July 8, 2020
Page 5
S PORTS
Blazers Playoff Drive Restarts July 31
Orlando to host
eight “seeding
games”
The Portland Trail Blazers
are now scheduled to resume the
2019-20 season with a matchup
against the Memphis Grizzlies on
July 31 in Orlando, Fla. It comes
after league play was disrupted
by the coronavirus pandemic in
March.
The NBA and the National
Basketball Players Association fi-
nalized a comprehensive plan last
week to restart to the season start-
ing on July 30, which includes
stringent health and safety proto-
cols, a single-site campus at Walt
Disney World Resort and the goal
of taking collective action to com-
bat systemic racism and promote
social justice.
Under the format, the 22 par-
ticipating teams will be the eight
teams in each conference with the
highest current winning percent-
ages and the six teams, including
Portland, that are currently within
six games of the eighth seed in ei-
ther conference.
The restart will begin with each
participating team playing eight
“seeding games” in Orlando, as
selected from its remaining regu-
lar-season matchups. For the Trail
Blazers, the games are scheduled
July 31 vs. Memphis; Aug. 2 vs.
Boston; Aug. 4 vs. Houston; Aug.
6 vs. Denver; Aug. 8 vs. the Los
Angeles Clippers; Aug. 9 vs.
Philadephia; Aug. 11 vs. Dallas;
and Aug. 13 vs. Brooklyn.
All eight games will be tele-
vised by NBC Sports Northwest
(NBCSNW) or national carriers
and aired on the Trail Blazers ra-
dio network.
At the conclusion of the seed-
ing games, the seven teams in
each conference with the highest
combined winning percentages
across regular-season games and
seeding games will be the first
through seventh seeds for the
NBA Playoffs for that conference.
If the team with the eighth-
best combined winning percent-
age (regular-season games and
seeding games) in a conference is
more than four games ahead of the
Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard urges on the crowd after scoring during an NBA basketball game against the Houston
Rockets in Portland last Jan. 29. (AP photo)
team with the ninth-best combined
winning percentage in the same
conference, then the team with the
eighth-best winning percentage
would be the eighth playoff seed
in that conference.
If the team with the eighth-best
combined winning percentage in
a conference (Team 8) is four
games or fewer ahead of the team
with the ninth-best combined
winning percentage in the same
conference (Team 9), then those
two teams would compete in a
play-in tournament to determine
the eighth playoff seed in the
conference. The play-in tourna-
ment will be double elimination
for Team 8 and single elimination
for Team 9.
The NBA’s standard playoff
tiebreaker procedures will be used
to break any ties on the basis of
winning percentage. Once the 16-
team playoff field is set, the NBA
Playoffs will proceed in a tradi-
tional conference-based format
with four rounds and best-of-sev-
en series in each round. The 2020
NBA Finals will end no later than
Oct. 13, league officials said.
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