The Athletic has live coverage of the NBA Play-In Tournament with Heats vs. Hornets and Trail Blazers vs. Suns.
Eight teams. Six games. Four playoff spots. The NBA Play-In Tournament compresses and pressurizes the middle of the standings. It gives extra flavor to the earliest stages of postseason basketball.
This year’s Play-In has range. There are feel-good ascendants like the Charlotte Hornets and Phoenix Suns. There are also glossy, drama-laden underperformers like the Golden State Warriors and LA Clippers. Check out the schedule and preview the pairings below.
All times ET.
NBA Play-In schedule
Watching in person? Get tickets on StubHub.
| Game | Time | TV + Streaming |
|---|---|---|
|
Heat at Hornets |
7:30 p.m., |
Prime Video |
|
Blazers at Suns |
10 p.m., |
Prime Video |
|
Magic at 76ers |
7:30 p.m., |
Prime Video |
|
Warriors at Clippers |
10 p.m., |
Prime Video |
|
East 8th Seed Game |
7:30 p.m., |
Prime Video |
|
West 8th Seed Game |
10 p.m., |
Prime Video |
Prime’s play-by-play voices of the Play-In are Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan and Michael Grady. The analysts are Brent Barry, Jim Jackson and Stan Van Gundy. Studio coverage is hosted by Taylor Rooks, with Blake Griffin, Udonis Haslem and Dirk Nowitzki on the desk.
Tuesday
East: No. 10 Miami Heat at No. 9 Charlotte Hornets
Tuesday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Miami has the NBA’s second-best scoring offense this season. It also plays with the fastest tempo in the league. That’s been a drastic reappraisal for coach Erik Spoelstra — his Heat have been 27th or slower in pace since 2018-19, when they ranked 23rd.
Three players average more than 20 points per game. Tyler Herro is fearless and creates off the dribble. Norman Powell is the Heat’s heat-checker on the perimeter. Bam Adebayo can erupt from down low. But Miami is an uninspiring 17-24 away from South Beach, and it closed the regular season on a 5-10 stretch.
The Hornets are trying to reach the playoffs for the first time in a full decade. They’ve certainly looked the part across the last four months. Charlotte fell to 11-22 on New Year’s Eve, then summoned an unbelievable turnaround — 11-6 in January, 8-3 in February, 10-5 in March and 4-2 in April.
Since Jan. 1, no one has a better plus-minus or more made 3s than Buzz City. LaMelo Ball (age 24), Brandon Miller (23) and Kon Knueppel (20) bring radiant promise to the teal and purple. Knueppel had scorching 50/45/100 percent shooting splits in four Miami matchups. He deserves Rookie of the Year votes, and Charles Lee should be considered for Coach of the Year.
The loser is done for the season. The winner gets two days of rest before a Friday road game at either the Philadelphia 76ers or Orlando Magic.
Season series: The Heat went 3-1 against the Hornets during the regular season. Most recently, Herro had 33 points in a March 6 win at Charlotte. On March 17, Ball dropped 30 with 13 assists in the Hornets’ W, also in Charlotte.
West: No. 8 Portland Trail Blazers at No. 7 Phoenix Suns
Tuesday, April 14 at 10 p.m.
The Blazers deserve props for finishing above .500. Their head coach was arrested by the feds during opening week. They navigated absences of Jerami Grant, Scoot Henderson, Jrue Holiday and Shaedon Sharpe.
This year, Portland leads all teams in second-chance scoring. Donovan Clingan averages an NBA-best 4.5 offensive boards per outing. Deni Avdija initiates the half-court offense, while Toumani Camara spearheads a full-court press defense. Interim leader Tiago Splitter has made his crew a tough out.
At 45-37, Phoenix deserves its props as well. The Suns spun out of the Kevin Durant era and landed right back into contention. They survived jagged stretches without Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, Grayson Allen and Jalen Green.
Rookie coach Jordan Ott runs a perimeter-heavy system — the Suns rank in the top five in pull-up scoring, made 3s, steals and deflections. They’re a robust 25-16 in the desert, while their guests are 18-23 on the road. Booker is still one of the sport’s purest bucket-getters, and Brooks is forever an S-tier smack-talker.
Winner claims the seventh seed and a daunting first-round matchup with Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs. Loser hosts the Warriors or Clippers on Friday.
