NBA
Golden State Warriors play-in schedule: What do they need to qualify for the playoffs?
Stephen Curry’s Warriors are one of eight teams battling for a place in the post-season proper after winning nine of their final 11 games.
The NBA regular season came to a close on Sunday evening with 15 games involving all 30 teams. The top six teams in each conference will advance directly to the playoffs, while teams placed 7th-10th in the standings will enter a play-in tournament held this week.
Games will be played from Tuesday to Friday, with two teams from each conference advancing to fill the eight-team field for the playoff first round. The Golden State Warriors, NBA champions four times in the past decade, are one of those teams who find themselves battling for a spot through the play-in.
NBA Play-in: Golden State Warriors schedule
The Warriors struggled for consistency for much of the regular season but came into form at the crucial moment, wining nine of their final 11 games. Star scorer Stephen Curry has struggled with fitness at points this year but Klay Thompson approaches the post-season in good form, averaging 22.8 points across the final seven games.
The Warriors face the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, 16 April in the first round of play-in matches. If they are victorious there they will progress to the decider on Friday 19 April, where they will play the loser of the New Orleans Pelicans and the Los Angeles Lakers for a place in the playoffs proper.
Has a play-in team ever won the NBA Finals?
The play-in tournament was introduced in 2020, initially as part of the NBA’s plan to return to the courts amid the covid-19 pandemic. However, in November 2020, the NBA Boards of Governors opted to continue with the additional round of qualifying matches and the play-in round was made a permanent feature of the format in 2022.
During the format’s short history, no team has qualified from the play-in and gone on to win the championship that season. In fact, no team from the play-in route has managed to win more than two games in a series.
If you’re looking for outsiders, the lowest-seeded team to win the NBA Finals was the 1994-1995 Houston Rockets. They were the reigning NBA Champions but recorded a fairly underwhelming 47-35 season, only enough to rank No. 6 in the Western Conference. However they enjoyed a historic run in the post-season beating the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns to set up a Western Conference Final against the San Antonio Spurs. They eased past the Spurs and swept past Shaquille O’Neal’s Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals to secure back-to-back championships and a historic season.