NBA play-in tourney starts today, giving eight teams new life

MIAMI (AP):

Getting to the play-in tournament probably wasn’t the goal of any team when training camps opened back in September.

It does, however, beat the alternative.

There are 12 teams with play-off spots right now, 10 teams whose seasons are over – and eight teams with a second chance. The play-in tournament starts today, with Atlanta going to Miami and Minnesota visiting the Los Angeles Lakers, with the winners going to the post-season.

Oklahoma City go to New Orleans and Chicago visit Toronto tomorrow for elimination games; losers go home, winners move on to face the losers of today’s games in another win-or-go-home contest.

“You have to embrace this new experience,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “To the old heads in our locker room, each of us have experienced long NBA careers and not have had this opportunity. I think it’s been great for the league. How harrowing this has been, the last six, eight weeks for 16 teams in the West and the East. It’s just been great for competition and overall. It’s been great for the league.”

The NBA added it to boost end-of-season excitement, give more teams play-off hope – and discourage tanking. Dallas still had a chance at the play-in until their 81st game of the season on Friday, when they held several rotation players out and lost. The NBA is investigating the Mavericks’ motivations there and if Dallas lost to protect their draft odds.

The Heat were the No. 1 seeds in the East last season and now need the play-in just to get back to the play-offs. But they’re also playing perhaps their best basketball of the season — just like the Lakers, who went a West-best 16-7 after the All-Star break.

“We put ourselves in a position where we can move on,” Lakers star LeBron James said. “That’s all we could ask for, to put ourselves in a position to be able to move on. We had obviously a very, very slow start, starting 2-10 ... to know where we are today. We can be happy about that, but not satisfied.”

No team that has used the play-in tournament – Portland in 2020 in the bubble under a slightly different format; Boston, Washington, the Lakers and Memphis in 2021; Brooklyn, Atlanta, Minnesota and New Orleans last year – to reach the actual play-offs has ever won a first-round series.

But it still provides hope, and perhaps a shot in the arm for those who survive and advance.