CBA officials announced the schedule and format of the playoffs this season yesterday evening, which will be played at the Nanchang International Sports Center in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, starting April 1.
The regular season 5-12 teams will take the lead in the first round of the game, and the opening game will be played by the defending champion Guangdong men's basketball team against the Tianjin men's basketball team, which returns to the playoffs after six years. The Shanghai men's basketball team finished third in the regular season, so it had a bye in the first round.
Playoffs
Format
Phase 1 (12-8) April 1-6
Using a best-of-three system, the winner enters the second stage of the playoffs, and the regular season 1-4 teams have a bye and automatically enter the second stage;
Stage 2 (Quarterfinals) April 7-12
A best-of-three system is used, with the winner advancing to the third phase of the playoffs;
Stage 3 (Semi-Finals) 13-22 April
Adopt a five-game, three-win system, and the winner enters the fourth stage;
Stage 4 (Grand Finals) April 24 - May 7
A seven-win,4-0 system is used, with the winner becoming the overall champion.
Last season's first-round single-game knockout system no longer exists, and the first-round three-game best-of-two system has made the playoffs longer and more suspenseful. At the end of the CBA's official announcement, it is specifically mentioned that if a certain stage of the playoffs ends early, the next stage of the game will not be ruled out in advance according to the actual situation, and the specific adjustment will be notified separately.
The first opponent of the Shanghai men's basketball team in the playoffs will be the winner between Shenzhen and Shandong. The two teams had a large gap in the regular season (Shenzhen no. 6, Shandong no. 11), and The Shandong team almost relied on Tao Hanlin's return from injury and the strong rise of foreign aid Giron wat to "drag" the team into the playoffs. Because of this, Shenzhen is more optimistic about being able to stand opposite the big shark.
At present, the teams participating in the playoffs are still training in the Shunde and Shenyang divisions, and are waiting for further notice from the league. Some teams revealed that the league has scheduled the training venue time of the current division to the 26th, which infers that the playoff team will go to Nanchang as soon as the 27th.