We’re officially 87 days away from the Boston Celtics playing their first-ever Group Play game for the NBA’s new In-Season Tournament. But, what exactly is the in-season tournament?
Allow us to explain.
After years of discussion, the NBA finally went all-in on spicing up the regular season by implementing an additional tournament. This one will be played during the first half of the season, with Group Play games being played on Tuesdays and Fridays from Nov. 3 through Nov. 28, and a knockout tournament being played between Dec. 4 and Dec. 9. That final date, Dec. 9, will feature the Championship game, to be played in Las Vegas.
As has been well-documented, this tournament derives from that which has been utilized within European soccer. The goal is to drive a new level of excitement and interest during a period of the season which has grown to be a bit mundane.
The construction of the tournament is complicated and made up of three key elements: the Group Play Draw, the Group Play games, and the Knockout Rounds. Here’s how each of these three elements works.
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Group Play Draw
The league has split its 30 teams into six groups of five teams (three groups from each conference). Each team will compete against the other four teams in its group to determine which team will advance in the tournament.
The six groups were randomly drawn based upon each team’s record from the 2022-23 regular season. Each group will feature one team that finished with one of the conference’s top three records last season, one team that finished with one of the fourth- through sixth-best records, one team that finished with one of the seventh- through ninth-best records, one team that finished with one of the 10th- through 12th-best records, and one team that finished with one of the 13th- through 15th-best records.
Boston’s group features themselves (third-best record), the Brooklyn Nets (sixth-best record), the Chicago Bulls (ninth-best record), the Toronto Raptors (tenth-best record), and the Orlando Magic (13th-best record).
Group Play Games
We now have what the NBA is calling “Tournament Nights,” which will occur every Tuesday and Friday from Nov. 3 through Nov. 28 (except on Election Day on Nov. 7). Every game played on these nights will be a Group Play game.
During this stretch, each team will play one game against the other four teams in its group. Two of those games will be at home, and two will be on the road. Each of these Group Play contests will count as one regular-season game.
At the conclusion of Group Play, the leading team from each group, plus two wild card teams, will advance to the Knockout Rounds. Tie-breakers will be decided by the following criteria, in sequential order:
- Head-to-head record in Group Play games
- Point differential in Group Play games
- Total points scored in Group Play games
- Regular season record from the previous season (2022-23)
- Random drawing
Here is the schedule for Boston’s Group Play games:
| TIME | DATE | LOCATION | OPPONENT |
| 7:30 PM | Friday, Nov. 10 | Home | Brooklyn Nets |
| 7:30 PM | Friday, Nov. 17 | Away | Toronto Raptors |
| 2:30 PM | Friday, Nov. 24 | Away | Orlando Magic |
| 7:30 PM | Tuesday, Nov. 28 | Home | Chicago Bulls |
Knockout Rounds
And here comes the fun part: single-elimination basketball. The six Group winners, plus two wild card teams, will advance from the Group Play stage and enter into a win-or-go home tournament. The quarterfinals will be played Dec. 4 and Dec. 5. The four teams that win those games will move on to play in the semifinals Dec. 7 in Las Vegas. The two winners that emerge from those games will then meet Dec. 9 in the championship game, with the winner taking home the first-ever NBA Cup.
The 22 teams that did not advance to the Knockout Rounds will have regular-season games scheduled for Dec. 6 and Dec. 8.
It’s worth noting that the title game is the only game of the In-Season Tournament that will not count toward regular-season standings or toward regular-season team and player statistics.
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In the end, here’s what you need to remember: All 30 teams enter Group Play, eight advance to the Knockout Rounds, four advance to the semifinals in Vegas, and one will stand tall as the inaugural winner of the NBA Cup. That’s the long and the short of it.
As for Boston’s involvement, remember that their Group Play opponents are the Nets, the Bulls, the Raptors and the Magic, and that their Group Play games will be played Nov. 10 (Brooklyn), Nov. 17 (Toronto), Nov. 24 (Orlando), and Nov. 28 (Chicago).
Oh, and also remember that the Boston Celtics have a penchant for logging firsts in NBA history, so don’t be surprised if they wind up hoisting that trophy on Dec. 9 in Vegas.