The Portland Trail Blazers don’t know who they’ll face in next week’s NBA Play-In Tournament yet, but we now know the start times of their potential matchups. Late on Wednesday night, the NBA released the schedule for SoFI Play-In Tournament, even as the Blazers are still jockeying with the Los Angeles Clippers to determine who enters the event as the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
The event is scheduled to tip off next Tuesday with the 7th-place teams taking on the 8th-place teams in their respective conferences. In the Western Conference, if the Blazers secure 8th place heading into the Play-In, they’ll play the 7th-place Phoenix Suns on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Pacific on the road to determine who enters the NBA Playoffs as the 7th seed.
Then the Play-In Tournament continues Wednesday with the 9th-place teams taking on the 10th-place teams in their respective conferences. If the Blazers enter the Play-In in 9th place, they’ll play the 10th-place Golden State Warriors on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Pacific at Moda Center. The loser of this game will be eliminated from postseason contention.
On Friday, the Play-In Tournament will conclude for both conferences when the losers of the 7-versus-8 matchups plays the winners of the 9-versus-10 matchups. The Eastern Conference matchup is scheduled to tip off at 4:30 p.m. Pacific, while the Western Conference matchup is slated for 7 p.m. Pacific. The winners of these games will secure the 8th seed in their respective conferences, while the losers will be eliminated.
If the Blazers enter this game as the 8th-place team following a loss to the Suns, this game will be played at Moda Center. If the Blazers enter this game as the 9th-place team following a win over the Warriors, they’ll have to play this game on the road either in Phoenix or LA.
So there you have it. Now it’s up to the Blazers over the last two regular-season games to decide if they enter the Play-In Tournament with a more favorable path to reach the Playoffs for the first time in five years.
