With the integration of the play-in tournament before the Playoffs, the NBA wanted to add spice to the last regular season games. And we can already say that it is successful because a very big battle looms in the Western Conference to avoid seventh place. A battle including the Mavericks, Lakers and Blazers. Focus on their end-of-season program.
The current ranking
Source : ESPN
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5 – Dallas Mavericks
With: 35-28
Current form (Loss – Victory): DVVVD (6-4 over the last ten games)
Tie-breaker : 2-1 vs Lakers, 1-2 vs Blazers
Source : ESPN
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Let’s keep it short, the Mavericks have one of the easiest schedules of the end of the season. When you’re in full short for the best possible spot for the Playoffs, it’s pretty practical. Certainly, Luka Doncic and his friends have a fairly hard sequence in the days to come with a trip to Miami and the reception of Brooklyn. Admittedly, there are three back-to-backs to the program. Admittedly, Kristaps Porzingis is once again in the infirmary. But after the Heat and the Nets, they will only face a team with a positive record, namely Memphis (32-31). If they’re not doing bullshit, if Luka keeps his nerves, normally fifth place is theirs.
6 – Los Angeles Lakers
With: 35-28
Current form: DVDDD (3-7 out of the last ten games)
Tie-breaker : 1-2 vs Mavericks, 1-1 vs Blazers
Source : ESPN
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The LeBron James Lakers are in the rough, and that might not get better anytime soon. In the program ? Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets, who continue to win despite the sores, then a derby against the Clippers who will be keen to break their roommate. The trip to Portland will be capital and risk dividing the two teams when it comes to the accounts because the winner of this match will have the advantage in the tie-breaker. And then we will have to deal with Phoenix, the leader of the West, as well as the Knicks, on a cloud at the end of the season. So we wish the reigning champions good luck in this hardcore period. The last matches will normally be less complicated but given the current level of the Lakers, it is difficult to be calm, especially since there are three back-to-backs on the program. Not great when we know that Anthony Davis and LeBron James are not yet at the top physically. Play-in is therefore becoming an increasingly conceivable scenario, regardless of whether LeBron does not like it.
7 – Portland Trail Blazers
With: 35-28
Current form: DVVVV
Tie-breaker : 2-1 vs Mavericks, 1-1 vs Lakers
Source : ESPN
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We thought the Blazers were in freefall, but Damian Lillard and his pals are raising the bar. After losing nine of eleven games, Portland remains on four straight wins and threatens the Lakers. But like the defending champions, there’s a busy schedule for Terry Stotts’ men. In addition to a meeting in Atlanta and this shock against Los Angeles a few days later, the Blazers will mainly end with two trips to Utah and Phoenix – the two best teams in the West – in back-to-back, before concluding in the home against the Nuggets by Nikola Jokic. In other words, we will have Playoffs before the hour in Oregon.
In addition to the fight to avoid seventh place, the Western Conference will also feature a battle between Phoenix and Utah to take the top spot, and another between Denver and the Clippers for a place on the podium. It’s going to be hot, very, very hot in the Wild Wild West.
PS: in the event of a tie between three teams, Dallas has the hand because the Mavericks are at the top of their division.
????️ “How does the NBA Play-in Tournament 2021 work?”
Video explanations, in 90 seconds flat! ✌️❤️ pic.twitter.com/YKiNCMif35
– TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) April 15, 2021
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