NBA play-ins day 1: Warriors, Grizzlies, Hawks, and Magic fight for survival tonight

The NBA play-ins start tomorrow, and there's a lot of excitement about this mini-tournament, introduced in 2020 as a way to add more excitement before the play-offs... that makes sure every team fights until the end for the best possible place in the regular season.

Tuesday (on American time) will see the seventh and eighth best teams on each conference battle it out to get a direct qualification for the play-offs. In the West, two heavy-hitters like Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors (at 3:00 AM BST, 4:00 AM CEST on Wednesday, April 16). Ja Morant vs. Stephen Curry, in a match that NBA.com pundit Steve Aachburner predicts that will go down in favour of Warriors, because Grizzlies has lost all eight games in California this season.

The winner will be placed against Houston Rockets in the play-off, and the loser will have to play a following play-in match, against the winner of the Sacramento Kings (ninth in regular season) and Dallas Mavericks (tenth).

In the East, Atlanta Hawks will face Orlando Magic, at 00:30 BST, 1:30 AM CEST on Wednesday. The winner will be placed against last year's champion, Boston Celtics, in the play-offs. The loser will face either Miami Heat or Chicago Bulls, to get the last spot in the play-offs, against the best team of the East, Cleveland Cavaliers.