Season series: Phoenix won two of three. The road team claimed each meeting, for what it’s worth. Booker and Brooks were out in the Feb. 22 loss.
Wednesday
East: No. 8 Orlando Magic at No. 7 Philadelphia 76ers
Wednesday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Orlando is streaky — seven consecutive wins from March 3-14, then six straight losses through March 24, then 7-3 to close out the regular season.
Like their Florida neighbors in Miami, the Magic have three scorers averaging 20+ points. Desmond Bane is amid a strong first season in pinstripes, playing all 82 games with shooting splits around 48/39/91 percent. Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero are capable buckets in the frontcourt. Anthony Black, rising third-year point guard, is working his way back from an abdominal strain. Orlando is far from exceptional, but Jamahl Mosley’s team gets things done under pressure, tied with the Detroit Pistons for the most clutch wins this season.
Philadelphia heads into the matchup without Joel Embiid, who had an appendectomy last week. Everything goes through Tyrese Maxey, who tops the NBA in minutes per game and sits fifth in scoring. Nick Nurse needs supplemental showings from rookie VJ Edgecombe and veteran Paul George (Play-In P?). To his credit, George has teased a return to form in recent weeks.
Embiid has an on/off point differential of plus-9.3, per Cleaning the Glass. That gap will be hard to close, but the Sixers are at least better in offensive rebound percentage and turnover rate without their big-name center.
Whoever prevails hits the bracket at No. 7. They’ll be “Shipping Up to Boston,” where Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and their Celtics await. The defeated side must regroup for Friday’s home game versus Miami or Charlotte.
Season series: Philly went 2-for-3, though all three meetings came before the All-Star break. Maxey put up 30.7 points per game against Orlando’s defense.
West: No. 10 Golden State Warriors at No. 9 LA Clippers
Wednesday, April 15 at 10 p.m.
The Warriors can never be wholly discounted with Stephen Curry back in tow. The 38-year-old supernova returned from a knee injury in early April, reminding opposing teams that he is still a problem. Cleaning the Glass has him in the 95 percentile for points per shot attempt. He’s eclipsed 40 points four times this season, and exceeded 30 another 10 times, despite only appearing in 43 games. Curry’s presence commands hyper-fixation, stretching defenses out of their usual spacing.
But everything around Curry is curdling. Without Jimmy Butler (torn ACL in January), Golden State’s ceiling was already lowered. That ceiling has since caved all the way in — 8-19 since the All-Star break, rhythmless in its integration of Kristaps Porziņģis and struggling in Curry’s absence. This is Steve Kerr’s second losing campaign across 12 seasons on the Golden State sideline.
It’s been one long, stilted ride for Inglewood’s Clips. A 42-40 record looks underwhelming, but it’s wildly impressive given their 6-21 start. There was also the unceremonious Chris Paul reunion, the James Harden-Darius Garland swap at the trade deadline and the ongoing Aspiration salary cap scandal. Tyronn Lue must be exhausted.
Through it all, Kawhi Leonard has hooped in consistent, stoic brilliance. He’s set a new career high at 27.9 points per game, and he’s had more makes than misses even with such a high usage rate. Leonard is surrounded by solid guards in Garland and Kris Dunn, plus inside-out bigs in John Collins and Brook Lopez. Together, they pace the NBA in free-throw percentage and rank third from the restricted area.
It’s going to be an awkward offseason for whichever luxury-tax team takes this L. The victor defers all that, if just for a few days, and flies to Portland or Phoenix for the Friday finale.
Season series: The Clippers had the 3-1 edge this year. LAC took Sunday’s regular-season finale without Leonard. Bennedict Mathurin had a 20-piece off the bench in the 115-110 win. Curry tallied 24 points on 14 shots, but Golden State went a lowly 11-for-39 (28.2 percent) on treys.
Friday
East: No. 9/10 winner at No. 7/8 loser
Friday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Winner earns the eighth seed and says “Welcome to Detroit City.” No matter which team it is, it will be a sizable underdog against the No. 1 Pistons, who won 60 games for their third time in franchise history.
West: No. 9/10 winner at No. 7/8 loser
Friday, April 17 at 10 p.m.
The reward for hanging tough and coming through? A series with the Oklahoma City Thunder — top seed in the West, leader in net rating and reigning NBA champions.
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