The 2022 NBA Play-In Tournament + Playoffs Thread

[Proximo]

Come on pelicans, end the clips season,

 

[Mainstreet]

Kind of wish suns would have gone after nance when he was available cheap.

his rebounding and hustle off the bench would be huge.

He would have been a nice fit at power forward.

 

[sdscard4]

Clippers choke

 

[Dback Jon]

Clippers choke

Game isn’t over

 

[Mainstreet]

Clippers choke

These teams are playing their hearts out.

 

[TJ]

Wonder if Zion’s fat ass will Magically heal for the series

 

[Mainstreet]

Wonder if Zion’s fat ass will Magically heal for the series

He didn't look in shape the last time I saw him.

 

[Dback Jon]

Nance with the double choke

 

[Phrazbit]

That pass by Ingram was... dumb.

 

[Folster]

Play in games were such a good idea.

 

[Proximo]

I’m happy. Did not want another series like the WC finals.

 

[Dback Jon]

Pelicans it is

 

[SirStefan32]

They can’t sustain it. Not against a far superior offensive team than the Pels.

You called it!

 

[Mainstreet]

Larry Nance Jr. had such a nice game. It would have been a shame if his two missed free throws had cost the Pelicans the win.

 

[Finito]

Holy hell I turned it off.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Um, the point of getting the 7/8 seed is so that you only have to win one of two to get in, instead of having to win two of two. And the point of getting the 5/6 seed is so that you don’t have to risk the play-in at all.

BTW, remember when the first round was best-of-three? Did that also render the 82-game season pointless?

That’s not much of a payoff for your 82 game schedule. And yeah, the reason they changed the first round from fewer to more games was (a) $$$ (obviously); but also (b) it’s a playoff series and should be taken seriously. Play-in is dumb. They even said tonight the stats literally don’t count. It’s not considered regular season and they don’t count as playoff stats. If nothing else, that pretty much screams stupid.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I think Memphis is quite a bit better than we were last year and we were a few injuries away from winning it all. I think several teams are better this year than any of the top teams were last season so it will be a tough hill to climb for a team that isn't playoff tested but I certainly wouldn't rule them out.

You think they were better than us? We won the equivalent of 58 games, finished a game back of best record and made the finals. Just because everyone else underrates last years team doesn’t mean we should too . . .

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The Pelicans found a solid backup point guard in Jose Alvarado who went undrafted.

They have a lot of young talent in addition to a few really nice veterans.

 

[AzStevenCal]

You think they were better than us? We won the equivalent of 58 games, finished a game back of best record and made the finals. Just because everyone else underrates last years team doesn’t mean we should too . . .

Yeah, I think they are better than we were last year and it's not all that close. They had a poor start (10-10) before they got it together and like us, they mailed it in for the last few games - in between they won at a better than .700 clip. And they've been blowing teams away with regularity.

I've been very impressed watching the Suns, Celtics (until Williams went down) and Grizzlies play this season - any of them would have been the best team last year. With Covid absences, injuries, shortened offseason, shortened preseason I think last year was a very down year for the NBA. Across the board, this is a much tougher league this season.

 

[95pro]

Yeah, I think they are better than we were last year and it's not all that close. They had a poor start (10-10) before they got it together and like us, they mailed it in for the last few games - in between they won at a better than .700 clip. And they've been blowing teams away with regularity.

I've been very impressed watching the Suns, Celtics (until Williams went down) and Grizzlies play this season - any of them would have been the best team last year. With Covid absences, injuries, shortened offseason, shortened preseason I think last year was a very down year for the NBA. Across the board, this is a much tougher league this season.

With the suns bucks series being so close, does this mean this years Grizz beat last years bucks?…if they’re slightly better than last year suns as you say they are.

 

[Hoop Head]

I wish the play in was in place to break ties in the past when they'd occur between 8th and 9th seeded teams.

I think it made more sense in the bubble with how the 9th place team had to get within 2-3 games of the 8th to force a play-in. This year in the west there was a pretty decent margin between the 7th and 8th teams and 9th and 10th but over in the East it was a game separating them. Since it's here for the long haul there will be years where it makes more sense than othTers.

I'm not against it other than chucking the stats entirely. They should count as playoff stats since they're essentially playoff games.

 

[AzStevenCal]

With the suns bucks series being so close, does this mean this years Grizz beat last years bucks?…if they’re slightly better than last year suns as you say they are.

You never know how an untested team will fare their first time in the playoffs but yeah, I think they are better than last years Bucks team. I think the Suns are much better than last year's Suns team. I think Boston is much better than last year's finals teams. And I think this year's Bucks team is better than last year's winner. IMO the league is quite a bit stronger this season.

 

[95pro]

I wish the play in was in place to break ties in the past when they'd occur between 8th and 9th seeded teams.

I think it made more sense in the bubble with how the 9th place team had to get within 2-3 games of the 8th to force a play-in. This year in the west there was a pretty decent margin between the 7th and 8th teams and 9th and 10th but over in the East it was a game separating them. Since it's here for the long haul there will be years where it makes more sense than othTers.

I'm not against it other than chucking the stats entirely. They should count as playoff stats since they're essentially playoff games.

I can see the play in being good for that reason, for close 8 and 9 seedlings. Maybe a best of 3 would be better at settling the best of the worst.

 

[Western Font]

I wish the play in was in place to break ties in the past when they'd occur between 8th and 9th seeded teams.

I think it made more sense in the bubble with how the 9th place team had to get within 2-3 games of the 8th to force a play-in. This year in the west there was a pretty decent margin between the 7th and 8th teams and 9th and 10th but over in the East it was a game separating them. Since it's here for the long haul there will be years where it makes more sense than othTers.

I'm not against it other than chucking the stats entirely. They should count as playoff stats since they're essentially playoff games.

The margin between 7/8 and 9/10 is a good point I hadn’t really thought about. If you finish the season at 7/8 with at least three more wins than 9/10, they can actually advance to the first round with fewer wins than you. Given that the rest of the seeding is determined with W-L and very specific tiebreakers, this is actually quite an aberration.

The play-in can also quite easily give the top seed a significantly weaker first round opponent given scenarios such as PG being ruled out (though I’m not saying the Pelicans are that weak). Or a team pretty far back at 10 can get hot for a couple games in a way they’ll never sustain in the first round.

I guess I don’t have a huge problem with the play-in and definitely see the fun in it, but since we’re discussing the actual merits, I can’t help but think it’s not actually for the best.

 

[Mainstreet]

They have a lot of young talent in addition to a few really nice veterans.

Agree. The Pelicans have a nice blend of talent.

I hope the Trail Blazers enjoy the play-in and playoffs vicariously. They did a great job of stocking the Clippers and Pelicans with talent.