Jazz Opponents for First NBA In-Season Tournament Revealed
The NBA didn’t do the Utah Jazz any favors when scheduling their opponents in the first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament. Utah will be in West Group A with the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, and Portland Trail Blazers.
Jazz head coach Will Hardy and company will have their work cut out for them if they want to advance to the tournament's eight-team single-elimination tournament portion. The Suns, Grizzlies, and Lakers are all projected to make the playoffs in a loaded Western Conference. However, the Jazz could still sneak into the elite eight if they don’t win their group by qualifying as one of the two wildcard teams.
If Utah becomes fortunate enough to make the single elimination round of the tournament, it will take just one win to advance to the final four and a trip to Las Vegas, scheduled to begin on December 7. It remains to be seen whether teams will be providing more effort in these contests, but it has been set up with some nice incentives that should motivate teams to put their best foot forward.
Jazz fans shouldn’t worry too much about stars resting, with the four cup games counting towards the regular season record. Also, the players on the winning team will take home a $500,000 prize for their efforts.
The NBA is trying new ways to keep the players and fans more engaged during the regular season. It will be interesting to see if teams will play with a regular season rotation or shorten it up like a playoff game.
From this point of view, something needed to be done to emphasize the regular season, with stars sitting out games becoming more normalized yearly. The NBA will release the dates of the games on August 15.
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