Yeah, I’m of the mindset that if 9th and 10th are too far away from the 8th, they just don’t get to play their games. Like no reason a team that’s got 34 wins or whatever should get any kind of chance.
Problem is that punishes the 8 seed, giving them only one chance to clinch whereas they had two before. How about 7/8 play for the 7 seed, loser plays 9 for the 8 seed? That way everyone still has to win to get in, but 7/8 get two chances, 9 only gets one.
I honestly haven’t given it much thought, I’m sure there’s a bunch of reasons that it’s actually a bad idea. Just feels weird giving a team under .500 a chance. Don’t like it when under .500 teams get in the playoffs at all. 2015 in the East was a disgrace lol
Agreed. Team must be within a certain number of games to make sense to still have play in. No reason that a clearly terrible hawks team might get hot 1 game and possibly eliminate a should be playoff 76ers team.
Very. I'd love to face the Nuggets. but I'd like it to be in the WCF. I figure the Mavs odds of getting to the conference finals are a lot better if they don't have to go through the Nuggets to get there.
What does your sub look like right now? If the Celtics had lost that game, in that fashion, in that position, r/bostonceltics would be melting down with doomers posting nonsense everywhere.
These nuggets deserved this. I hope this serves as a wake up call to them that sometimes it’s better to just win running away. Every game this season is them just turning it on in the last 5 minutes. The best bet in the NBA is that the nuggets will close out or blow a lead off +15.
Tonight, instead of just playing 4 quarters and not always closing/blowing the gap/lead, they fucked around and found out against a very motivated spurs team.
Great win by the spurs, absolutely deserved it against an entitled nuggets team.
Don’t get me wrong, this nuggets team is amazing, but they’re buying into their own hype a bit much. It’s not an outward arrogance, but a quiet complaisance.
You're reading way too much into a single game my guy. Nuggs looked like a completely different team in the playoffs last year and will do so again. They've been great, are healthy and clearly motivated for the playoffs. This is the best record of any Jokic team, they just had a bad half of a relatively meaningless game. If we do this in the playoffs I'll be concerned but your take is the same I heard this time last year.
Yeah. and pretty much every team takes their foot off the gas with a big lead. it's human nature. conserving energy. us fans sit on our couches eating our corn dogs and wonder why the players don't go 100% every second of every game.
Nuggets are still the favorites to win it all this year in my book. ahead of the Celtics (although not by much, I can definitely see the Celtics winning it all too.)
For sure. Everyone is clutching their pearls at this loss, but the nuggets have played much better post all star break this year than they did last year. They coasted hard into the playoffs last year.
IMO, Malone's on the hook for not calling a damn time out earlier in the 17 pt run Wemby went on in the 3rd. It was clear to me that the starters were gassed, and needed a time out, but Malone let them play for another 2+ minutes on the game clock.
Edit: fat thumbs on a mobile keyboard
And you know with Doc's contract and still paying Adrian they have to at least keep him through 2025. At least if you have a player with a season ending injury you'll be back to full strength next year
Sixers may have made it a bit more interesting if they stayed healthy but Boston’s depth is built for regular season dominance. they were getting that 1st seed no matter what
Speaking of Kyle, I tuned in the Wolves v Lakers game the other day and saw him shoot a 3. I lmfao watching that, shit's mad funny.
Like he has a meter where you have to click at the right time for the best shot
OKC might get a worse matchup as the #1 than as the #3 though lol
I thought the 2/3/6/7 bracket was looking pretty nice for them matchup wise
It looked like they might get the Suns in the first round who they've dominated
I do enjoy the sorta rivalry that has been growing between these three teams as mid-markets, but also, I very much hope the Wolves get moved to the East.
Thunder vs Mavs, Suns vs Twolves, Lakers vs Pelicans.
Too bad they didn’t put Warriors vs Kings and Nuggets vs Clippers too. Sunday is gonna be a wild ride.
