It’s time to Play-In or play yourself out of the NBA Playoffs.
The NBA’s Play-In tournament kicks off tomorrow with both 7v8 matchups getting
underway.
Miami (7) play host to the Atlanta Hawks (8) in a battle of two very underwhelming teams this season.
Miami would be very disappointed with the way things played out this season, with the team going backwards after their Eastern Conference Finals appearance last season.
Atlanta on the other hand made waves in the off season, adding Spurs play maker Dejounte Murray to play alongside All-Star Trae Young.
They never hit their stride, barely finishing over .500 and finishing with the 8 seed.
The Heat had the Hawks measure this season, going 3-1 against Atlanta, and there’s no way Jimmy Butler is letting his team go through another knock out, as they’ll go on to finish with the 7 seed and face off against the Celtics in an ECF re-match!
Midday tomorrow sees the LA Lakers (7) tip off against Minnesota (8) in a 7v8 battle at Crypto.com arena (still doesn’t sound right).
The Lakers finished the season incredibly well, almost finishing with the 5 seed. They’ll have to take the 7 seed and go through the Play-In Tournament again, but they’ll take that after how disastrous their start to the season was.
Speaking of disastrous, what happened in Minnesota last night couldn’t have been any worse for a Timberwolves team looking to sneak into the playoffs.
Rudy Gobert fired off a punch to the chest at team mate Kyle Anderson during a time out, while young gun Jaden McDaniels fractured his hand punching a wall on his way into the tunnel. Note to all those out there, the wall will always win!
It means the Timberwolves will be extremely short handed against a Lakers team going in the other direction, as Anthony Davis will look to have his own way without the stifle tower (suspended), as well as missing Naz Reid.
The Lakers will go on to claim victory in this one, and go on to face off against the 2nd seeded Memphis Grizzlies in round 1 of the NBA Playoffs.
Thursday gives us some elimination basketball, with the Toronto Raptors (9) facing off against the Chicago Bulls (10).
Toronto will have too much for the Bulls at home, as it’s still unclear just what Chicago Bulls team we are going to get.
With Toronto, we know what we are getting. A heavy dosage of Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, as well as too much Scottie Barnes for the Bulls to handle as they’ll be the first team eliminated from the 2022-23 Play-In tournament.
New Orleans (9) play host to OKC (10) in what will be an exciting battle of 2 young teams on the rise. If only we had Zion lining up for the 9th seeded Pels.
New Orleans should have too much at home for a young OKC team a couple years away from making a statement in the West Playoffs.
That’s not to say we aren’t hoping this OKC team can surprise us though, as their star studded young back court of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and our very own Josh Giddey may have something up their sleeve to shock the Pels.
Come this time next year, this Thunder team will make a move into the top 8 teams in the West and give themselves a 2nd chance with the addition of Chet Holmgren to the line-up and we can’t wait for that!
That now takes us to the final stages of the Play-In Tournament.
Atlanta match up against Toronto in a battle to get swept by the 1st seeded Bucks. This is going to be a close one, and Toronto may have what it takes to grind this one out, but it’ll be a late flurry from Trae Young and the Hawks to steal this one at home to finish as the 8th seed in the East.
Minnesota will have New Orleans come to town to battle it out for the 8 seed in the West.
Last season, Minnesota had their home fans in a frenzy winning the first Play-In game, and that’ll be the case once again this season.
Granted Rudy Gobert is back in the line-up and all things have been mended in the locker room, Minnesota take out an extremely tight battle at home, with Anthony Edwards leading the way for a Timberwolves team needing a victory like this to forget about what’s been a pretty disappointing season!
The next few days are going to be electric leading into the NBA Playoffs!
Bauky