It’s time for playoff basketball! Tonight, the first two NBA Play-In games tip-off, and by the end of the night, we’ll know two more teams heading to the 2025 playoffs. Let’s take a look at what we already know about this year’s road to the championship.
A quick reminder: this season’s “X3000 NBA Bracket” kicks off with the playoffs, beginning Saturday, April 19. That means there’s no need to predict the play-in results – you can focus solely on the main bracket!
This year, the participation fee is 33 euros, of which 25 eur will go to the big pool while 8 eur we will give to the administrator of the official page (not me). For the 1st time, the buyin for the competition will happen through our partners Passportix.eu. You can do it here.
The Eastern Conference play-In begins with the Magic vs. Hawks, and the Western Conference kicks off with the Warriors vs. Grizzlies.
- The winner of the Magic/Hawks will face the Celtics in Round 1.
- The winner of the Warriors/Grizzlies will go on to play the Rockets.
On Wednesday, it’s the 9th vs. 10th seeds:
- Kings vs. Mavericks in the West
- Bulls vs. Heat in the East
Winners of those matchups will then face the losers of tonight’s games for the final playoff spots.
Luka Doncic, LeBron James and the 3rd-seeded Lakers’ opponents in the 1st round are the Timberwolves. Last year Doncic beat Minnesota and advanced to the finals. Will he be able to demolish Minny two years in a row? In the East, the Knicks (3rd seed) will play against the Pistons. New York has lost 3 out of 4 times to Detroit this season. The Pistons are playing very well, but will it be enough to advance to the 2nd round for the 1st time since 2008?
For the 2nd year in a row, the Pacers and Bucks will square off in the 1st round. Last year Indiana won. Will the Bucks get revenge? A very fun matchup in the West between the 4th and 5th seeds – Nuggets versus Clippers. Denver fired the head coach just a few days before the end of the regular season. Nikola Jokic is carrying Denver a lot, but the Clippers have won 8 games in a row, and Kawhi Leonard and James Harden are looking in great shape.
The hype increases day by day, and this year the playoffs are very unpredictable and there are a lot of real title contenders. Are the Celtics winning back-to-back? Young guns in Oklahoma? Luka Magic in Los Angeles? Or maybe the Cavs will win the 2nd title?
Let’s enjoy the best time of the year together! We highly recommend you create an account at nbaplayoffs.lv, read through the rules, and finalize your buy-in as soon as possible – let’s avoid last-minute stress when the playoffs start!
See you very soon!
Sincerely,
Adam Silver
Commissioner of NBA 2025
