On April 13, Beijing time, the brutal NBA playoffs officially began. The two play-offs played today were a 7th-8th-place clash in the division. The winner will lock in 7th in the division and play against 2nd in the first round of the playoffs. The losing side will play another playoff with the winner of the 9th 10th division to compete for the final playoff spot in the division and playoff first round against division 1st place.
Now that the two play-off games are over, the winning side in the East is the Nets, and in the first round of the playoffs, the Nets will play against the Celtics, the second place in the East. On the West side, the winning side is the Timberwolves, and in the first round of the playoffs, the Timberwolves will play against the Grizzlies, the second-placed Grizzlies in the West. The fate of the Cavaliers and Clippers is yet to be determined, and the two teams will next play a playoff against the winner of the 9th 10th place in their respective divisions. If you win, you will lock in the 8th place in the division, and if you lose, you will not get the playoffs, and there is one thing to say, this format is really too cruel.
This season' regular season, the 7th-10th place team in the East has a very close record, and it was not until the final round of the regular season that the team in the 7th and 10th place in the East was determined. The winning gap between the 7th and 10th places in the West is relatively large. The 8th-place Clippers in the West have a record of 42 wins and 40 losses. The 10th-place Spurs in the West have a record of 34 wins and 48 losses. The Clippers are eight wins ahead of the Spurs, but the Clippers still need to play a brutal playoff.
Now the Clippers are out of the woodlanders, and the 7th position in the West is also locked by the Timberwolves. When the Timberwolves made it to the playoffs, the Clippers had only one last chance left. The winner between the Pelicans and Spurs will play a playoff matchup with the Clippers. However, the Clippers originally had a lot of records ahead of the Pelicans and Spurs, and should have qualified for the playoffs smoothly according to the record, but now they have to compete for the last playoff spot in the West in the playoffs, and it is really too unjust to be eliminated. There's no doubt that if the Clippers don't make the playoffs in the end, there will certainly be a reform in the playoffs.
Truth be told, this situation is difficult to accept no matter which team it is placed on. Having enough wins, he ended up being squeezed out of the playoffs. The playoffs add a lot of unknown excitement to the NBA playoffs, which is not false, but for teams with big advantages, the playoffs are really unfair. Perhaps, the high ratings of the playoffs gave the NBA a taste of sweetness. But for a team like the Clippers, the playoffs are callous.
The reason why the NBA has established a play-off format is mainly because the number of regular season games in the NBA has shrunk. In order to ensure fairness, the NBA has created a play-off format, which is indeed understandable. But it's strange that the NBA played 82 games in the regular season has continued. Now, the Clippers' fate is up to grab, and if the Clippers don't make the playoffs in the end, the playoffs may need to be reformed again or canceled!