NBA Playoffs 2024: Play-in Tournament Schedule, Bracket, Odds and TV Info

Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and De’Aaron Fox are among the stars who will fight for their NBA playoff lives in the play-in round on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Embiid’s Philadelphia 76ers face off with Butler’s Miami Heat in the marquee matchup in the Eastern Conference.

James’ Los Angeles Lakers go head-to-head with a New Orleans Pelicans team it just beat on Sunday to drag the Pels down into the play-in positions.

Curry and the Golden State Warriors will do battle with Fox and the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday in an attempt to keep their respective seasons alive.

Even the No. 9-versus-No. 10 game in the East carries some star power with Trae Young’s Atlanta Hawks visiting DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls.

The winners of the Heat-Sixers and Lakers-Pelicans games qualify for the postseason as the No. 7 seed in their respective conferences. The losers from those games face the winners of the Hawks-Bulls and Warriors-Kings on Friday for the No. 8 seeds.

Philadelphia is the largest betting favorite of the play-in round.

The Sixers possess the longest winning streak in the NBA at eight games, a run that coincided with Embiid’s return.

One of the wins on that run came against the Heat on April 4. The Sixers won their last two meetings with the Heat to split the regular-season series.

Miami can’t be counted out with Butler in an elimination game, but its full squad has not been healthy for most of the season. Butler could go off, but if his supporting cast does nothing, the Heat will not match Embiid and Tyrese Maxey’s scoring production.

The Heat may be better off clinching a playoff spot on Friday against either the Hawks or Bulls.

Miami went 3-1 against Atlanta and 2-2 versus Chicago in the regular season. The Heat’s lengthy playoff experience under Erik Spoelstra and home-court advantage could be the difference on Friday.

Atlanta’s problem is its defense that allowed 120.1 points per game. Only the Indiana Pacers gave up more points per game among playoff qualifiers and play-in participants.

Chicago holds the defensive edge and can take advantage of Atlanta’s porous defense to at least earn the trip to Miami, but shutting down Butler in an elimination game is a tough task, especially on the road.

The Lakers and Warriors each opened as short favorites on the road.

That is not a huge surprise given the star power on both rosters and the trust in James and Curry to will their respective teams to victory.

Both the Lakers and Warriors have experience in the play-in round since its inception in 2021, so that should help them prepare for what is ahead.

The Lakers should feel supremely confident after they beat the Pelicans on Sunday to set up the Tuesday play-in matchup. They beat New Orleans three times in the regular season in four matchups.

Golden State only went 2-3 against Sacramento and that contest should have the most points of any play-in game. Both teams rank in the bottom half of the NBA in scoring defense.

The Warriors have the best player on the floor in Curry and he could be the difference-maker against a team he is more than familiar with, but Golden State has to make up for a big disadvantage on the boards against Domantas Sabonis.

There’s also some strategy involved in the West, as the No. 2 seed Denver Nuggets await the Lakers-Pelicans winner.

Of course, the Lakers and Pelicans would love to get into the postseason field on Tuesday, but if they lose and earn a home game on Friday, setting up a matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves may not be the worst thing given the Wolves’ playoff inexperience compared to the reigning NBA champion Nuggets.

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