Milwaukee Bucks' schedule for the NBA's new in-season tournament is announced
The NBA announced the schedule for the group play games of the inaugural In-Season Tournament on Tuesday afternoon.
The group play portion of the tournament runs from Nov. 3-Dec. 9. Group play, which will be dubbed “Tournament Nights,” will be played every Tuesday and Friday from Nov. 3-28 (except for Election Day on Nov. 7).
The Milwaukee Bucks are in East Group B and will play New York, Miami, Washington and Charlotte.
Those games are scheduled as follows:
Friday, Nov. 3: Bucks vs. Knicks, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Friday, Nov. 17: Bucks at Hornets, 6 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 24: Bucks vs. Wizards, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 28: Bucks at Heat, 6:30 p.m. (TNT)
“We can use it to our advantage,” first-year Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin told the Journal Sentinel in June. “We’ve got guys that may need some playoff experience. We may have some guys that need to know what it feels like in those type of environments. It’ll be great to have our (veteran) guys experience that as well. So we just see it as a great challenge for us and a positive.”
More: Adrian Griffin connecting with Giannis Antetokounmpo first step in reaching high standard
Six group winners and one wild card per conference will advance to single elimination knock-out rounds, which will be played Dec. 4 and 5 with homecourt advantage being determined by group play results. The tournament semi-finals will be held Dec. 7 and the championship on Dec. 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
If the Bucks do not advance in the tournament, the league will schedule additional regular-season games on Dec. 6 and Dec. 8 at a later date.
“Listen, you can complain about it or you can embrace it,” Griffin said. “I always talk to the players about you can see something as adversity and a challenge or you can see something as a threat. I think it’s a great opportunity to give us another crack at getting our guys ready for the playoffs. It’s going to be a playoff atmosphere type of tournament. So I think it’ll be great for us.”
More: The Bucks reportedly will play on Christmas Day for the sixth straight season
Along with a NBA Cup trophy for the organization, players can earn individual accolades like tournament MVP and being named to the all-tournament team. Each player on the winning team will get $500,000. Players on the losing team in the championship will receive $200,000 each, while players on the losing teams in the semifinals ($100,000) and quarterfinals ($50,000) will also be rewarded.
All of the 67 games across both stages of the tournament will count toward the regular-season standings except the championship game. Every team will play a full 82-game regular-season schedule.
“We’re all in this business because we want to compete,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst told the Journal Sentinel in June. “I actually subscribe to the fact that no matter what the trophy is, someone wants to win it – so let’s go for it and try and win a trophy.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Bucks' schedule for NBA's new in-season tournament announced
