Tag: play-in tournament

Celtics secure East’s second seed to close 2021-22 NBA season; will face Nets or Cavs in 1st round

Their first-round opponent will be the winner of the seventh and eighth seed play-in game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Brooklyn Nets.

The Boston Celtics secured the Eastern Conference’s second seed for the 2022 NBA playoffs Sunday night with their 139-110 blowout win over the Memphis Grizzlies’ reserve players. Memphis rested its starters in anticipation of a deep run in the 2022 NBA playoffs.

A little more than halfway through the fourth quarter, Boston deployed the reserves to get its starters additional rest, comfortable that they’d secured the East’s second seed and a matchup with the winner of the current seventh and eighth seeds.

This means the Celtics will face either the Brooklyn Nets or the Cleveland Cavaliers, who will face each other in the play-in tournament to earn the seventh seed.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

[mm-video type=video id=01g007jb1g7dv5svmpav playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g007jb1g7dv5svmpav/01g007jb1g7dv5svmpav-66c3f4040ff780161194eebfc916d918.jpg]

[lawrence-related id=100978,100969,100958,100883]

[listicle id=100963]

[vertical-gallery id=100907]

[listicle id=100950]

Lakers owner Jeanie Buss explains why she dislikes play-in tournament

Jeanie Buss isn’t a fan of the NBA’s play-in tournament, which the Los Angeles Lakers played in, and she detailed why.

The NBA introduced the play-in tournament during the 2020 Orlando bubble, which made the eighth-, ninth- and 10th-place teams in the Western Conference face off for the last spot in the playoffs.

The ninth-place team played the 10th-place team, and whoever won played the eighth-place team to earn the eighth seed in the playoffs. So even if a team finished eighth at the end of the regular season, keeping that spot wasn’t guaranteed.

For last season, the NBA revamped the format to include the seventh-place team. That team faced the eighth-place team to see which team would be seeded seventh.

If the seventh-place team lost, it played the 9-10 winner for the eighth seed. A loss eliminated the seventh-place team from competing in the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Lakers ended up as the seventh seed last season when injuries occurred to stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis and other notable players.

Los Angeles played the eighth-place Golden State Warriors, a team that also dealt with several injuries, for the seventh seed and won thanks to a game-winning 3-pointer by James.

Though the Lakers avoided the complications of the tournament, team owner Jeanie Buss detailed why she doesn’t like the format in an interview with Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic:

I obviously see the excitement of it. If we would have lost two games, we wouldn’t have been in the playoffs at all. And that’s, that’s a tough pill to swallow. When you’ve been in the top eight for the entire season. You never dropped out of the playoff position. But yet, you know, you can lose two games, and that’s what happened to Golden State, they were at the eighth spot, and then they ended up losing to us and then to Memphis and they didn’t make it in the playoffs. I could see where it’s kind of fun for one game, but I don’t want to diminish what happens in the regular season.

They like to say that it combats tanking and I think tanking would be best served by losing draft picks, something that hurts the basketball department as opposed to a financial punishment, right? Because the general manager’s job is based on wins and losses. The general manager’s job isn’t based on how many season tickets you sell, or how many sponsors.

The NBA approved the play-in tournament to continue for another season, so even though it can be a polarizing topic in the NBA spectrum, there’s a different element the games give to those teams vying to qualify for a playoff spot.

[vertical-gallery id=42277]

[mm-video type=video id=01f68xasqfk4swea5hmk playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f68xasqfk4swea5hmk/01f68xasqfk4swea5hmk-e68e28db1bed739483a5955a02c43f7f.jpg]

Report: NBA, NBPA agree to continue play-in tournament for 2021-22 season

Pending a final approval, the play-in tournament will continue for another season.

The NBA and NBPA reportedly have come to an agreement to continue the new play-in tournament for the 2021-22 season.

The play-in tournament started in the Orlando bubble when the eighth seed, ninth seed and 10th seed in the Western Conference faced off to see who would claim the eighth spot.

For the 2020-21 season, the NBA revamped it to include the seventh seed in both conferences.

The seventh and eighth seed faced off to finalize the seventh seed. The ninth seed and 10th seed played to compete against the loser of the seventh-eighth seed match for the eighth seed.

This year, the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors competed in the seventh-eighth seed game in the West and drew high ratings on ESPN.

Though it’s difficult to predict who will be in the play-in tournament next season — the Lakers and Warriors ended up there only because of injuries — it provided an incentive for teams to push for a playoff spot rather than purposefully tank for a better draft pick.

The momentum the play-in tournament gained this season will likely persist next season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:

The last step is to have the board of governors certify the agreement, which should happen in a meeting slated for sometime in August.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently said he expected the tournament to continue for next season, and it appears the league will make it happen soon.

[pickup_prop id=”8633″]

[vertical-gallery id=41126]

[mm-video type=video id=01f68xasqfk4swea5hmk playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f68xasqfk4swea5hmk/01f68xasqfk4swea5hmk-e68e28db1bed739483a5955a02c43f7f.jpg]

NBA news: Adam Silver expects play-in tournament to continue next season

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the play-in tournament was very positive and should continue next season.

