2023 NBA In-Season Tournament
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The 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament was a
multi-stage A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
tournament that played during the
2023–24 NBA season The 2023–24 NBA season was the 78th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 24, 2023, and ended on April 14, 2024. The NBA held their first-ever in-season tournament from November 3 to December ...
. 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 T-Mobile Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Paradise, Nevada, United States. Opened on April 6, 2016, it is the home arena of the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). A joint venture between MGM Resorts International ...
on the
Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...
. The
Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
defeated the
Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...
in the championship game, and Los Angeles'
LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...
was named the Most Valuable Player for the tournament.


Format

The tournament's format was similar to in-season,
multi-stage tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
s in European soccer. 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). If two or more teams in a group had equal records upon completion of group play, the following tiebreakers were applied in this order: # 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 # Random drawing 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 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...
. 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 T-Mobile Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Paradise, Nevada, United States. Opened on April 6, 2016, it is the home arena of the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). A joint venture between MGM Resorts International ...
on the
Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...
. 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. 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. 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.


Prize money

Players on teams advancing to the knockout stage will receive prize money as follows: * Players on teams that lose in the quarterfinals: $50,000 each * Players on teams that lose in the semifinals: $100,000 each * Players on the tournament runner-up team: $200,000 each * Players on the tournament championship team: $500,000 each


Draw


Pots

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.


Draw results

The initial groups were revealed during the tournament announcement on July 8, 2023. 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.


Group stage


East group A

:''Note: Times are
Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...
( UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.''


East group B

:''Note: Times are
Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...
( UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.''


East group C

:''Note: Times are
Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...
( UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.''


West group A

:''Note: Times are
Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...
( UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.''


West group B

:''Note: Times are
Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...
( UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.''


West group C

:''Note: Times are
Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...
( UTC−4 or UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.''


Ranking of second-placed teams


Eastern Conference


Western Conference


Knockout stage


Qualified teams

Eastern Conference Western Conference


Bracket

Home team listed first (quarterfinals only). Source:


Quarterfinals

:''Note: Times are
Eastern Standard Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behind ...
( UTC−5) as listed by the NBA. If the venue is located in a different time zone, the local time is also given.'' 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. 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. However, according to commissioner
Adam Silver Adam Silver (born April 25, 1962) is an American lawyer and sports executive who is serving as the fifth and current commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He joined the NBA in 1992 and has held various positions within the ...
, 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.


Semifinals


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. The teams went into half-time with a 65–60 advantage for Los Angeles. The second half opened up with a
LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...
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. 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 Myles Christian Turner (born March 24, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one season for the Texas Longhorns before being selected by the Pacers wit ...
fouled out after fouling
Anthony Davis Anthony Marshon Davis Jr. (born March 11, 1993), nicknamed "AD" and "the Brow", is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Davis, a Power forward (basketball), power f ...
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. 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. 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; his performance was widely praised as a "masterpiece", with James describing it as a " Shaq-like performance". Davis became the first player in 36 years to record 40+ points, 20+ rebounds, 5+ assists and 4+ blocks, and was the third Laker to achieve this feat following
Elgin Baylor Elgin Gay Baylor ( ; September 16, 1934 – March 22, 2021) was an American professional basketball player, coach, and executive. He played 14 seasons as a forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lak ...
and
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
.
Tyrese Haliburton Tyrese John Haliburton (born February 29, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "The Haliban", he is a two-time NBA All-Star and two-time All-NBA Th ...
finished with 20 points and 11 assists, while Bennedict Mathurin scored 20 as well.


Awards

The
Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
won the NBA Cup.
LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...
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. On December 11, the NBA announced the All-Tournament Team.


Marketing


The Heist

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. "The Heist" features seven NBA all-stars: Anthony Davis, Demar Derozan, Darius Garland, Draymond Green, Kawhi Leonard, Julius Randle, Trae Young and
Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...
winning actor
Michael Imperioli Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO crime drama series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...
attempting to take the NBA Cup trophy from a Las Vegas casino.


Anthem

The official anthem for the tournament was a re-recorded version of "
Mama Said Knock You Out ''Mama Said Knock You Out'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper LL Cool J. It was produced mostly by Marley Marl and recorded at his "House of Hits" home studio in Chestnut Ridge and at Chung King House of Metal in New York City. Aft ...
" by
LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...
combined with
The Roots The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''T ...
"Here I Come." 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.


