Max Friedl Sports Blog

Win or Go Home: The NBA implements a new playoff system to include more games, bringing excitement, suspense, and incredible stories.

This Year

The 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament provided a thrilling prelude to the traditional playoff battles as teams on the cusp fought for their postseason lives. This year’s play-in format, which allowed lower-seeded teams a shot at playoff glory, created a series of intense and gripping matchups that captured the attention of basketball fans worldwide. Teams displayed a do-or-die urgency, leading to some of the season’s most memorable and fiercely contested games. 

Notably, the play-in tournament highlighted the depth and competitive balance across the league, with several underdog teams seizing the opportunity to upset higher-ranked opponents. This structure kept the playoff race alive and exciting and allowed emerging stars to shine on a big stage and gain valuable postseason experience. The success of the play-in games continued to validate the NBA’s decision to implement this format, as it enhanced the overall competitive spirit of the league and kept more teams and fan bases engaged deeper into the season.

This year, the play-in tournament went like this,

In the West, the Sacramento Kings beat out the Golden State Warriors in a not-so-close game. The Warriors would lose 118-94, with “former star” Klay Thompson shooting 0-10 from the field and finishing with 0 points.

The Lakers would slightly edge out the Pelicans in a tight 110-106 game despite Pelicans Zion Williamson shooting 17-27 from the field and logging 40 points.

The Kings would then face the Pelicans, Where the Pelicans would win 105-98. The Pelicans would hold the lead from 7 minutes left in the 2nd quarter for the rest of the game.

In the East, Coby White and the Chicago Bulls would edge out Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, and the Atlanta Hawks. White had an astounding 42-point performance that pushed them past the Hawks.

The 76ers and Heat would duel out an intense 7-8 match. Good performances from Tyler Herro and Joel Embiid pushed this game into a tight fourth quarter where the 76ers would ultimately come out with a 1-point advantage as the buzzer rang. The game finished at 105-104 76ers.

To end the play-in tournament, the Bulls would take on the Heat, where the winner grabs the 8th seed in the eastern bracket. The Heat would dominate this game, shooting an efficient 46.3% from the field and winning 112-91.

What is the NBA Play-in tournament?

The NBA Playoff Tournament was an idea brought up and tested in the 2020 season. Previously, the NBA Playoffs consisted of 16 teams, 8 in the east and 8 in the west. The goal of the play-in is to provide teams lower in the rankings with an opportunity for playoff experience. On top of that, it extends the NBA season by about one week. The Play-in tournament includes the 9th and tenth best teams in each conference and puts them against the 7th and 8th best team. Before the mini-tournament, the top 8 teams in each conference would be locked into the playoffs once the season ends. Now that the tournament is here, We get to see the 7, 8, 9, and 10 seeds duel it in a mini-tournament before the playoffs start.

It looks a little something like this,

The 7th and the 8th seeds play against each other first. The winner gets an automatic bid into the playoffs. The 9th plays the 10th with the loser getting wholly knocked out, where after this the winner of the 9-10 plays the loser of the 7-8 and the winner gets the 8th and final spot in the playoffs. 

Here’s a reference image to help out.