We now know the 20 teams that have either qualified directly into the National Basketball Association playoffs or the silly/ridiculous NBA Play-In Tournament. On Sunday, the Houston Rockets were mathematically eliminated from the play-in tournament when they lost 147-136 to the Dallas Mavericks.
In the East, the top six teams at the moment are the Boston Celtics (who have home court advantage through the rest of the NBA playoffs), the Milwaukee Bucks, the Orlando Magic, the New York Knicks, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. If the season was over today, the four teams in the play-in tournament are the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks.
In the West, the top six teams at the moment are the Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, and Phoenix Suns. If the season was over today, the four teams in the play-in tournament are the New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors.
The creation of the NBA Play-In Tournament is ridiculous and absurd on multiple fronts. First in the East, there are two bad teams in the mix that should not be worthy of playoff discussion. The Chicago Bulls are at 37 wins and 41 losses, while the Atlanta Hawks are at 36 wins and 42 losses. Playoff spots should be awarded to the 76ers and Heat, and they should not have to play extra games.
Meanwhile, the NBA Play-In Tournament creators ruined an exciting playoff chase in the West under the original format. The Suns, Pelicans, Kings, Lakers and Warriors are all within three games of each other. It would have been neat to see only three of the teams get into the playoffs the more traditional way–through exciting regular season games at the end of the regular season.
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