Tim Bontemps, ESPN November 29, 2023, 2:22 a.m. ET
After a month of group stage games, the field for the knockout portion of the NBA’s regular season tournament has been set.
The Indiana Pacers host the Boston Celtics on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET, followed by the New Orleans Pelicans taking on the Sacramento Kings at 10 a.m. Two group stage rematches will take place on Tuesday evening, with the New York Knicks playing at 10 a.m., the Milwaukee Bucks at 7:30 p.m., followed by the Phoenix Suns visiting the Los Angeles Lakers at 10 a.m.
The winners of each of these quarterfinal games advance to the semifinals on December 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with Eastern Conference teams competing at 5 p.m., followed by Western Conference teams at 9 p.m. The tournament’s championship game – where the winner gets to win the NBA Cup for the first time and earn $500,000 for each player on their roster – takes place on December 9th at 8:30 p.m. (ABC).
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A special feature is that each of the four quarter-finals will feature a match that has already been scheduled four times this season – this means that all of these matches will now be played five times, one more times than teams can normally play in a given season .
The 22 teams that did not advance will play a home game and an away game on December 6th and 8th, while the teams that lose in the quarterfinals will play each other on December 8th.
The NBA released the schedule for the other 22 teams early Wednesday morning, including some key matches. The Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs – featuring Anthony Edwards and Victor Wembanyama, two of the league’s most talented young stars, and a match between Wembanyama and fellow Frenchman Rudy Gobert – play Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. The Denver Nuggets then take on the LA Clippers in a rematch of Denver’s stunning Sunday win without Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray.
The Clippers will be on ESPN again on December 8th when they take on the Utah Jazz.
Some of the other highlight games on the list: the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Houston Rockets on December 6th and the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Miami Heat and the Golden State Warriors at the Thunder on December 8th.