04-26-2021, 03:51 PM
I don’t like the play-in as presently constructed, but I’m not opposed to it in some capacity.
In the last “normal” season of 2018-2019, the Kings finished 9th and Lakers finished 10th, and were 9 and 11 games respectively out of the 8th seed.
It’s not usually that extreme at all, but there must be some sort of protective measures so that teams that clearly don’t deserve in don’t luck their way in through a one game showdown.
Maybe something like if you finish within 1-2 games of 8 seed it’s a one game play-in, 3-5 games then the at-large team needs to take 2 compared to just 1 for the seeded team, and 6+ games out you don’t even get a chance.
Not advocating that be the end solution, just spitballing about how I think we could make tweaks that add some excitement without punishing teams that fall 7-8 too harshly.
In the last “normal” season of 2018-2019, the Kings finished 9th and Lakers finished 10th, and were 9 and 11 games respectively out of the 8th seed.
It’s not usually that extreme at all, but there must be some sort of protective measures so that teams that clearly don’t deserve in don’t luck their way in through a one game showdown.
Maybe something like if you finish within 1-2 games of 8 seed it’s a one game play-in, 3-5 games then the at-large team needs to take 2 compared to just 1 for the seeded team, and 6+ games out you don’t even get a chance.
Not advocating that be the end solution, just spitballing about how I think we could make tweaks that add some excitement without punishing teams that fall 7-8 too harshly.