Previewing The NBA In-Season Tournament

The inaugural In-Season Tournament in the NBA is here with the first day of action today featuring the first seven games. The league continues to evolve to try and raise the competitive bar for teams, much like the Play-In Tournament, which has been a smash hit for four years now.

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The 30 NBA teams are broken up into groups of five where they will play each other once in round robin action. Eight teams will advance. The three teams from each conference with the best record in group play and one more team from each conference that have the next best records.

All group play games are played on Tuesday (except Election Day, November 7th) and Friday between the 3rd-28th in November.

These games add a level of importance and competition in November that teams do not always play with this time of year.

To get the In-Season Tournament started there are seven games today to set the stage for the rest of the games all the way to the NBA Cup.

West Group A: Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz

Friday Games: Memphis at Portland

What to Watch: Can Memphis get its first win of the season? The sart to the season has been a challenge for Memphis who are without All-Star Ja Morant for another 20 games, meaning he will miss the entirety of the In-Season Tournament, leaving Desmond Bane to shoulder the load starting today.

West Group B: Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers and New Orleans Pelicans

Friday Games: Dallas at Denver

What to Watch: Of the day one games there might not be a more exciting game than this between undefeated Dallas taking on defending champion Denver. This is also the first game of the season between Luka Doncic (33.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, 9.8 assists and two triple-doubles) and Nikola Jokic (26.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 7.4 assists and two triple-doubles), who might be the two front-runners for MVP this season.

West Group C: Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs

Friday Games: Golden State at Oklahoma City

What to Watch: If the game above this is the most exciting game on paper, this is a close second. Stephen Curry vs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The old guard vs. the potential team of the future. Two of the most exciting teams in the league. To start this season Curry is playing like a player on a mission for a third MVP trophy with two 41+ point games, 28 made three-pointers and pushing Golden State to four straight wins heading into today.

East Group A: Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers

Friday Games: Cleveland at Indiana

What to Watch: The first official game of the In-Season Tournament will make Cleveland at Indiana the answer to a trivia question in 20 years. The first time these teams played Indiana won 125-113 after the crowd riled up Tyrese Haliburton, leading to him take over the game with back-to-back-to-back threes finishing with 21 points and 13 assists.

East Group B: Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Washington Wizards

Friday Games: New York at Milwaukee and Washington at Miami

What to Watch: This is the only group with two games on the first day of the In-Season Tournament. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard are still looking to find their chemistry on the court against a very gritty New York defense. In the other game today the defending eastern conference champions look to climb out of the bottom of the conference against the team just ahead of them in the standings. In fact, East Group B has the bottom four teams in the Eastern Conference overall along with Milwaukee who is only 2-2 through four games.

East Group C: Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors

Friday Games: Brooklyn at Chicago

What to Watch: All eyes will be on Cam Thomas who scored 30+ points in the first three games of the season and filled in the scoring void for Brooklyn through injuries. He has the ability to put on a show and even carry Brooklyn to advance out of group play.

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