Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies’ dribbles the ball down during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Sunday, August 9, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (Kevin C. Cox / Pool Photo via AP)
Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies’ dribbles the ball down during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Sunday, August 9, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (Kevin C. Cox / Pool Photo via AP)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (AP) – Now it’s official: there will be a series of play-ins to determine the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Memphis’ 108-99 defeat to Toronto on Sunday means that a difference of more than four games in the standings between eighth and ninth place in the West is no longer possible when the seeding match schedule ends later this week.
Under the rules set by the NBA for this season’s reboot, there had to be more than a four-game margin for team number 8 to get the final place in the playoffs. The league has decided to add the play-in series option in plenty of fairness, as approximately 14% of the regular season schedule has been eliminated due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Memphis remains only in eighth place, even after Sunday’s defeat. No team has earned a spot in the play-in series; the Grizzlies couldn’t have secured any worse than that had they defeated the Raptors on Sunday.
Game 1 of the play-in series will be on Saturday, with Game 2 – if needed – the next day, August 16. To advance and face the seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, the eighth-place team will have to win one of two games and ninth place would have to go 2-0.
ABC will air the first game of the play-in series on Saturday at 2:30 PM EDT. Match 2, if needed, would be on August 16 at 4:30 pm on ESPN.
There will be no play-in series in the Eastern Conference; Brooklyn and Orlando secured the last two spots available in that group, with Washington – the only other team to come to Disney with a chance to qualify in the East – already eliminated.
The playoffs begin on Monday 17th August.
“Obviously, that’s everyone’s goal,” New Orleans manager Alvin Gentry said on Sunday.
The play-in match will be announced by Thursday. There are four seeded matches on Friday, the last day of the regular season, though none of them will have any influence on the Western matchup.
___
More NBA APs: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
.
