After eight fallow seasons, the New York Knicks have managed to secure their presence in the NBA playoffs. That is to say, that he has managed to sneak into the top six of the Eastern Conference, forgetting about having to play the cumbersome play-in that the competition has incorporated and that, with two days remaining to end the Regular League, he has several historic in the eye of the hurricane.
The Knicks have managed to sneak into the postseason after the Boston Celtics’ 102-94 loss in Cleveland. And the “Proud Greens” are precisely one of the historical franchises that will have the dubious honor of overcoming this kind of “sudden death” prior to the playoffs that has made so little grace to some of the stars.
“They should fire whoever invented this,” has come to blurt out LeBron James, the main star of the Los Angeles Lakers who are fighting with the Dallas Mavericks for sixth place in the West. After the last day, in which the Texans beat the New Orleans Pelicans 126-107, the Mavericks added 41 victories, to 40 for the Lakers – and thank goodness, because they won by a very close 124-122 against the bottoms Houston Rockets–, which keeps Dallas in sixth place, while the reigning champions would be forced to beat the Golden State Warriors by one game.
The play-in was invented in the last Florida bubble, in which, if there was a distance of four victories or less between the eighth and the ninth, it was settled in a short tie in which, if the eighth won a game, He reached the postseason, while if he was the ninth to defeat the eighth, the series was extended to a maximum of three games.
In the Conference this tiebreaker did not occur, while in the West, the Portland Trailblazers beat the Memphis Grizzlies.
This year the NBA has wanted to curl the loop and, ignoring the differences, has mounted two play-in ties in each Conference. Thus, the seventh will face the eighth and the winner will see them in the playoffs with the second classified in their Conference.
But the loser of this match will still have a playoff option. He will act as local against the winner of the “sudden death” match between the ninth and the tenth. Whoever wins this final play-off will be the one who faces the winner of the Conference in the Regular Phase.
The NBA Regular Phase, which this season has 72 days, instead of the usual 82, ends on the 15th and those play-in games will take place between the 18th and 21st, while the playoffs themselves will start. starting May 22.
Interim results
At the moment, there are six qualifiers in the Eastern Conference, including the Knicks: Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Miami and New York can already wait for the postseason, without the stresses of the play-in. Boston is seventh with 35-35, Charlotte and Indiana share 33-36, although the Hornets have their earned average, with 32-38 Washington is tenth and, although it is practically eliminated, Chicago still has mathematical options with 29-40.
In the West, on the other hand, there are only four teams with the guaranteed ticket: Utah, Phoenix, Clippers and Denver. Portland and Dallas add 41-29, but the Lakers are on the horizon for a win; one of those three must play the play-in, since the Golden State Warriors, with a record of 37-33, cannot reach them. Ninth is Memphis, a specialist in getting into these scourges, with 36 victories, by 33 of the San Antonio Spurs, who after their absence last year after more than 20 uninterrupted years in the playoffs this time clinging like ticks to the play-in. Only the Sacramento Kings, at 31-38, could undo them, while the Pelicans, after losing to Dallas, have just been eliminated, with a provisional 31-39.
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