The NBA In Season Tournament has been a success so far in regards to the quality of games when it comes to competitiveness. Stars like LeBron James, Damian Lillard, and more from across the league have stated that they’re gunning for the tourney Finals win in Las Vegas to secure the $500,000 cash prize that would be given to each player on the winning side. To get to that Finals stage, the In Season Tournament has employed a couple of simple rules that allow teams to ‘sneak’ into that Quarter-Finals.
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A system of Wild Cards has been employed across both the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. To understand this, a quick recap of how the first 6 teams qualify into the Quarter-Finals needs to be done.
There are 6 Groups in total, 3 in each conference, aptly named A, B, and C. The best record from each Group will automatically get a spot in the Quarter-Finals. To round out the teams, one Wild Card team from each conference is brought in.
The Wild Cards are those teams that have the have the best record in Group Play aside from the top 3 teams that qualified and are also the teams that had the 2nd best record overall in that specific group. As Group Play is coming to a close, let’s take a look at the teams that have a legitimate chance at qualifying as a Wild Card.
Western Conference Wild Card for the In Season Tournament
- The Los Angeles Lakers are the only 4-0 team in Group Play in the West at the moment. The Sacramento Kings, who are 3-0, would have to beat the Golden State Warriors by 47 points to steal the Lakers’ QF spot.
- The Phoenix Suns are an interesting case as they are 3-1 with a +34 point differential so they would certainly be a team to look out for.
- The Houston Rockets are currently 2-1 and if they were to win their next Group Play game by over 18 points, they’d overtake the Pelicans in point differential.
- Stephen Curry and the Warriors have a slight chance at improving their odds as long as they beat the Kings in their arena by over 22 points.
Eastern Conference Wild Card for the In Season Tournament
- The Indiana Pacers went 4-0 in their group and so no team from their group can qualify as a Wild Card
- When it comes to Group B, the Bucks, Knicks, and Heat all have a chance at making it out as a qualifying team and the second team being a wild card. If the Bucks win their next Group Play game, they would be 4-0 and would qualify automatically while the Heat and Knicks would duke it out as they are both 2-1 currently
- Both the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets who are 2-1 have a chance to catch up to the 3-1 Magic and depending on the point differential, the qualifying team would be chosen.
- There are several teams that can finish with a 3-1 record in the East and so point differential and also being 2nd in their respective group would bring forth a wild card.
