The Wizards closed the 2020-21 NBA regular season with a torrid stretch. They were 17-6 in their final 23 games and went from a likely lottery team to a participant in the NBA's inaugural play-in tournament.
Washington finished its climb up the standings Sunday. It defeated the Hornets 115-110 to secure eighth place in the Eastern Conference, which is a win-and-in spot in the conference's four-team tournament.
Under the old playoff format, the Wizards would've clinched the No. 8 seed and guaranteed themselves a spot in the posteason with Sunday's win. They would have started playing for their lives in a seven-game series, not a one- or two-game set.
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Wizards coach Scott Brooks saw that as an opportunity to poke fun at the play-in tournament and LeBron James' recent comments about it.
"I'm with the King," Brooks said. "Who created this play-in thing? Whoever did that, they need to be fired."
Seconds later, Brooks affirmed that he was just kidding. He was paraphrasing James' comments from May 2 when the Lakers star said that "whoever came up with that s— needs to be fired."
Unlike James, Brooks thinks the play-in tournament is a net positive for the NBA, despite his team finishing eighth in the East.
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"I love this [format]. It created so much excitement the last two weeks and, as we all know, any time you can create excitement and meaningful games in the last 10 games of the season is great for everyone involved," Brooks said. "Fans, TV partners, everybody. I love it. Even though we're not the 8-seed, I still love it."
The play-in tournament gave fringe playoff teams like the Wizards incentive to compete later into the season. Brooks is right about that. Now, it's a matter of whether the on-court product will match the late-season chase to make (or avoid) the tournament.
With stars like Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Jayson Tatum, Ja Morant, Domantas Sabonis and one of James or Damian Lillard guaranteed to participate in the play-in, there is a good chance it will live up to the hype.
