The NBA postseason game will start on the 12th (Korean time).
The NBA PO proceeds in such a way that the top 6 teams in each district go directly, and the 7th to 10th place teams play a play-in tournament in the form of a wild card match.
The 7th and 8th places will play the 7th seed match, and the losing team will play against the 9th and 10th place winners for the 8th seed.
Among them, the game that draws attention is the match between the Los Angeles Lakers, ranked 7th in the Western Conference, and the Minnesota Timberwolves, ranked 8th, at the Crypto.com Arena.
The two teams will face each other in a play-in tournament to advance to the playoffs (PO). The team that wins this game will play PO with the Memphis Grizzlies, who are second in the West.온라인바카라
In case of a loss, the match winner of the 9th and 10th place teams will play for the 8th seed, and if they lose here too, the PO possibility completely disappears.
The Lakers, who were sluggish in the first half, managed to bounce back with a record of 16 wins and 7 losses after the All-Star break. LeBron James and Anthony Davis, both returning from injuries, played their part and played their part.
In addition, Austin Reeves has grown as the main axis of the team, and players who joined through trades such as D’Angelo Russell and Jared Vanderbilt are also active, so they are confident in the play-in tournament.
On the other hand, Minnesota finished the season in 8th place with the firepower of Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, but the atmosphere is not good recently.
Center Rudy Gobert, who was recruited from the Utah Jazz before this season, is unable to play due to internal discipline.
Gobert punched Anderson in the chest after arguing with teammate Kyle Anderson on the bench in the last game of the regular season against the New Orleans Pelicans on the 10th. After the brawl, the Minnesota team sent Gobert home immediately.
Afterwards, the Minnesota team suspended Gobert for one game for internal disciplinary action. As a result, Gobert cannot play against the Lakers, who are going to be PO.
“Emotions came first. I shouldn’t have reacted that way no matter what I was told,” said Gobert.
Prior to this, Minnesota had already lost its core power as forward Jayden McDaniels suffered a serious injury in which he broke his finger after hitting the stadium tunnel wall hard. To make matters worse, even Gobert will miss an important game and will likely have a difficult game against the Lakers.
Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat will face off at FTX Arena, home of Miami, for the 7th seed.
In the regular season head to head, Miami has an advantage with 3 wins and 1 loss.