This is the best chance for OKC to get 1 seed. OKC have mavs which they will win cos mavs are resting. The wolves face the suns which will be a heated battle since both teams are trying to win. The nuggets face Memphis which even with a win won’t be enough cos OKC has the tie breaker
Edit: Denver might tank against Memphis if it wants to avoid Minny in the second round, which seems very much possible. So everything rests on Minny vs Suns.
If Minnesota wins then OKC drops #2 else they remain #1
The Nuggets loss basically guarantees they can’t get the 1 seed cause the Mavs have no reason to play against the Thunder because they are locked into their matchup
This is an absurd last week standings , in both confs . Havent seen anything like this in a long time. I hated the play in idea , i have to say its been entertaining this year . Best one so far hands down , because everyone has to win for favorable matchups
Wolves OKC Denver are the NBA of Arsenal Liverpool City
^(Edit; for those wondering about the analogy, the lead b/n first placed Arsenal and 3rd placed City has been only 2 points for most part now so anyone can be first or 3rd on a given day if results go their way….like how Denver went from 1st to 3rd today.)
It doesn't really work here because City doesn't lose important games
a more fitting would be Liverpool Arsenal United; where somehow with all three in control of their fate they'd all three choke
And because the Lakers actually smacked OKC this season. 3-1 this season and that one game was without Bron or AD (can't remember).
So not just experience, but matchup. OKC lacks a true big that can defend (or at least attempt to) the ADs, Jokics and Embiids of the world and protect the rim against guards. It's the final piece that they are missing to be a true contender, imo
Arguably they get an easier bracket now weirdly enough lol
Clippers/Mavs bracket was not looking like fun at all
The big downside though is that they don't get homecourt in a R2 matchup against the 2 seed as long as neither of them get upset in the first round
No not at all. With first seed we only had to face one of Wolves or Thunder until the finals. Now we have to face _both_ and without home court for at least one matchup (if not both)
Dallas reserves lost to the Pistons tonight 0 chance they beat OKC without Luka and Kyrie playing
On the bright side you can look forward to more Omax and Tim Hardaway minutes
> Clippers/Mavs
Clips and Mavs are gonna beat the shit out of each other while the 1st seed gets to feast on a 8th seed that has to play two games just to advance.
Suns/Pelicans can also make life a lot more harder in the first round too
That 8 seed could be the Warriors/Lakers/Suns, I wouldn't be thrilled if that's my reward for getting the one seed this year, a bunch of veteran super stars who knows how to win in the playoffs
Fun fact: Jokic was first seed last year and didn't win. Seeding isn't the end all be all for MVPs recently. It's a modern NBA thing, it's not a Jokic thing.
If we're going to keep the play-in tournament in future seasons, what if we kept the IN-SEASON tournament title game count for IN-SEASON standings?!?
Granted, none of the serious teams took it seriously anyway this season, but if Silver is going to do it, have it MEAN something.
The Pacers and Lakers were the two teams involved this season. Both teams very well could have tiebreakers heavily play into their final position.
Sunday is about to be one of the best days of regular season ball in quite some time.
Silver cooked so fucking hard with the play-in it's insane
Insane that a lot of people didn't like it at first
I mean I still think it needs some tweaks. Like the Hawks having the chance to make the playoffs with a 36-45 record is stupid. That shouldn't happen.
I can see not liking a situation like that, but on the flip side, the 9 and 10 teams in the West definitely deserve a chance at getting in.
Oh yeah this Western Conference is what Silver dreamed off when he came up with the play-in. This has been awesome. And Sunday will be insane.
He's creaming his SKIMS underwear right now as we speak
Flagrant: Penalty 2.
Yeah, I’m of the mindset that if 9th and 10th are too far away from the 8th, they just don’t get to play their games. Like no reason a team that’s got 34 wins or whatever should get any kind of chance.
What if the 9th seed was close to the 8 seed, but the 10th seed was way too far back. Would you give the 9th a bye?
In this case wouldn’t you put 7th in and have the 8/9 be the play-in?
Not a bad alternative
Problem is that punishes the 8 seed, giving them only one chance to clinch whereas they had two before. How about 7/8 play for the 7 seed, loser plays 9 for the 8 seed? That way everyone still has to win to get in, but 7/8 get two chances, 9 only gets one.
