PACERS WILL HOST TWO IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT GAMES AT GAINBRIDGE FIELDHOUSE ON NOV. 3 AND NOV. 24
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Pacers announced on Tuesday the four games that will consist of the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament, beginning at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday, November 3 vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7:00pm ET.
The other games as part of the tournament will take place on Tuesday, November 14 at Philadelphia (7:00pm ET), Tuesday, November 21 at Atlanta (7:30pm ET), and will conclude on Friday, November 24 vs. Detroit (8:00pm ET).
Pacers tickets for games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse will be on sale on Wednesday, September 27 at 2:00pm ET. Fans can register for pre-sale access to single game tickets by signing up for Pacers Insider emails. Additional information on season tickets, group sales, suite rentals, and more can be found here.
The Pacers full 2023-24 regular-season schedule will be released at a later date.
As part of a random draw to determine the six groups for the In-Season Tournament, the Pacers were assigned to the “East A” group, which also consists of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, and Philadelphia 76ers.
The teams with the best standing in Group Play, as well as two “wild cards” (the teams from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group), will advance to the Knockout Rounds, beginning with the single-elimination Quarterfinal games to be held in NBA team markets on Monday, December 4 and Tuesday, December 5.
Winning teams will then progress to the Semifinals on December 7, and then the Championship on December 9, both of which will be played in Las Vegas, NV.
Eight teams will advance to the Knockout Rounds: The team with the best standing in Group Play games in each of the six groups and two “wild cards” (the team from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group).
The Knockout Rounds will consist of single-elimination games for the eight teams that advance from Group Play, beginning with the Quarterfinals on December 4-5, which will be held in NBA team markets. Teams that win will then progress to the Semifinals on December 7, and then the Championship on December 9, both of which will be played in Las Vegas, NV.
In each conference, Quarterfinal games will be hosted by the two teams with the best record in Group Play games, and the team with the best record in Group Play games will host the wild card team. In the event two or more teams are tied for the higher seed in a conference, the tie among the teams will be broken following the same tiebreaker protocol as described above.
During the Knockout Rounds on days when In-Season Tournament games are not scheduled (Wednesday, December 6 and Friday, December 8), the 22 teams that do not qualify for the Knockout Rounds will each play two regular-season games.
A formulaic approach will determine the matchups for these games using the Group Play standings in each conference (5th-15th). Two of the 22 games will be scheduled cross-conference since there will be an odd number of teams in each conference that do not advance to the Quarterfinals. These cross-conference games will be scheduled between bottom-finishing teams in the Group Play stage subject to travel constraints, and no team will play more than one of its two games cross-conference. The other 20 games will be scheduled within conference featuring teams that are otherwise scheduled to play each other three times over the course of the season wherever possible.
The four teams that lose in the Quarterfinals will each play a regular-season game on Friday, December 8, against the opponent in their same conference.