The Portland Trail Blazers’ 2-8 record in their last 10 outings has placed them in the play-in portion of the Western Conference standings prior to the start of Sunday’s contest against the Memphis Grizzlies. Like last season’s postseason push, the Blazers are careening towards qualifying for the NBA Playoffs the hard way.
Unlike the Orlando-based bubble, this year’s play-in format is slightly different. Here is NBA.com’s brief breakdown of this year’s competition:
At the conclusion of the regular season but before the first round of the playoffs, the team with the 7th-highest winning percentage in each conference will host the team with the 8th-highest winning percentage in a Play-In Game (the “Seven-Eight Game”).