Indiana Pacers NBA In-Season Tournament: Group play schedule and tournament format

The NBA In-Season Tournament begins in early November

Earlier today, the NBA announced the schedule for group stage games for its new In-Season tournament. It's the first schedule release for most teams for the 2023-24 season.

The Indiana Pacers are in Eastern Conference Group A, and the groups were determined by randomly drawing teams from five seeding pods in each conference. The Pacers are paired with the Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, and Detroit Pistons.

Group Stage games will have added meaning due to their involvement with the In-Season tournament, but they are also regular season games that count towards a team's final record. They will be played on Tuesdays and Friday between November 3 and November 28 (except for election night on November 7), and those will be known as "Tournament Nights", where every team in the league battles in Group Play.

For the Pacers, their schedule for the Tournament Nights is as follows:

Friday, November 3: vs Cleveland Cavaliers

Tuesday, November 14: at Philadelphia 76ers

Tuesday, November 21: at Atlanta Hawks

Friday, November 24: vs Detroit Pistons

Each conference has three groups. The team within each group that finishes with the best record from their four-game slate of Tournament Nights will move on to the In-Season Tournament Knockout Rounds. Additionally, among the three groups in each conference, the team that finishes with the best record despite not winning their group will head to the quarterfinals. The standings tiebreakers can be found here.

The Knockout Rounds will then effectively be the top-eight teams for the In-Season tournament, and they will be played in early December. The quarterfinals of the In-Season tournament will be played in the higher-seeded team's home arena, but the semifinals and finals will occur in Las Vegas.

All of the Knock Round games will count toward a team's regular season record except for the championship game, which is a stand-alone event. For the 22 teams that don't reach the In-Season tournament playoffs, they will play one road game and one home game as a part of their regular season schedule on December 6 and December 8. Those will be scheduled once the knockout bracket is known.

Additionally, the teams that lose in the quarterfinals will play a regular season game on December 8.

The 2023-24 season is the first with the In-Season tournament. For every team, including the Pacers, it will be a unique opportunity to be the first-ever champions, and there are cash prizes at stake for each team that reaches the Knockout Rounds.

The Pacers preseason schedule became known earlier this week. Additionally, the NBA revealed today that the full NBA schedule will come out on August 17.

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