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Is the NBA Play-In Tournament single elimination? Explaining format for Warriors, others to clinch final playoff spots

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Is the NBA Play-In Tournament single elimination? Explaining format for Warriors, others to clinch final playoff spots originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

The NBA playoffs are about to begin, but first, both the Eastern and Western conferences must decide their final two seeds. As has been the case for the past several seasons, the No. 7 and No.

8 seeds in each conference will be determined by a play-in tournament this week. The teams ranked Nos. 7–10 in both the East and the West still have a chance to make the playoffs, although they will need to do some extra work to get there.

The NBA Play-In Tournament is not the typical single-elimination format that leagues use to decide who moves on to the next round. Instead, the format gives the higher seeds advantages, while still allowing lower seeds a chance to pull off upsets. Here's a look at how the NBA Play-In Tournament breaks down this year.

SN's NBA HQ: Live NBA scores | Updated NBA standings | Full NBA schedule Is the NBA Play-In Tournament single elimination? The NBA Play-In Tournament is more complex than a simple single-elimination tournament. Four teams enter with a single-elimination mindset, while four others have more leeway under a double-elimination format.