{"id":238583,"date":"2026-04-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/15\/drama-abounds-in-nba-play-in-tournament-the-gist\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T00:00:00","slug":"drama-abounds-in-nba-play-in-tournament-the-gist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/15\/drama-abounds-in-nba-play-in-tournament-the-gist\/","title":{"rendered":"Drama abounds in NBA Play-In Tournament | The GIST"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>The GIST: <\/strong>Two games in, and the NBA Play-In Tournament is already doing what it does best \u2014 stirring up chaos. <em>Official <\/em>playoff berths are on the line, and the high-stakes hoopla has only just begun.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A quick reminder: The winner of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game snags their conference\u2019s No. 7 seed. The loser then battles the winner of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 tilt for the No. 8 seed, while the loser of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 game is eliminated. It\u2019s admittedly a little confusing, so let\u2019s discuss\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udca5 No. 9 Charlotte Hornets outlast No. 10 Miami Heat in overtime to keep season alive: <\/strong>Last night\u2019s tilt was a bona fide thriller \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NBA\/status\/2044241389815279687?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">a LaMelo Ball layup<\/a> with four seconds left clinched the 127\u2013126 dub, eliminating the Heat in the process. An Eastern Conference playoff berth doesn\u2019t come that easy though: Winners of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 games need <em>two<\/em> wins to secure their spot.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That means the Hornets will be watching tonight\u2019s 7:30 p.m. ET game between the No. 7 Philadelphia 76ers and No. 8 Orlando Magic closely: They\u2019ll battle the loser of that showdown for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. No pressure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83c\udf9f\ufe0f Portland Trail Blazers lock in Western Conference No. 7 seed:<\/strong> As mentioned, finishing the regular season in the No. 7 or No. 8 spot is a tourney advantage \u2014 one win, and you\u2019re in. And Deni Avdija took that to heart, dropping 41 points in last night\u2019s gritty 114\u2013110 upset win over the Phoenix Suns.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That said, the postseason isn\u2019t over for the Suns just yet: The West\u2019s No. 8 seed is still up for grabs, meaning Phoenix will have another, ahem, <em>shot<\/em> to punch a playoff ticket.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u2b50 Tonight\u2019s must-watch star-powered showdown: <\/strong>It\u2019s not that the Sixers and Magic game won\u2019t be thrilling, but the <em>other<\/em> game has really caught our attention \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nba\/article\/curry-hopes-to-lead-a-surprise-warriors-playoff-run-now-that-hes-healthy-after-knee-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a finally-healthy<\/a> Steph Curry and the No. 10 Golden State Warriors against Kawhi Leonard\u2019s No. 9 LA Clippers at 10 p.m. ET. Two of the best hoopers to ever lace \u2019em up in a do-or-die Play-In game? Pure (millenial) magic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n  n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n  document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('init', '1716705275141133'); \/\/ Insert your pixel ID here.\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n      <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/article\/nba-play-in-tournament\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GIST: Two games in, and the NBA Play-In Tournament is already doing what it does best \u2014 stirring up chaos. Official playoff berths are on the line, and the high-stakes hoopla has only just begun. A quick reminder: The winner of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game snags their conference\u2019s No. 7 seed. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":238584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-238583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}