The 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament was a multi-stagebasketball tournament that played during the 2023–24 NBA season. It was the first edition of the NBA Cup, then under the working name NBA In-Season Tournament. All 30 teams participated, each playing four regular season games that count towards the tournament's group stage standings. All games in the knockout round, except for the championship game, also counted towards the regular season standings. The tournament's semifinals and championship game were played at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip.
In the group stage, each conference was divided into three groups with five teams each, for a total of six groups. Regular season games played on Tuesdays and Fridays between November 3 and November 28 counted in the regular season standings and the In-Season Tournament standings. Each team played one game against each of the other teams in its group, for a total of four games (two at home and two on the road).[1]
If two or more teams in a group had equal records upon completion of group play, the following tiebreakers were applied in this order:[1]
Head-to-head record in the group stage
Point differential in the group stage
Total points scored in the group stage
Regular season record from the 2022–23 regular season
Each group's winner then advanced to the knockout stage, as did one wild card from each conference—the group runner-up with the best group stage record. The knockout stage was a single-elimination tournament. Quarterfinal games were played in local NBA markets on December 4 and 5, with the teams with the top two group stage records in each conference hosting, and the best team in group-play games would host the wild-card team. The semifinals were played on December 7, and the championship was on December 9. The final two rounds were played at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip.[1]
Quarterfinal and semifinal games counted as regular season games, affecting teams' positions in league standings, but the championship game did not. Statistics from the championship game are also not counted in regular season totals.[1]
To balance the regular season, the four teams that lost in the quarterfinals played one additional game on December 8, against each other in the same conference.[1]
While the knockout stage was played, the 22 teams that did not qualify for the knockout stage each played two additional regular season games, one home and one away, to complete each team's 82 game regular season schedule. Among these 22 total matchups, 20 were intra-conference games, with an attempt by the league to schedule as many pairs of teams which were originally scheduled to only play each other three times during the regular season. The other two matchups were interconference games, as there was an odd number of teams in each conference (11). These two interconference matchups featured four of the six teams that finished last in their respective group.[1]
Teams were allocated into five pots per conference based on the 2022–23 regular season standings. Pot 1 contained the teams with the top three regular season records in each conference, while Pot 2 contained the teams with the fourth- to sixth-best records and so forth, concluding with Pot 5, which contained the teams with the bottom three (thirteenth through fifteenth) records.[1][3]
The initial groups were revealed during the tournament announcement on July 8, 2023.[4] The five teams in each group were selected by a draw of one team from each of the five pots for the conference in question.
During the Kings-Pelicans game on December 4, a 34-year-old Kings fan named Gregorio "Greg" Florez Breedlove had a medical emergency during the first quarter of that game and died 20 minutes after emergency medical services arrived to try and help him out.[6][7] A day later, during the Suns-Lakers game on December 5, the game's conclusion was met with serious controversy due to a controversial timeout that was given to the Lakers by the referees near the end of the game despite the Lakers not holding possession of the ball at the time the timeout was called.[8][9][10] However, according to commissioner Adam Silver, it was considered the right call by the notion that Austin Reaves had his left hand on the ball while pinned under his left leg before it got loosened up again.[11]
Anthony Davis recorded 41 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks in the championship game
Buddy Hield of Indiana scored the game's first basket when he hit a three-pointer. However, the Lakers quickly took control of the first quarter and led 20–15 after six minutes. After one frame, the Lakers led 34–29 with 26 points coming inside the paint.[12] The teams went into half-time with a 65–60 advantage for Los Angeles.
The second half opened up with a LeBron James and-one play, and the Lakers quickly captured a 10-point lead. Despite cutting the lead to a five-point lead at one point, the Pacers went into the fourth quarter trailing 90–82.[12]
The final quarter saw the Pacers crawl back into the game, cutting the lead down to two with 10:30 to go. However, Indiana was unable to keep up with the Lakers offense and were trailing by ten points with four and a half minutes left. Indiana center Myles Turner fouled out after fouling Anthony Davis and picking up his sixth foul, with 4:09 to go in the game. Davis scored 10 straight points as part of the 13–0 run that gave the Lakers a 16-point lead with 3:11 remaining in the game.[13] By then, the Lakers comfortably played the game out. The Lakers dominated the Pacers inside, edging them with a 86–44 edge in points in the paint.[13]
The Lakers became the first team to win the NBA Cup. Anthony Davis finished with 41 points on 16-for-24 shooting, 20 rebounds and 4 blocks;[13] his performance was widely praised as a "masterpiece",[14] with James describing it as a "Shaq-like performance".[15] Davis became the first player in 36 years to record 40+ points, 20+ rebounds, 5+ assists and 4+ blocks,[15] and was the third Laker to achieve this feat following Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain.[16]Tyrese Haliburton finished with 20 points and 11 assists, while Bennedict Mathurin scored 20 as well.[12]
The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA Cup. LeBron James won the inaugural Most Valuable Player award, following his averages of 26.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists, while shooting 56.8% from the field and 60.6% on threes.[18] On December 11, the NBA announced the All-Tournament Team.[13]
On October 25, one week before the start of group play the NBA debuted "The Heist," a series of short films used to promote the tournament.[19] "The Heist" features seven NBA all-stars: Anthony Davis, Demar Derozan, Darius Garland, Draymond Green, Kawhi Leonard, Julius Randle, Trae Young and Emmy winning actor Michael Imperioli attempting to take the NBA Cup trophy from a Las Vegas casino.
The official anthem for the tournament was a re-recorded version of "Mama Said Knock You Out" by LL Cool J combined with The Roots "Here I Come."[20][21] The song was prominently featured in promotional videos for the tournament. The Anthem was played before the start of each game throughout the group stage and knockout rounds.
The group stage of the tournament was covered by the NBA's existing broadcasters.
In national linear television broadcasts in the United States, TNT had selected Tuesday games, ESPN aired selected Friday games, and NBA TV had two on Friday, November 24.[22] Most group stage games were instead only televised locally by the teams' regional broadcasters.[23][24][25] During the knockout stage, TNT aired all four quarterfinals in prime time[26] on December 4 and 5. For the semifinals on December 7, ESPN televised the early game and TNT had the late game. The championship game aired on ABC in prime time on December 9.[27][28]
TruTV also aired three alternative telecasts of quarterfinal and semifinal games that air on TNT during the knockout round.
The championship game was the first year of a two year deal that saw the game broadcast on ABC (including local stations KABC-TV in Los Angeles and WRTV in Indianapolis). The game was the most-viewed game of the season with 4.58 million viewers. It was also the most-watched non-Christmas regular season game since 2018.[29]ESPN2 also aired an alternate telecast for the championship game on December 9.[30]
All TNT's games were streamed on Max including two exclusive alternate telecast of quarterfinal games on December 5.[24]NBA League Pass offered out-of-market group stage games, as well as live access to NBA TV's games.[25]
In Canada, national coverage of all Toronto Raptors games and other selected games were split between TSN, Sportsnet, and NBA TV Canada.[31][32]
Commissioner Adam Silver told in a press conference after the championship game that he was satisfied with the inaugural In-Season Tournament and is open to changes to the format, including the tie-breakers in the group play and the alternate colored courts that were used during the tournament.[35]
On December 19, the Lakers celebrated their win by hanging a championship banner in the Crypto.com Arena to honour their In-Season Tournament victory, ahead of their regular season game against the New York Knicks.[36][37]
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