The NBA in-season tournament will reach the quarterfinal stage next week and the eight qualifiers and their seeds were finalized on Tuesday. The 22 teams that failed to advance had two holes in their schedules that needed to be filled.
Those matchups were determined late Tuesday evening, with each team receiving a home and away contest, NBA Communications tweets. The newly-scheduled games will take place next Wednesday (December 6) and Friday (Dec. 8).
The Cavaliers and Magic, who missed the quarterfinals despite their 3-1 tournament records, will face each other in Cleveland on Wednesday. Cleveland will then visit the Heat (2-2 tournament) on Friday.
The Nets, who also had a 3-1 tournament record, wound up with a road game against the Hawks (1-3) and home game against the Wizards (0-4)
The Sixers, who finished 2-2 in the tournament, drew a road game against the Wizards and a home game against the Hawks.
In the West, the Timberwolves were the only 3-1 tournament team that didn’t reach the quarterfinals. They’ll host the Spurs (0-4) and visit the Grizzlies (0-4).
The defending champion Nuggets will visit Los Angeles to face the Clippers (1-3), then head home to take on the Rockets (2-2). The Warriors, who were knocked out of contention by Sacramento on Tuesday, drew a home game against the Trail Blazers (1-3) and a road contest against the Thunder (1-3).
Here’s the full schedule for next Wednesday and Friday:
Wednesday, Dec. 6
- Orlando at Cleveland
- Memphis at Detroit
- Miami at Toronto
- Philadelphia at Washington
- Brooklyn at Atlanta
- San Antonio at Minnesota
- Charlotte at Chicago
- Oklahoma City at Houston
- Utah at Dallas
- Portland at Golden State
- Denver at LA Clippers
Friday, Dec. 8
- Toronto at Charlotte
- Detroit at Orlando
- Atlanta at Philadelphia
- Washington at Brooklyn
- Cleveland at Miami
- Minnesota at Memphis
- Golden State at Oklahoma City
- Chicago at San Antonio
- Houston at Denver
- LA Clippers at Utah
- Dallas at Portland
Two more regular season games will be added to the NBA’s schedule after the quarterfinals of the in-season tournament are complete, since the four teams that lose those matchups will require an 82nd game on their respective schedules.
Interesting. I’m glad they’re the ones that have to keep track of this stuff. Lol