms). How's that fair and why are the 7th and 8th seeds being punished while other teams aren't? If you wanna say it incentivizes getting a top seed, then how come they only chose the 7th and 8th seeds to F with? These 4 teams get the booby prize while all the other 12 teams' RS wins and losses counted equally? It's not fair and it truly does a disservice to the notion that the RS means anything unless you happen to be a 1-6 seed OR a lottery team. The other teams between those are thrown into some unnecessary tournament. Lame stuff. And the Lakers would have a good gripe because their RS was more difficult than any Eastern team's as it already was. Out West, you already have to be better than the top 4th seed out East just to get yourself into the playin territory. The NBA under Silver needs to stop tinkering w/ sh. Silver makes me long for David Stern, that's something I'd never thought I would say. Silver is an idiot. The league already as it was didn't have a way to equalize the worth of a RS win from East to West and they just made the situation for the 7th and 8th West seeds that much worse. Win this 1 game and that'll instantly make up for 9 straight RS wins or the however many number of gms it took you to win your last 9. That's pretty weird.

That said, it's been awhile since I've posted, and we used to joke about NY making the playoffs. I'm glad they actually did for however many games the Knicks are in it.

I hear you. I've just enjoyed the last few weeks or so with teams going gangbusters to try and get seeding. The Wizard's late run has been exciting as has the Warriors. Then the Blazers, Mavs, and Lakers have been fighting like mad. Our game would've likely been a snoozer had the Lakers not been trying to avoid the play-in but turned out to be a great (in the sense of being close and hard fought) game despite the outcome

It would suck in this case if the Lakers were knocked out of the playoffs... but I just don't see it happening. The Spurs and Grizz are not good teams and the Lakers at full strength are a great one. Even if Steph turns in one for the ages tonight, you're going to the playoffs. And that's kind of the point. It gives a late hot team a chance to move on, but not really a lesser team if the 7th seed happens to be a sleeping giant. A few injuries earlier in the season and it could have been the Lakers in the 9 seed looking to come in.

[Ugalde]

i was pretty excited for it at first because the first round of the playoffs is such a snooze but i’ll admit this doesn’t fix anything.

this year we get a weird one where it’s warriors vs lakers. that’s exciting and cool but i think most years after this will be really boring

[NPZ]

i was pretty excited for it at first because the first round of the playoffs is such a snooze but i’ll admit this doesn’t fix anything.

this year we get a weird one where it’s warriors vs lakers. that’s exciting and cool but i think most years after this will be really boring

You think the Mavs got the Clipps again this year?

[Ugalde]

i was pretty excited for it at first because the first round of the playoffs is such a snooze but i’ll admit this doesn’t fix anything.

this year we get a weird one where it’s warriors vs lakers. that’s exciting and cool but i think most years after this will be really boring

You think the Mavs got the Clipps again this year?

idk lol. i don’t think either of those teams are real contenders. i didn’t think either were last year either.

i love kawhi but i think he’s massively overrated. he’s still one of my favorite players though.

[NPZ]

i was pretty excited for it at first because the first round of the playoffs is such a snooze but i’ll admit this doesn’t fix anything.

this year we get a weird one where it’s warriors vs lakers. that’s exciting and cool but i think most years after this will be really boring

You think the Mavs got the Clipps again this year?

idk lol. i don’t think either of those teams are real contenders. i didn’t think either were last year either.

i love kawhi but i think he’s massively overrated. he’s still one of my favorite players though.

They match up well gainst LAL, that's why I ask. Maybe the Mavs have the secret code.

[Capn'O]

...

Come on now - THAT was fun!