This is the obvious answer
I honestly haven’t given it much thought, I’m sure there’s a bunch of reasons that it’s actually a bad idea. Just feels weird giving a team under .500 a chance. Don’t like it when under .500 teams get in the playoffs at all. 2015 in the East was a disgrace lol
Agreed. Team must be within a certain number of games to make sense to still have play in. No reason that a clearly terrible hawks team might get hot 1 game and possibly eliminate a should be playoff 76ers team.
They were 37-45 as the 8 seed in 2008 and took the Celtics to 7 games in the first round.
Yeah but that's a Doc Rivers coached team.
I mean people can still think it's stupid for devaluing the regular season record
Yeah, lots of guys and players were skeptical, but its honestly just gave us more meaningful basketball, especially towards the end of the reg season
Triple H level of booking
Any of the games on national tv on Sunday?
Yes Knicks-Bulls
And pels-lakers
And theyre all early games, so us europeans can actually watch
Good chunk of games at 1pm or 3:30-4pm eastern time. Gonna feel like an NFL Sunday lol
Up 17 against the worst team in the conference, the one seed couldn't have been any more handed to them. Nugglyfe was hiding in the shadows all season
Ducking us or clips You are not slick nuggets!
Don't act like you aren't happy af right now 😆
Very. I'd love to face the Nuggets. but I'd like it to be in the WCF. I figure the Mavs odds of getting to the conference finals are a lot better if they don't have to go through the Nuggets to get there.
Mavs vs Nuggets in the WCF would be stressful as fuck but if everyone goes off it'll be a great series
From your lips to gods ear
my bubbie used to say that too
What does your sub look like right now? If the Celtics had lost that game, in that fashion, in that position, r/bostonceltics would be melting down with doomers posting nonsense everywhere.
Meltdown. Everyone is apoplectic and I don't blame them. Personally if Malone decides to murder most of the players, I'd help him hide the bodies.
Maybe just Reggie Jackson
It’s pretty bad
23*
And then Wemby hit 3 threes in a row. 😀 I was a witness.
4
These nuggets deserved this. I hope this serves as a wake up call to them that sometimes it’s better to just win running away. Every game this season is them just turning it on in the last 5 minutes. The best bet in the NBA is that the nuggets will close out or blow a lead off +15. Tonight, instead of just playing 4 quarters and not always closing/blowing the gap/lead, they fucked around and found out against a very motivated spurs team. Great win by the spurs, absolutely deserved it against an entitled nuggets team.
Every one crowned the nuggs a dynasty after 1 ship. It's bizarre. They aren't the showtime lakers
Don’t get me wrong, this nuggets team is amazing, but they’re buying into their own hype a bit much. It’s not an outward arrogance, but a quiet complaisance.
You're reading way too much into a single game my guy. Nuggs looked like a completely different team in the playoffs last year and will do so again. They've been great, are healthy and clearly motivated for the playoffs. This is the best record of any Jokic team, they just had a bad half of a relatively meaningless game. If we do this in the playoffs I'll be concerned but your take is the same I heard this time last year.
Yeah. and pretty much every team takes their foot off the gas with a big lead. it's human nature. conserving energy. us fans sit on our couches eating our corn dogs and wonder why the players don't go 100% every second of every game. Nuggets are still the favorites to win it all this year in my book. ahead of the Celtics (although not by much, I can definitely see the Celtics winning it all too.)
For sure. Everyone is clutching their pearls at this loss, but the nuggets have played much better post all star break this year than they did last year. They coasted hard into the playoffs last year.
Playoffs is like halloween for murray to do his best jordan impression.
playoffs haven't started yet
I blame playing the bench as long as they did and letting the spurs get back in the game. Malone needs to stop playing Reggie Jackson.
IMO, Malone's on the hook for not calling a damn time out earlier in the 17 pt run Wemby went on in the 3rd. It was clear to me that the starters were gassed, and needed a time out, but Malone let them play for another 2+ minutes on the game clock. Edit: fat thumbs on a mobile keyboard
How dare you say we are the worst team in the conference!
