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How so when you have this scrumptous play-in match-ups looming as a possibility?

(Actual playoff match-ups not mentioned, that's another tasty treat up for discussion, deservingly in a separate thread)

West

Warriors vs. Lakers - Both decimated by injuries, they have enough (super)star power to pull off an upset in the first round of the playoffs. Steph vs. LeBron.

Spurs vs. Lakers - Obviously not as tasty as above but historically great rivals (Spurs and Lakers itself + LeBron vs. Spurs)

Celtics vs. Hornets - Yeah, yeah, no rivalry here but errrr Walker vs former team could be good enough? (And Rozier vs ex team of course)

Wizards vs. anyone - Basically, a Westbrook, who is not suppposed to lead his team to the playoffs, vs. the world setting

Westbrook vs anyone is box-office

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Memphis will be interesting because of JAREN JACKSON JR.'s return.

I like the play in. I think it's cool

The play in games will be the most entertaining part of the first round by far

Yeah it's dumb and make the regular season even more meaningless. And extends the playoffs for 0 reason.

Make the playoffs 6 teams from each division, 1rst round 5 game series.

I like it, I don't really care the Lakers are in it

Dr Aki wrote:I like it, I don't really care the Lakers are in it

Well it probably helps the Lakers. They get extra game reps and don't have to play Clips in first round.

celticfan42487 wrote:Yeah it's dumb and make the regular season even more meaningless. And extends the playoffs for 0 reason.

Make the playoffs 6 teams from each division, 1rst round 5 game series.

You don't really like to watch basketball much, eh?

Wizards gonna move up to 8th and beat Boston and then beat Brooklyn.

Between flattening the lottery odds and the play-in games, the NBA has really done a good job improving the end of the season.

Games by teams in the 9-12 range have been exciting (case in point, Washington) as they have something to play for, and teams in the 8-5 range have extra incentive to play hard at the end of the season to avoid the play-in game.

This will never happen, but if the NBA can add relegation in the mix as well - that would be perfect.

The match-ups might be good this season but how will they look next season or five-years from now?

There will certainly be match-ups in future seasons where it is 8th ranked cannon-fodder versus 10th ranked cannon-fodder to see who gets obliterated by the first seed. That won't be interesting for anyone.

This season is somewhat rare in that the Lakers are simultaneously second favourite for the title and play-in bound. That will probably never happen again.

Yea you can argue the regular season is meaningless but you can also argue it forced the end of the season games to have more intensity.

i do think this is similar to the All Star Game change (Fixed target in 4th quarter...) EVERYONE hated it before it happened but when it did, the same number of people flipped and really liked it a lot.

Last year's play-in set up was just the beginning (and we know how that worked, everyone was excited for that). What more this year's expanded play-in?

celticfan42487 wrote:Yeah it's dumb and make the regular season even more meaningless. And extends the playoffs for 0 reason.

Make the playoffs 6 teams from each division, 1rst round 5 game series.

So less basketball is the solution to the NBA wanting to make more money?

I’m excited for the play-in. I don’t even care that there is a chance it could screw my Blazers out of a playoff spot. The idea is exciting. We have closely matched teams in important games, that are real close to do or die each time.

It seems to be working on the west where the bottom end of the bracket had a lot of similar teams.

But I don't think on principle a below 500 team should be able to compete for a spot with a team that's above 500.

The dislike of the play-in grows in exact proportion to the threat your playoff team may have to play in it.

On the other hand I think it's had a noticeable impact in extending down the range of teams still trying later into the season. A dual impact too, as it has attracted both teams #9-#12 to try, but also the #5-#8 teams trying to avoid it.

Franky I think it's been a success at what it was trying to accomplish, all whining about it aside.

I love it. Makes it more entertaining and I also love seeing people cry about it lol

I always really liked it

It gives the Knicks a chance to see some playoff action this year... oh wait we're gonna miss it on the upside





Ok, but seriously, I do like the format.