Special to Sports News Highlights

(SNH) — The NBA Playoffs began Tuesday.

No, not those NBA Playoffs. Not the ones that matter. Not the No. 3 seed hosting the No. 6 seed in the East or the No. 8 seed going on the road to take on the No. 1 seed in the West.

No, the playoffs that started Tuesday are the NBA Playoffs Play-In games.

Excuse me while we all take a collective yawn.

After every team in the league played a demanding 82-game schedule, the back-to-back games here, the East Coast/West Coast trips there, 12 teams qualified for the playoffs by being among the top six teams in their respective conferences.

Eight more teams qualified for the play-in tournament in which two teams in each conference will survive and earn the right to play the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. It’s a little complicated.

In the Western Conference, the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers visit seventh-seeded New Orleans, and 10th-seeded Golden State plays an elimination game at ninth-seeded Sacramento.

The Lakers-Pelicans winner is the No. 7 seed and takes on Denver in Round 1. The loser of that game still can get into the playoffs. The Lakers-Pelicans loser will play host to the Warriors-Kings winner on Friday to decide who is the No. 8 seed and takes on Oklahoma City. The Warriors-Kings loser is eliminated.

The East play-in games start Wednesday. Eighth-seeded Miami visits seventh-seeded Philadelphia, and 10th-seeded Atlanta plays at Chicago. The Heat-76ers winner will face No. 2 New York. The final play-in survivor from the East will meet No. 1 Boston.

Which leads to the question – is this really necessary?

The play-in tournament was brought to the NBA during the COVID-19 season when the league needed a boost, needed a way to re-connect with fans, put a decent product on TV and try and captivate an audience that was often more worried about which mask to wear instead of which NBA team made the playoffs.

It was a good idea then. Now? Not so much.

Sure, the NBA found a way to get a couple more TV games for its two most iconic American starts – LeBron James and Steph Curry. Both are in the play-in tournament and could face off for a playoff berth Friday night. How’s that for must-see TV?

The NBA playoffs typically can be remarkably interesting on their own. The matchups, home-and-away series, the potential elimination of a high seed all have intriguing aspects to it. The superstars, in some ways more than any other sport, often rise to the top of the NBA playoffs, showcasing their skills and setting the league apart from all others.

All professional sports leagues run the risk of having a top seed fall in the early rounds, but that brings interest and intrigue.

The problem with the play-in tournament is it often allows sub-.500 teams a shot at glory, thus making the NBA’s regular season a little less meaningful. They play the games – 82 of them in fact – make them count.

The Miami Heat went 46-36 in the regular season and are seeded No. 8 in the Eastern Conference. They may not be around when the first round starts because they could be eliminated by the 39-43 Bulls or the 36-46 Atlanta Hawks. Frankly, that’s not a good look for the league.

Kudos to the NBA for trying something new, but it’s time to return to the top eight teams get in – everyone else packs up and goes home. If that means Steph Curry’s 3-pointers are missing from the playoffs, we can live with that.

Follow Sports News Highlights on Facebook and X platform to get our headlines in your social feeds.

Copyright 2024 Sports News Highlights. All rights reserved.