The Western Conference postseason is set. The Road to the NBA Finals goes through the Denver Nuggets, but before we get there, we need to know who the Nuggets will face in the playoffs. The West Play-In Tournament will feature the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Play-In Tournament is where the 7th seed and 8th seed gets determined. The winner of the 7v8 matchup gets the 7th seeds and the loser must play against the winner of the 9v10 matchup for the 8th seed.
This season the 7th seed is the LA Lakers, 8th seed is Minnesota, 9th seed is New Orleans and 10th seed is Oklahoma City.
The LA Lakers will host the Minnesota Timberwolves for the right to face the 2nd seed, Memphis Grizzlies in the 1st round of the NBA Playoffs. The New Orleans Pelicans will host the Oklahoma City Thunder for the right to face to move on to the third and final Play-In Game while the loser is eliminated from postseason contention.
The Lakers, Timberwolves, and Pelicans all have Play-In Game experiences.
Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers
The Timberwolves and Lakers will have the star matchup as Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns will face off against LeBron James and Anthony Davis. For the Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards leads the team averaging 24.6 points on 46% shooting with 5.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists during the regular season. Karl-Anthony Towns is back after missing 54 games this season. In the 28 games played, Towns averaged 20.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists. The Timberwolves are going into this play-in with internal issues. Big man, Rudy Gobert was sent after punching teammate Kyle Anderson during a timeout in the season finale and Forward Jaden McDaniels suffered a fractured hand after punching a wall in frustration.
For the Los Angeles Lakers, they have turned what was a disastrous season into a play-in opportunity. The Lakers are led by The King, LeBron James, who finished Year 20 in the NBA and became the all-time leading scorer in league history. James averaged 28.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 6.8 assists in 54 games this season. Anthony Davis averaged 26.1 points and12.5 rebounds in 55 games he played this season. The Lakers were able to save their season at the trade deadline as they acquired D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Rui Hachimura. Since the trade deadline, the Lakers went 18-8 to grab the 7th seed and host the Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves 2 of 3 from the Lakers but are 1-1 since the trade deadline with the Lakers.
The winner will secure the 7th seed and will face the Memphis Grizzlies in the 1st round.
Oklahoma City Thunder at New Orleans Pelicans
The 9 vs. 10 matchup will have the OKC Thunder heading to the Big Easy to face the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans had a golden opportunity to grab the 6th seed and avoid the play-in while the Timberwolves were issues with Gobert/Anderson and the McDaniels' injury but came up short in Minnesota. Nevertheless, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads the young Thunder against the Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum and the Pelicans.
The Thunder are one of the youngest teams in the NBA led by SGA. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 5.5 assists while shooting 51% this season. The Thunder is only team in the West in their first-ever play-in tournament.
The Pelicans in their second play-in tournament as the 9th seed again and will have the home court. Led by Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum, the Pelicans will look to repeat their success in the 2022 Play-In Tournament. Ingram averaged 24.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.8 assists despite playing 44 games. CJ McCollum averaged 20.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.8 assists this season as the mainstay of the Pelicans. The Pelicans will have to continue to without Zion Williamson, who's been out since January 2 and only played 29 games.
New Orleans took 3 of 4 from the Thunder however the Thunder won the last matchup back on March 11 by 14 points.
Loser is eliminated from postseason contention and the winner will face the loser of the 7 vs 8 game.
Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers: Tuesday, April 11 9:30PM TNT
Oklahoma City Thunder at New Orleans Pelicans: Wednesday, April 12 9:30PM ESPN