During the 2020 Orlando bubble, the NBA implemented a mini-tournament dubbed the play-in for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference.

The play-in tournament provided more opportunities for teams outside of the top-eight to compete for a playoff spot rather than tank for a better draft pick.

In the 2020-21 season, the play-in tournament was revamped to include the No. 7 seed, making the playoff battle more riveting.

The Los Angeles Lakers ended up in the tournament after injuries caused the team to slip in the standings, finishing the regular season as the No. 7 seed.

LeBron James blasted the idea of the tournament before the Lakers officially ended up in that position, but he drilled an incredible 3-pointer to lift L.A. past the Golden State Warriors in the first game of the tournament.

During his press conference before the finals began, NBA commissioner Adam Silver tournament addressed the play-in tournament’s future, via The Athletic:

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday it’s the league’s expectation that the play-in tournament used to determined the seventh and eighth seeds in each conference this season will continue in the 2021-22 season.

“Overall it was very positive for the league and players,” Silver said of the play-in tournament.

The Lakers-Warriors game lived up the hype, as it drew the highest ratings on ESPN since 2019 when it happened.

But it’s impossible to predict who the teams in the play-in tournament would be next season. The Lakers and Warriors were only there due to several injuries both teams dealt with throughout the season.

[pickup_prop id=”8455″]

[vertical-gallery id=41659]

[mm-video type=video id=01f904y2qvax1t5gqktt playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f904y2qvax1t5gqktt/01f904y2qvax1t5gqktt-70b95eab874c399ccee3d87b871743e4.jpg]

NBA Twitter reacts to Warriors’ season coming to an end vs. Grizzlies in play-in tournament

After building a comeback, the Warriors season came to a close against the Grizzlies in the play-in tournament. Here are some of the best tweets.

Less than a week after pushing past the Memphis Grizzlies in the regular-season finale, the Golden State Warriors hosted a rematch on Friday at Chase Center with the final spot in the Western Conference postseason on the line.

After Steph Curry blasted the Grizzlies for 46 points in a 113-101 win on Sunday, Friday’s play-in game got off to a different start. The Grizzlies took control, surging to a 13 point lead in the first half.

Despite a bevy of turnovers, the Warriors were able to build a comeback and force overtime behind Curry. The seven-time All-Star guard tallied 39 points on 13-of-28 shooting from the field and 6-of-15 shooting from long distance. However, it wasn’t enough to slow down Ja Morant.

The second-year guard recorded a heroic effort, scoring 35 points on 14-of-29 shooting from the field, including a pair of dagger buckets to close the game in the Grizzlies’ favor, 117-112. In a contest with the season on the line, Morant registered his best shooting night from long-distance, hitting a career-best five 3-pointers on 10 attempts.

As the Grizzlies will move on to face the Utah Jazz in the first round of the postseason, the Warriors’ 2020-21 campaign has come to a close.

Following the Warriors’ sudden end to the season, Twitter exploded with a flurry of reactions. Here is a look at some of the tweets from Friday night after the play-in game.

Adam Silver wants to make the NBA play-in tournament permanent and the league absolutely should

Adam Silver is spot on here with the NBA play-in tournament.

There have been some big named critics of the NBA’s play-in tournament with the biggest one being the most powerful person in the league in LeBron James.

But it has a pretty powerful supporter, too.

Adam Silver publicly voiced his support for the play-in tournament despite some dissonance from key figures around the league. He spoke on ESPN Radio Friday ahead of the start of the NBA playoffs about how he wanted to see the tournament around long-term.

Silver said he still has to convince some teams and some players that the tournament is worth keeping around, but that it has also mostly gotten support from the key figures it needed to.

“I haven’t made any secret that I want it to be [around long term]…I have two constituencies I need to convince of that. One is the 30 teams, and I think for the most part they’ve supported it. Again, I understand the sentiment if I were a team — a 7-seed in particular — the notion [that] after a long season, you could potentially play out of the playoffs. I understand those feelings. I think at the same time, the teams recognize the amount of additional interest we’ve created over the last month of the season plus those play-in games make it worth it.”

Silver is absolutely spot on here. The NBA absolutely needs to make this a thing.

The play-in tournament should be considered nothing but a success this season. For the last month, at the end of the regular season, we’ve been watching games with consequence.

We’ve also saw two absolutely spectacular performances on consecutive nights Tuesday and Wednesday. First, it was Jayson Tatum’s 50-point game against the Wizards. Then, it was Stephen Curry’s brilliant 37-point performance being foiled by LeBron James’ game-winner.

And people watched. The Lakers and Warriors drew an average audience of 5.6 million for their game.

That number will obviously be an outlier — those are two of the most popular teams in the league with arguably the league’s two biggest stars. But it just goes to show the potential that the play-in tournament has.

This is essentially a wild card game. It’s a single-elimination winner take all moment and fans absolutely love that. You give it to them and they’ll watch it.

