Hours after Luka Doncic criticized the idea of the NBA play-in tournament, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told ESPN that the concept is “a huge mistake,” especially due to the shrinking schedule. ‘this season.
“I understand why the NBA is doing that,” Cuban said in a series of posts on ESPN. “But if we’re going to be creative because of COVID, we should go straight from 1 to 20 and let the last 4 play to get in. This is the particular year to do that, as the 10 games eliminated [del calendario normal de 82 juegos ] they were in conference “.
“The worst part of this approach is that it doubles the stress of the compressed schedule. Instead of playing for a place in the playoffs and being able to rest the players as the standings become clearer, teams have to approach each game as a playoff game to get in or stay in the top 6 as the consequences, as Luka said, are huge. So players are playing more games and more minutes in fewer days. “
The NBA board of governors, which includes Cuban, unanimously approved a proposal to implement a play-in tournament for this season, after the league used it for the first time before the playoffs in the bubble. the summer of 2020.
“In retrospect, that proposal was a huge mistake,” Cuban told ESPN.
Dallas (29-24) is in seventh place in the Western Conference standings, meaning they should participate in the play-in tournament if they cannot advance. The Mavs are two games behind the Portland Trail Blazers, who own the tiebreaker between the teams because they defeated Dallas in two of their three games.
“I don’t understand the idea of a play-in,” Doncic said Monday. “You play 72 games to get to the playoffs, then maybe you lose two in a row and you’re out of the playoffs. So I don’t see the point in that.”
The concept of play-in includes teams finishing seventh to tenth in each conference. The structure, which the NBA announced in March, includes three games in each conference.
The teams in seventh and eighth place face off against each other, and the winner takes the seventh seed. The ninth and tenth place teams also play each other, with the loser eliminated from the playoff contest. The loser of the “Game Seven-Eight” and the winner of the “Game Nine-Ten” play, with the eighth seeded playoff in play.
“In a regular 82-game season where we didn’t play more than 30 games in 6 weeks, then it could have been fine,” Cuban told ESPN. “But compressing so many games in such a few days makes it a huge mistake. If we had gone from 1 to 16, with the top 12, it would still have been difficult, but there would have been more separation between the play -in and the first 12. This is a season where we have to rest the high-use players. We have no choice. and that can and will have consequences. “
The Mavericks usually rest Kristaps Porzingis for a game during back-to-back games and occasionally rest Doncic for stretches in back-to-backs.