At the conclusion of Sunday’s NBA games, the Eastern Conference play-in round is now officially set.
The 2020-21 NBA season reached its conclusion on Sunday, with many keeping their eyes peeled on the new play-in round. While there were teams looking to avoid the mini-bracket altogether, there were others looking at it as their final chance of making the playoffs. For the Eastern Conference, their play-in round is completely set.
To kick things off, the No. 7 Boston Celtics will face off against the No. 8 Washington Wizards, while the No. 9 Indiana Pacers compete against the No. 10 Charlotte Hornets. Both games will take place this Tuesday night.
Eastern Conference play-in tournament set
The Celtics were already situated in seventh-place despite their 96-92 loss to the New York Knicks. They found out that their opponent would be the Wizards, who pulled off the 115-110 victory over the Hornets. Washington catapulted to eighth-place thanks to yet another triple-double by Russell Westbrook (23 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists).
Following their loss to Washington, Charlotte took a free fall down to 10th-place after the Pacers pulled off the 125-113 win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
The Pacers and Hornets will kick things off on Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. ET, where the winner will face the loser of the Celtics-Wizards game for a chance at the 8-seed in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Boston and Washington will also compete on Tuesday night, 9:00 p.m. ET, where the winner will secure the 7-seed in the playoffs. Both games will be televised on TNT.
This past season, the Celtics defeated the Wizards two times out of their three meetings. The Hornets also took the season-series against the Pacers by taking two of three games.
With the field set, which of these four Eastern Conference teams will clinch the final two spots in the playoffs?