Does it need tweaks? Certainly. These games shouldn’t be played so late at night on the East Coast. And maybe there’s a way to give some sort of a better advantage to the 7 and 8 seeds.

Watch our sneaker unboxing video series, Special Delivery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJh3IRDNRo4

But there’s something here — that’s obvious to anyone. And the NBA would be silly to let go of that so quickly. [mm-video type=video id=01f65n6900j42g7zsqqe playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f65n6900j42g7zsqqe/01f65n6900j42g7zsqqe-37e39a75d36cbcfeda6d51b90f3d4e94.jpg]

Grizzlies vs. Warriors: Live stream, how to watch, TV channel, rookie watch, previous result, start time for play-in game on May 21

On Friday’s final play-in game, the Grizzlies and Warriors will decide the No. 8 seed in the West’s playoffs. Here are all the details.

After falling to the Los Angeles Lakers in the opening round of the Western Conference play-in tournament, the Golden State Warriors will host a rematch with the Memphis Grizzlies to decide the No. 8 seed in the West’s postseason.

The winner will meet the No. 1 seed Utah Jazz on Sunday in the playoffs and the loser’s season end on Friday night.

Friday’s play-in contest comes a little under a week after the Warriors surged past the Grizzlies in the final game of the regular season, 113-101. Steph Curry blasted the Grizzlies for 46 points on 16-of-36 shooting from the field.

Heading into Friday, the Grizzlies are coming off a win against the San Antonio Spurs. Dillon Brooks, Ja Morant and Jonas Valanciunas all scored over 20 points to seal the victory, 100-96.

Before the final game of play-in tournament, here is everything you need to know before Friday’s contest at Chase Center.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver talks on the future of the play-in tournament, start of 2021-22 season

The Commissioner had plenty to say about how seasons may be starting — and ending — in the near future.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spent some time opening up about how the league’s new play-in tournament and how it impacted the end of the 2020-21 season in a recent interview, as well as how the start of the 2021-22 NBA season will go.

While there are certainly legitimate gripes to be had by teams and players who would have preferred to be resting as the end of the regular season winds down, it seems the new end-of-season wrinkle was a smashing success in generating fan interest in a part of the season that is about as low as it can be during the regular season.

Silver also talks on how the league plans to get back to playing something closer to a normal schedule in terms of their historic range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQHWrFkosps

Watch the video embedded above to hear everything he has to say about these twin issues moving forward for the league — it sounds as if things are in motion to try and cement both ends of the season in the ways Silver describes in this clip.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

[lawrence-related id=50833,50831,50817,50807]

[listicle id=50819]

Warriors vs. Lakers play-in game drew highest NBA audience on ESPN since 2019

The Lakers-Warriors play-in match on ESPN for the seventh seed drew a large audience Wednesday.

The Los Angeles Lakers matchup against the Golden State Warriors in the play-in tournament for the seventh seed exceeded expectations.

The game’s magnitude intensified with LeBron James and Stephen Curry preparing to duel each other in a game with massive playoff implications, and the atmosphere throughout the game resembled a typical playoff feeling.

Curry led an undermanned Warriors squad with 37 points, including a blistering 6-of-9 clip from 3-point range. James, despite a sluggish first half, answered the call in the second half, finishing the game with a 22-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist triple-double.

The game came down to the final minute of the fourth quarter, when James unleashed a deep 3-pointer over Curry to win the game, which earned praise from Curry after the contest.

The matchup captivated the NBA spectrum, and according to Ben Cafardo of ESPN, the game drew the highest audience of any NBA game on ESPN since the 2019 Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers.

The ratings also surpassed the play-in game from the 2020 Orlando Bubble between the then eight-seeded Trail Blazers and the ninth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies, who faced off for the eighth seed in a different format.

The Lakers and Warriors weren’t expected to be involved in the play-in tournament this season, but unfortunate injuries to both teams throughout the season saw them wind up as the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively.

Still, millions of fans got to witness a classic that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

[vertical-gallery id=39837]

[mm-video type=video id=01f62x2yfttk5r6vbvxb playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f62x2yfttk5r6vbvxb/01f62x2yfttk5r6vbvxb-27baf1f4f6d53c51447d60bdfd0daa60.jpg]

3 observations: LeBron James lifts Lakers over Warriors with game-winning three

The Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Golden State Warriors in the play-in game after a clutch LeBron James triple in the final seconds.

The play-in game for the seventh seed in the Western Conference certainly lived up to the billing, with the Los Angeles Lakers pulling away from the Golden State Warriors, 103-100.

The Warriors controlled the first half of play in large part because the Lakers’ triumvirate of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder were ice cold from the field.

On the other hand, Golden State saw a relatively modest performance from Stephen Curry through two quarters but received solid production from Andrew Wiggins, Kent Bazemore, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Jordan Poole, all hitting crucial shots from mid-range and outside the arc.

In the end, James and company clawed back from a 13-point deficit, capped off with James drilling a deep 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 58.2 seconds remaining, sealing the score at 103-100.

Here are three observations from the Lakers’ thrilling victory: