The best time of the year is back in action. The NBA playoffs have begun with the Play-In tournament passing in the rearview mirror. Here’s a review of the tournament that seeded the NBA playoffs.

The Play-In tournament is still quite new to the scene due to it being implemented into the league in just 2021. Many fans have mixed opinions about the tournament. Some love the new pre-playoff games because they say they add excitement to the game. Others argue that they should revolt back to the old way. 

In any previous year, before the play-in tournament, the top eight teams from each conference would make the playoffs. With the new Play-In tournament, the top six teams from each conference are locked into the playoffs while seeds 7-10 play in a tournament to secure the last 2 spots for each conference. Teams only play those in the same conference as them. Here’s how it works: The winner of the 7 vs 8 seed game is automatically put into the playoffs while the loser goes on to play the winner of the 9 vs 10 seed game. So, basically the 9 and 10 seeds have to win twice to get into the playoffs while the 7 and 8 seeds only have to win once to get in.

 For the Eastern Conference, the 7 seed Brooklyn Nets squeaked out a lucky win by a score of 115-108 against the injured 8 seed Cleveland Cavaliers in the first game of the tournament. The Cavs were missing all-star player Jarett Allen (Finger) and starting point guard Collin Sexton (Knee). The Nets caught a lucky break as point guard Kyrie Irving carried them throughout the entire game, barely missing any shots. Forward Kevin Durant had a pretty lackluster game for the Nets letting down his team just like last year. Luckily for Durant, the nets lucked out. 

The Western Conference featured the 7 seeded Minnesota Timberwolves facing off against the 8 seeded Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers are known for losing big games, so the Timberwolves beating them didn’t come as a surprise. The Wolves took care of business, as they won 109-104. The Timberwolves were led by D’Angelo Russell (29 points) and Anthony Edwards (30 points). Clippers player Paul George, nicknamed Pandemic P, couldn’t help his team when it mattered most, missing big shots down the stretch of the game.

The next day the 9 and 10 seeds went at it. Starting in the Eastern Conference the 9 seeded Atlanta Hawks faced off against the 10 seeded Charlotte Hornets. This game was a shutout with the Hawks blowing out the Hornets by a score of 132-103. The Hawks were led by superstar point guard Trae Young who had an outstanding night with 24 points and 11 assists. Former Rookie Of The Year Lamelo Ball put up a strong fight, but his team gave him no help at all. 

Lamelo finished with a strong 26 points with 8 assists. To end off the night, the game between the San Antonio Spurs and the New Orleans Pelicans started play. The Pelicans controlled most of the game with the help of CJ McCollum (32 points) and Brandon Ingram (27 points). This led to a 113-103 win for the Pelicans which sent the Spurs to Cancun.

The 2nd round of Play-in games was set to return on Friday, April 15 with the Cavs playing the Hawks, and the Clippers facing the Pelicans for the 8 seeds.