GlossaryBasketball (NBA)
The NBA play-in tournament
The play-in is a mini-tournament for the 7th–10th seeds in each conference that decides the final two playoff spots.
After the regular season, seeds 7 and 8 play for the 7-seed, while seeds 9 and 10 play an elimination game; the loser of the first and winner of the second then meet for the 8-seed. It keeps more teams' seasons alive and is why the standings 'below the line' still matter late in the year.
See it in the numbers
Open the spreadsheet and watch this appear in live scores and standings — disguised as work.
Related terms
How to read an NBA box score
An NBA box score lists each player's key totals — points (PTS), rebounds (REB), assists (AST), plus minutes and shooting — so you can see who did what without watching.
Plus/minus (+/−)
Plus/minus is how many points a team outscored the opponent by while a given player was on the court — +12 means the team was 12 points better with them playing.
How to read a league table
A league table ranks teams by points; the columns to its right show how those points were earned — games played, wins, draws, losses, goals for and against, and goal difference.
How points work (3-1-0)
In most football leagues a win is worth 3 points, a draw 1 and a loss 0; the team with the most points at the end of the season wins the title.