Media coverage

The group stage of the tournament was covered by the NBA's existing broadcasters. In national linear television broadcasts in the United States,
TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...
had selected Tuesday games,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
aired selected Friday games, and
NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through TNT Sports. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular se ...
had two on Friday, November 24. Most group stage games were instead only televised locally by the teams' regional broadcasters. During the knockout stage,
TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...
aired all four quarterfinals in prime time 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 ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
in prime time on December 9.
TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...
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 KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station mai ...
in Los Angeles and
WRTV WRTV (channel 6) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Meridian Street (Indianapolis), Mer ...
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.
ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...
also aired an alternate telecast for the championship game on December 9. All TNT's games were streamed on
Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...
including two exclusive alternate telecast of quarterfinal games on December 5.
NBA League Pass NBA League Pass is the National Basketball Association's direct-to-consumer subscription-based product that provides live and on-demand NBA games. It is available to those in the United States and also as an international package for all other co ...
offered out-of-market group stage games, as well as live access to NBA TV's games. In Canada, national coverage of all Toronto Raptors games and other selected games were split between TSN,
Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary sports broadcasting, sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture betw ...
, and
NBA TV Canada NBA TV Canada is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). It is the Canadian version of NBA TV, broadcasting programming focused on the National Basketball Association, and ...
.


Semifinal ESPN/TNT broadcast collaboration

Ahead of the semifinals, ESPN and TNT announced that their broadcast teams would collaborate on each other's coverage. For ESPN, TNT's
Reggie Miller Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, played his entire 18-year career in the National Basketball Assoc ...
joined
Mike Breen Michael Breen (born May 22, 1961) is an American play-by-play sports commentator. He has been the lead announcer for National Basketball Association, NBA games on NBA on ABC, ABC and NBA on ESPN, ESPN since 2006, including the NBA Finals. He is ...
,
Doris Burke Doris Burke ( Sable) is an American sports announcer and analyst for ''NBA on ESPN'', ''NBA on ABC'', '' College Basketball on ESPN'', and '' College Basketball on ABC'' games. She formerly worked as an analyst for WNBA games on MSG and has wo ...
and
Lisa Salters Alisia "Lisa" Salters (born March 6, 1966) is an American journalist and former college basketball player. She has been a reporter for ESPN and ESPN on ABC since 2000. Salters previously covered the O. J. Simpson murder case for American Broadc ...
, while on TNT, ESPN's
Doc Rivers Glenn Anton "Doc" Rivers (born October 13, 1961) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). An NBA player for 14 seasons, he was an NB ...
joined
Kevin Harlan Kevin Robert Harlan (born June 21, 1960) is an American television and radio sports announcer, and a 3 time National Sportscaster of Year as voted by his peers. The son of former Green Bay Packers President and CEO Bob Harlan, he broadcasts NF ...
,
Candace Parker Candace Nicole Parker (born April 19, 1986), nicknamed "Ace", is an American former professional basketball player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest WNBA players of all time, she was selected as the first overall pick in the 2008 WNBA dr ...
and Allie LaForce. TNT's ''
Inside the NBA ''Inside the NBA'', branded for sponsorship purposes as ''Inside the NBA presented by Kia'', is the halftime and postgame studio show that aired for ''NBA on TNT'' broadcasts from 1989 to 2025. The show has been hosted since 1990 by Ernie John ...
'' (including ''NBA Tip-off'') studio team of
Ernie Johnson Jr. Ernest Thorwald Johnson Jr. (born August 7, 1956) is an American sportscaster for TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports. He is the television voice and a studio host for Major League Baseball on TBS, hosts ''Inside the NBA'' for ESPN, Americ ...
,
Kenny Smith Kenneth Smith (born March 8, 1965) is an American sports commentator and former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Jet", he played in the NBA from 1987 to 1997 as a member of the Sacramen ...
,
Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT and CBS Sports. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "the Bread Truck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", ...
and
Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...
also collaborated with their ESPN counterparts, the ''
NBA Countdown ''NBA Countdown'', branded for sponsorship purposes as ''NBA Countdown Presented by DraftKings Sportsbook'' for ESPN editions and ''NBA Countdown Delivered by Papa John's'' for ABC editions respectively, is a pregame television show airing ...
'' studio team of
Malika Andrews Malika Rose Andrews McMenamin (born January 27, 1995) is an American sports journalist and reporter. She is the host of ''NBA Today'', which replaced ''The Jump (ESPN talk show), The Jump''. She joined ESPN in October 2018 as an online NBA writ ...
, Stephen A. Smith, Michael Wilbon,
Bob Myers Robert Michael Myers (born March 31, 1975) is an American former basketball executive who was the general manager for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2012 to 2023. During his tenure, he was twice named ...
and Adrian Wojnarowski, during the other network's coverage. Specifically, it was announced that the ''Inside the NBA'' team would appear on ''NBA Countdown'' while Smith and Wilbon would appear on ''Inside the NBA''.


Aftermath

Commissioner
Adam Silver Adam Silver (born April 25, 1962) is an American lawyer and sports executive who is serving as the fifth and current commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He joined the NBA in 1992 and has held various positions within the ...
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. 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 The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...
.


References


External links

* {{Authority control In-Season Tournament Basketball competitions in the Las Vegas Valley
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
NBA Cup
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
2023 in the Las Vegas Valley