One of the wrinkles that came with the NBA’s resumption of the 2019-20 season inside the Disney World bubble was the addition of a play-in round. This allowed the league to invite six teams to the restart that weren’t among the top eight in Eastern and Western Conference, creating a deeper schedule for everyone ahead of the 2020 NBA Playoffs.
The only team in the Eastern Conference on the outside looking at the start of the seeding slate of games was the Washington Wizards, who trailed the Brooklyn Nets by six games. Entering play Sunday, Washington still trailed the Nets by six games, and they were even further behind the No. 7 Orlando Magic (6.5).
After the Nets’ win over the Wizards on Sunday, Washington is now behind the Nets by seven games with six to go before the playoffs.
But, the Wizards can still force a play-in game. They only need to trail the East’s eighth-seed by four games at the end of seeding play to do so.
However, as Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated pointed out on Twitter Sunday, Brooklyn’s win “all but ended [Washington’s] longshot bid,” even though the Wizards are still “mathematically able to force a play-in series.”
The Wizards face the Pacers next on Monday at 4 p.m. Brooklyn gets back to work on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. against the Milwaukee Bucks.