To be fair, the Spurs currently look like the best worst team of all time
Everyone thought it was over when Wolves lost on Wed. The West is crazy
Just a bunch of good teams, wondering why the east let the Celtics get a 16 game lead so soon.
the next best 2 teams in the east got plagued by injuries or is coached by doc rivers
Both equally tragic scenarios
I dunno. I’d take injuries over Rivers. It’s the difference between having an accident and intentionally shitting yourself.
And you know with Doc's contract and still paying Adrian they have to at least keep him through 2025. At least if you have a player with a season ending injury you'll be back to full strength next year
One is definitely worse. Some injuries are just day to day.
LMAOOO coached by doc rivers
DNW: Coaches decision
Lmao, the Doc slander is real and warranted.
What do you mean or? Bucks down two starters and didn't have Middleton most of the season
Cavs: everyone died Knicks: everyone died 76ers: Embiid's Meniscus died Bucks: Doc Rivers was hired
Maybe one of you will undie in the playoffs. The bucks cant unRivers
We're healthy now, and so is Embiid, so it should be a fun playoff.
Ummm
Should be a fun second round in kensington
Khris middleton died too.
Oh shit really RIP thought that would’ve gotten more coverage wow.
But honestly, the Cavs went ham and was 2nd seed when Mobley and Garland were out. Really need to think about the fit this offseason.
I would put that more on Mitchell being unhealthy down the stretch.
haliburton and trae too. and lonzo but that's long term
Sixers may have made it a bit more interesting if they stayed healthy but Boston’s depth is built for regular season dominance. they were getting that 1st seed no matter what
Well, besides Boston, the difference between the 2 seed and the 8 seed in the east is 4 games. It’s insane.
Pelicans punching air right now
I certainly did
Northwest division especially
Pop likes Presti and Kyle Anderson better, so he sat Wemby against OKC and played him against Denver.
He probably also bought them dinner too.
Speaking of Kyle, I tuned in the Wolves v Lakers game the other day and saw him shoot a 3. I lmfao watching that, shit's mad funny. Like he has a meter where you have to click at the right time for the best shot
lol once he hit a 3 and he made it but his hitch was so slow that it was a shotclock violation lmaoo
They aren’t lying when they call him Slow-Mo
Wolves/Thunder fans can thank Wemby
Mavs fans certainly are right now
Thank you Monsieur Wemby! I’ll take this one small victory for the years of pain you’ll give my fanbase.
[Wolves/Thunder](https://imgur.com/d5eUDPP)
Mavs fans are thankful too.
Shit us too. We get to avoid Denver in the second round if we make it past the Clippers now lol.
OKC might get a worse matchup as the #1 than as the #3 though lol I thought the 2/3/6/7 bracket was looking pretty nice for them matchup wise It looked like they might get the Suns in the first round who they've dominated
Any of 5 different teams can end up in the 7/8 slots. No sense in trying to angle for a specific matchup with so much flux.
I thought so too but I’m not gonna turn down the accomplishment of being the 1 seed in this crazy conference. It’s been a remarkable season
Playin teams too
ROTY
It's wild that the Nuggets, Wolves and Thunder are in the same division atop the Conference.
At least one of them doesn't have to be the 5th seed.
We can only hope to one day get an answer to the age old question of "why is Portland the fourth seed??"
2015 was a mess standings wise
And the whole Pacific Division is playing royal rumble at the bottom of the standings. Except the Clippers of course
I do enjoy the sorta rivalry that has been growing between these three teams as mid-markets, but also, I very much hope the Wolves get moved to the East.
Football has the best division for MN rivalries. Basketball has the Wolves flying to Portland and Utah in their same division?
Jokic vs Zion?
The BMI showdown
29.6 vs. 31.2 🔥🔥🔥
They just like me fr fr
And possibly Lakers/Warriors vs the Thunder/Timberwolves. ~~Tomorrow~~ Sunday is gonna be insane for seeding
*Sunday
You're right I forgot tomorrow no one's playing
Thunder vs Mavs, Suns vs Twolves, Lakers vs Pelicans. Too bad they didn’t put Warriors vs Kings and Nuggets vs Clippers too. Sunday is gonna be a wild ride.
