What to know about the NBA's play-in tournament

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The NBA playoffs start tonight (sort of)

Pro basketball's first 82-game regular season since 2018-19 wrapped up on Sunday, but four playoff spots are still up for grabs. They'll be decided over the next few nights by a play-in tournament to round out the 16-team bracket. Here's a quick primer on the play-in and the Toronto Raptors' place in the NBA playoff picture:

How does the play-in tournament work?

It's actually two tournaments: one in the Eastern Conference, one in the Western. The top six seeds in each conference have already secured playoff spots. The purpose of the play-in is to decide the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds.

To start, the teams that finished the regular season in seventh and eighth place in their conference play each other. The winner advances to the playoffs as the No. 7 seed and will face the No. 2 seed in the opening round.

The ninth- and 10th-place teams also square off in the play-in, with the loser of that game eliminated. The winner faces the loser of the 7-8 matchup for the No. 8 seed in the playoffs — and a date with the top seed in the first round. In every play-in game, the higher-ranked team has home-court advantage.

What are the matchups?

In the Eastern Conference, it's No. 8 Cleveland at No. 7 Brooklyn tonight at 7 p.m. ET, and No. 10 Charlotte at No. 9 Atlanta on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.

In the West, it's the No. 8 Los Angeles Clippers at No. 7 Minnesota tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET, and No. 10 San Antonio at No. 9 New Orleans on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Thursday is an off night. The games to decide the No. 8 seeds will be played on Friday night (times TBD).

Who's the team to watch?

The most fascinating and most dangerous squad in the play-in tournament is, without question, the Brooklyn Nets. With two of the world's best players in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Nets are capable of winning the NBA title. In fact, they're currently the No. 3 favourite in the betting markets — behind only Phoenix and Milwaukee, last year's finalists.

So what is Brooklyn doing in the play-in? Well, besides having two of the NBA's most dazzling superstars, the Nets also have a special talent for self-sabotage. Irving missed almost two-thirds of Brooklyn's games this year, mostly because of his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Durant, ostensibly the reliable one, missed a third of the season due to injury and/or rest. The Nets traded the unhappy third member of their Big 3, James Harden, to Philadelphia for an even more problematic figure in Ben Simmons. The brick-laying guard forced his way out of Philly and has yet to play for anyone this season due to (officially) a back injury.

Simmons has already been ruled out for the play-in tournament. But with Durant, Irving and sharp-shooting guard Seth Curry (ankle) good to go, Brooklyn is a heavy favourite to beat Cleveland tonight and clinch the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. That's tough luck for No. 2 Boston, which could be facing an uncommonly tough first-round opponent — and might even be the underdog in that series.

How do the Raptors fit into all this?

After missing the playoffs for the first time since 2013 last year, Canada's only NBA team enjoyed a terrific bounce-back season. With Fred VanVleet, a resurgent Pascal Siakam and rookie-of-the-year candidate Scottie Barnes leading the way, Toronto comfortably avoided the play-in tournament by placing fifth in the Eastern Conference with a surprising 48-34 record.

The Raptors' first-round opponent is No. 4 Philadelphia (51-31), led by a pair of marquee names. Joel Embiid is a top contender for NBA MVP after becoming the first centre since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000 to lead the league in scoring. The aforementioned Harden won MVP four years ago with Houston. He's less productive now at 32, and still carries a reputation for coming up short in big games, but the extremely bearded guard is still one of the most creative scorers in the sport when he feels like it.

The Raptors-76ers series tips off Saturday at 6 p.m. ET in Philly. We'll have a more in-depth preview in this newsletter later this week.