Play-in time as NBA postseason begins with Magic-Hawks, Warriors-Grizzlies

Steve Kerr, the basketball fan, raves about the play-in tournament and the drama it creates down the stretch of the NBA’s regular season and leading into the official start of the playoffs.

Kerr, the basketball coach, doesn’t like it so much.

“I haven’t loved it because we’ve been on the wrong end of it,” said Kerr, the Golden State Warriors coach. “We’re 0-3 in these play-in games. And so, you finish in the top eight, you feel like you should be in the playoffs. On the other hand, it’s been great for the league. If you’re eighth and/or seventh, well, you had 82 games to do better — and you didn’t do better.”

This is where the Warriors — and seven other teams — now find themselves. They’re in the postseason. They’re not in the playoffs. And six games this week all will have either a playoff berth, season elimination, or both on the line.

The fifth full season of the NBA’s play-in tournament starts Tuesday: No. 7 Orlando hosts No. 8 Atlanta in the Eastern Conference, and No. 7 Golden State hosts No. 8 Memphis in the Western Conference. The winners of those games make the playoffs, with the Magic-Hawks winner earning the chance to play Boston and the Warriors-Grizzlies winner off to play Houston.

For Tuesday’s losers, all is not lost. The Magic-Hawks loser will host to either No. 9 Chicago or No. 10 Miami on Friday in an elimination game to see who faces No. 1 Cleveland in the East, whereas the Warriors-Grizzlies loser plays host to either No. 9 Sacramento or No. 10 Dallas to see who’ll take on No. 1 Oklahoma City in the West.

The Chicago-Miami and Sacramento-Dallas games are Wednesday.

The losers of those games are eliminated.

“You want to be mindful that you don’t over-clutter the mind,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’re at our best when we have great clarity. And we know what our game is at this point. We know what their game is. We’ve played them three times in the last two months. So, we will do a little bit more prep than a normal regular-season game … but I don’t want over-saturation of information to slow us down.”

The play-in tournament started in the Walt Disney World bubble in 2020, a way to even out an uneven schedule that year. The only game was Portland-Memphis to decide the final playoff spot in the West; Portland won to grab the No. 8 position.

The full tournament started a year later. Home teams are 17-7 in those games, which is a good sign for Golden State, Sacramento, Orlando and Chicago.

Atlanta at Orlando, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (TNT)

Season series: Tied, 2-2.

BetMGM Sportsbook: Orlando by 5.5.

At stake: The winner is the No. 7 seed and opens the playoffs Sunday at No. 2 Boston. The loser will host the Chicago-Miami winner in an elimination game Friday to decide the No. 8 seed.

Memphis at Golden State, 10 p.m. Tuesday (TNT)

Season series: Warriors, 3-1.

BetMGM Sportsbook: Warriors by 6.5.

At stake: The winner is the No. 7 seed and opens the playoffs Sunday at No. 2 Houston. The loser will host the Sacramento-Dallas winner in an elimination game Friday to decide the No. 8 seed.

Miami at Chicago, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN)

Season series: Bulls, 3-0.

BetMGM Sportsbook: Bulls by 1.5.

At stake: The winner plays at either Orlando or Atlanta on Friday to decide the No. 8 seed in the East. The loser is eliminated.

Dallas at Sacramento, 10 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN)

Season series: Kings, 3-0.

BetMGM Sportsbook: Kings by 4.5.

At stake: The winner plays at either Golden State or Memphis on Friday to decide the No. 8 seed in the West. The loser is eliminated.

Outlook: It’s the first postseason meeting between the clubs in more than two decades; they played in 2002, 2003 and 2004 with the Kings winning two of those three series. The Mavs went to the NBA Finals last season behind Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving; Doncic is with the Los Angeles Lakers now and Irving is out for the season with an ACL tear. Trades changed the Kings’ trajectory as well this season, and they won four of their last six to claim No. 9 in the West.