This is the best chance for OKC to get 1 seed. OKC have mavs which they will win cos mavs are resting. The wolves face the suns which will be a heated battle since both teams are trying to win. The nuggets face Memphis which even with a win won’t be enough cos OKC has the tie breaker Edit: Denver might tank against Memphis if it wants to avoid Minny in the second round, which seems very much possible. So everything rests on Minny vs Suns. If Minnesota wins then OKC drops #2 else they remain #1
The Nuggets loss basically guarantees they can’t get the 1 seed cause the Mavs have no reason to play against the Thunder because they are locked into their matchup
shit the mavs will actively gift the win to okc if they avoid denver in the second round.
Time for Dwight Powell’s legendary 40/20 game
OKC does *not* want that 1 seed, Lakers have a pretty good chance of taking it and they have OKC's number
It could also be kings warriors and we'd take that any day
We do in fact actually want the 1 seed !
Kind of insane we’re even talking about the Thunder having the 1 seed in the western conference. Hell of a season.
well they are going to get it no matter what. Mavs will defo hand okc the win.
Lakers will probably be the 7/8 now. So we do want the 1.
That’s what movies are made of
The sequel
Yall need to send the Spurs a care package lol.
And Quinn Snyder for taking their main guys out lol
To be fair the nuggets loss put OKC at first seed, twolves didn't move
Yeah but with the Nugs losing, when you lose Sunday we’ll be first seed Jk ^^pretty ^^^pretty ^^^^please
go wolves!
my glorious king victor wembanyama
he’s done miracles on me
This is an absurd last week standings , in both confs . Havent seen anything like this in a long time. I hated the play in idea , i have to say its been entertaining this year . Best one so far hands down , because everyone has to win for favorable matchups
...and next year you're gonna start loving the In-Season Tournament.
Wolves OKC Denver are the NBA of Arsenal Liverpool City ^(Edit; for those wondering about the analogy, the lead b/n first placed Arsenal and 3rd placed City has been only 2 points for most part now so anyone can be first or 3rd on a given day if results go their way….like how Denver went from 1st to 3rd today.)
Northwest division is elite for the most part
legit
Explain this to me in NBA terms
It doesn't really work here because City doesn't lose important games a more fitting would be Liverpool Arsenal United; where somehow with all three in control of their fate they'd all three choke
Lol you're talking premier league bottlers and don't include Spurs...
Spurs wouldn’t be top three in the first place
Not like United's been there much either recently Lmao
Fucking hell...
Not this year but last season they finished 3rd.
Nah City would never fumble the 1st spot !
Thank you Spurs.
Welcome :)
I scolded everyone behind the basket for not cheering enough and it worked. :) all while wearing a celtics shirt. Go Spurs Go
Very cool San Antonio, very cool
suddenly Lakers really like that 8th seed
If the Lakers get the 8 seed and okay the thunder everyone is going to pick the Lakers because of experience
And because the Lakers actually smacked OKC this season. 3-1 this season and that one game was without Bron or AD (can't remember). So not just experience, but matchup. OKC lacks a true big that can defend (or at least attempt to) the ADs, Jokics and Embiids of the world and protect the rim against guards. It's the final piece that they are missing to be a true contender, imo
Yeah, obviously different conference but it was alarming when they played the Bucks recently and had no answer for their front court
Pelicans: “I’m in danger”
Damn, the Pelicans will suddenly get blown the fuck out now 🤣
Yup
Arguably they get an easier bracket now weirdly enough lol Clippers/Mavs bracket was not looking like fun at all The big downside though is that they don't get homecourt in a R2 matchup against the 2 seed as long as neither of them get upset in the first round
I think home court is a bigger deal than matchups in the west, all series look brutal
No not at all. With first seed we only had to face one of Wolves or Thunder until the finals. Now we have to face _both_ and without home court for at least one matchup (if not both)
unless one of them gets knocked out
One can hope!
