2024 NBA Play-In Tournament Betting Online
This will be the fourth year of the NBA Play-In Tournament, and it was quite a battle to determine some of the last Playoffs spots in the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference. In the East, the spots in the Play-In Tournament are held by the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks. The four teams in the West are the New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors. The NBA Play-In Tournament was started in 2020 and expanded in 2021. It was started to provide incentive for higher-seeded teams and hopefully provide more excitement late in the season. The top six seeds in each conference make the playoffs, while the other two seeds are decided in the Play-In Tournament. The seventh seed and eight seeds have two play-in chances to advance. The ninth seed has to win two play-in games but they host the first one, while the tenth seed has to win two road play-in games to make the playoffs.
NBA Betting Lines
Play-In Tournament Schedule & Odds
Friday, April 19
No. 8 Miami Heat vs. No. 9 Chicago Bulls, ESPN, 7:00 PM ET
Chicago Bulls +1.5
Miami Heat -1.5
Total: 207
Money Line: Chicago +105, Miami -125
Winner will be the No. 8 seed against No. 1 Boston in an East first-round series
No. 7 New Orleans Pelicans vs. No. 9 Sacramento Kings, TNT, 9:30 PM ET
Sacramento Kings -1.5
New Orleans Pelicans +1.5
Total: 212
Money Line: Sacramento -120, New Orleans +100
Winner will be the No. 8 seed against No. 1 Oklahoma City in a West first-round series
Eastern Conference Play-In Teams
Philadelphia 76ers
The 76ers are favored at home on Wednesday in their matchup against the Heat. Philadelphia finished the season on fire, winning their last eight games. The 76ers rested Joel Embiid in the last regular season game so he will be ready for Wednesday. The 76ers are a threat to do serious damage in the East with Embiid who averaged almost 35 points per game this season. They will have to hope his knee holds out and he can lead the way. Tyrese Maxey was the only other player to average more than 20 points per game this season for Philadelphia.
Miami Heat
The Heat only finished one game behind Philly in the East and they are capable of winning on the road. They were 24-17 away from home this season and that was one of the best road marks in the NBA. The Heat had four players this season average over 19 points per game with Jimmy Butler leading the way at 20.8 per contest. The Heat win with defense, as they were 3rd in the league in fewest points allowed this season.
Chicago Bulls
The Bulls have been in the No. 9 seed spot for a while and they will host the Atlanta Hawks in the 9 vs. 10 game on Wednesday. The winner of this game will advance to face the loser of the game between the 7th and 8th seeds. Last season the Bulls had to go on the road for both of their play-in tournament games but this time around they host the first game at the United Center. “The fans will rally behind us,” guard Coby White said to the media, “We’ll be able to get that experience at home and it’ll be good to play in front of our crowd, especially in a high intensity game. I know the United Center is going to be jumping.”
Western Conference Play-In Teams
New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans had three players this season average over 20 points per game. Zion Williamson led the team with 22.9 points per game, Brandon Ingram scored just under 21 per contest, while CJ McCollum averaged 20 per game. New Orleans averaged 115.1 points per game this season, 13th in the NBA and gave up 110.7 points per game which was 8th best. The Pelicans have won three of the last four games overall against the Lakers with three of the four going over the total.
Los Angeles Lakers
What is a team like the Lakers doing in the Play-In Tournament? This is basically the same team that made the Western Conference Finals a year ago. Injuries have been a factor this season, but that is still no excuse. Any team that has LeBron James and Anthony Davis shouldn’t be closer to the bottom of the standings than to the top. The Lakers should still advance out of the Play-In Tournament and provide a little excitement in what is likely the last hurrah for this group.
Sacramento Kings
The Warriors and Kings have played a lot of close games against one another. Earlier this season the Kings knocked out the Warriors in the In-Season Tournament but last year the Warriors knocked the Kings out of the playoffs. The teams split their season series 2-2 this year with the last three games being decided by a total of three points. The Kings leading scorer De’Aaron Fox averaged over 26 points per game this season and he averaged 32.3 points per game against the Warriors.
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