Bucks among the teams in the Heat’s group for the second annual in-season tournament
The Miami Heat didn’t advance past the group stage of the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament last season. Now, the Heat knows which teams it will compete with in hopes of producing a better result in the second annual in-season tournament this upcoming season.
On Friday, the NBA announced the six five-team groups for next season’s in-season tournament, which has been renamed the Emirates NBA Cup. The Heat is part of a group that also includes the Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons.
All 30 teams were randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on records from last regular season.
Every team in the league will play one game against each of the four opponents in their group — two coming at home and two coming on the road. Those games will take place across four Tuesdays (Nov. 12, 19 and 26 and Dec. 3) and three Fridays (Nov. 15, 22 and 29), with the full group stage schedule set to be announced at a later date.
For last season’s inaugural in-season tournament, the Heat’s five-team group included the Bucks, New York Knicks, Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets.
What are the rules behind the NBA’s in-season tournament? Here’s a refresher:
The winner of each of the six groups and two wild cards (the team from each conference with the best record in group play that finished second in its group) — a total of eight teams — will advance to the knockout single-elimination rounds.
Despite the added wrinkle of the in-season tourney, every team will continue to play 82 regular-season games. That’s because every game in the in-season tournament will count toward regular-season stats and standings, except the championship game.
The 22 teams not advancing to the quarterfinals will play two regular-season games (one home game and one road game) on Dec. 12 or Dec. 13 and Dec. 15 or Dec. 16 to fill the missing two games in their standard 82-game schedules.
The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will play each other in a regular-season game on Dec. 12, 13, 15 or 16 to fill the missing game in their 82-game schedules.
For the four teams that win in the quarterfinals, their 82nd game will come in the semifinals.
The two teams that advance to the championship game will play an extra game (83rd game) for the NBA Cup that won’t count toward the regular season. The Los Angeles Lakers won last season’s inaugural NBA Cup.
The quarterfinals will be played in NBA team markets on Dec. 10 and 11. These games will be hosted by the two teams with the best record in group play games from each conference, with the team holding the best record in group play from each conference hosting the wild card team in their respective conference.
The semifinals and championship game of the event will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 14 and Dec. 17.