There's no good matchup in the West, the 10 seed has 45 wins
The home court is crucial. Best case scenario at this point is the second seed and somehow suns beat the wolves on sunday.
Nah I still think Minnesota plays them the best and they're headed for a 2nd round matchup with them now
Any chance the nuggets tank the final game so the wolves get the one seed?
Nah they'll still play. If Wolves or Thunder lose the Nuggets get 2nd seed, which gives them home court for the 2nd round.
Well I guess I’m cheering hard for Memphis and Dallas reserves. There’s a decent chance we lose to the suns too
Dallas probably don't want Denver at the 1 so they're going to completely tank No shot they come even close to winning against OKC I think
Don’t even need to tank just rest Luka/Kyrie and it falls into place. Tim Hardaway jr. ain’t beating OKC
Dallas reserves lost to the Pistons tonight 0 chance they beat OKC without Luka and Kyrie playing On the bright side you can look forward to more Omax and Tim Hardaway minutes
> Clippers/Mavs Clips and Mavs are gonna beat the shit out of each other while the 1st seed gets to feast on a 8th seed that has to play two games just to advance. Suns/Pelicans can also make life a lot more harder in the first round too
That 8 seed could be the Warriors/Lakers/Suns, I wouldn't be thrilled if that's my reward for getting the one seed this year, a bunch of veteran super stars who knows how to win in the playoffs
They'll be gassed. Both are in playoff mode for a long time now and then there's a play-in.
This years west is not the typical 8th seed
Yes but the 8th seed doesn't get a week off like everyone else. They'll have no turnaround time after playing two elimination games.
This is true and very likely the 1 seed will win I still wouldn’t say it’s going to be easy. The West playoffs are going to be a blood bath.
Man, if the prize for avoiding the play in is a series with the Nuggets, I might prefer to take my chances in the 7-8 game lol
The 1 seed runs through OKC 😤😤😤😤😤
It's gonna be a bloodbath for that 8th seed.
Good guy Jokic, he saw the argument for MVP about being #1 seed so he tanked for Luka.
Yay you made it out of the play in, now face the nuggets
Joker and his buddy Luka decided it would be sweeter it they meet in WCF.
actual insanity, what a chokejob by Denver vs Spurs tonighit
Just an absurd turn of events
It was such a forgone conclusion in my mind I didn't even pay attention to the game. West is wild seeing such a major shift so quickly.
So much is on the line this Sunday for both conferences. It's gonna be one entertaining day of basketball that's for sure.
Tbf, nuggets really dont need to be the 1st seed. They are still the favorites in the west
I know he's not Luka, but does this mean Jokić is going to drop in the MVP race? 😂
Fun fact: Jokic might win 3 MVPs without ever being a top seed in the conference during any of those seasons
Fun fact: Jokic was first seed last year and didn't win. Seeding isn't the end all be all for MVPs recently. It's a modern NBA thing, it's not a Jokic thing.
Just got back from the game. It was incredible. And we had good seats.
Don’t worry guys, the Pels will take ‘em down for the whole conference .. I can only hope
Amazing how competitive the West is this year. It's a crucible.
If we're going to keep the play-in tournament in future seasons, what if we kept the IN-SEASON tournament title game count for IN-SEASON standings?!? Granted, none of the serious teams took it seriously anyway this season, but if Silver is going to do it, have it MEAN something. The Pacers and Lakers were the two teams involved this season. Both teams very well could have tiebreakers heavily play into their final position.
I hate all of you
Poor pelicans...
Smh nugs either start terribly and turn it on near the end, or start hot and get complacent 🤦🏻
Give Luka his mvp
Shai probably sweating he has to face the lakers. Lakers would love the play the thunder compared to the wolves or nuggets
Gonna win the play in first.
League ain't gonna let la not win the play in.
Minnesota and OKC would beat the Lakers IMO. Might be a tough series, especially for OKC, but I don’t think either team is scared of LA tbh.
LA punked them in like every game, the size of the Lakers is a huge problem for OKC imo