Category: NBA Playoffs

NBA plan involves 22 teams, 8th-seed play-in tournament scenario

The NBA will keep the playoffs divided by East and West, with a play-in tournament for the 8th seed in each conference.

The NBA has finally figured out its return-to-play format and there will be no round-robin or group play, but there will be 22 teams going to Walt Disney World to play eight regular season games each before moving on to the playoffs, which will be organized in a traditional East-West fashion, according to multiple reports on Wednesday.

But given the extraordinary nature of the situation, they also added a new twist that will add even more intrigue: a play-in tournament for the 8th seed in each conference that is triggered if the 9th seed team is within four games of the 8th seed. The plan is expected to be passed in Thursday’s Board of Governors vote, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

However, the 8th seeds will have an extra advantage of needing to be beaten twice to lose their seed, while the 9th seed is in a single-elimination position.

What does this all mean for LeBron James and the Lakers? Well, they will have probably two weeks of regular season games to lead into the playoffs, as well as however long a play-in tournament would take. They won’t have homecourt advantage because they will be in Orlando and they will have to play whoever the winner of the 8th seed is. But there is a significant chance that they don’t end up playing the Memphis Grizzlies, who currently have the 8th seed.

The Grizzlies currently have a 3.5 game lead for the 8th seed ahead of 9th place Portland. Sacramento, New Orleans, and San Antonio are all behind Portland by .001 in win-percentage, because they have played more games. With the current situation, teams will not end up playing the same amount of games, but that’s the kind of awkwardness the NBA is welcoming with a truncated regular season and traditional playoff rather than a completely new format.

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NBA is considering World Cup-style expanded pool play for playoffs

ESPN and The Ringer both reported on Tuesday about the potential proposals of a World Cup-style group stage before an 8-team knockout.

There will be no loud drums, people, or large tifos in the crowd, but there’s a very real possibility that when the NBA returns, it’s format could look at lot like the FIFA World Cup. Among the current proposals, everything from a shortened regular season of 72 or 76 games to a soccer-style group play format is on the table. ESPN and The Ringer both did extensive reporting on what a World Cup-style tournament might look like. And we’ve already had one superstar, Portland’s Damian Lillard, go on the record that he won’t play in games if his Blazers aren’t given a real opportunity to get into the postseason.

So there is a lot of pressure on the NBA, from a lot of sides, to get this right and one way of doing it may be to do something they’ve never done before. Using a random number generator, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor proposed what a 20-team, four group field may look like when the NBA tries to come back. ESPN also reported that they have outlined plans for pool play that could include all 30 teams.

For the NBA, having an expanded playoff field, adding the four teams on the bubble in the Western Conference, may provide the best quality of play while also making sure you have more teams, leading to eight games for each team.  It could also help the majority of the teams fulfill the obligations of broadcasting 7 games for their television contracts. The Lakers had the most games remaining to get to 70 in the league, having played only 63. A group stage would get them to 70, allowing the league to keep the revenue from regional sports networks. It’s unclear what might be done in this scenario if the other 10 teams aren’t invited to the bubble.

Also, in the case of the Blazers and the Pelicans, they have two great players and well-known draws in Damian Lillard and Zion Williamson. Also, a healthy Portland team with their starting frontcourt back on the court again could add even greater intrigue, as last year’s Western Conference Finalists had a down regular season, mostly due to injury. The Spurs, Pelicans, and Blazers also had their easiest stretches of the schedule left remaining, while Memphis had the hardest remaining schedule in the league with just less than a month to go.

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