Things will look different at TD Garden when the Celtics take the floor to battle the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.
Friday night’s matchup with the Nets is Boston’s first in-season tournament game. The in-season tournament is a new annual competition for all 30 teams, agreed upon in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement signed over the summer.
In an effort to make in-season tournament games stand out from a traditional regular season games, the NBA unveiled new courts specifically for its new in-season tournament, which will look much different for Celtics fans. (Note: The C’s will also be debuting their new 2023-24 City Edition uniforms)
The tournament will consist of two stages – Group Play and Knockout Rounds.
For Group Play, all 30 teams were randomly selected into six groups of five (three in each in conference) based on their win-loss record from last season.
The Celtics are in “East Group C” with the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, and Orlando Magic.
Each team will play four designated Group Play games, one against each opponent in its group, with two games at home and two on the road. The NBA has designated Tuesdays and Fridays in November as “Tournament Nights,” and the only games scheduled will be Group Play games.
After the Group Play, the top team from each group, along with one wild card from each conference, will advance to the knockout stages. The wild cards will be the team from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group.
The Knockout Rounds will be single-elimination. The Semifinals and Championship will take place at a neutral site in Las Vegas at the T-Moblie Arena. The championship is set for December 9.
Each game will count toward the regular-season standings except the championship.
Players and coaches of the team that wins the entire tournament will receive $500,000 each. The team that loses in the championship will get $200,000 each, the semifinalists will receive $100,000 each, and teams bounced in the quarterfinals of Knockout Play will collect $50,000 each.
After the in-season tournament, the NBA will name the Most Valuable Player and an All-Tournament Team.
The financial compensation may not mean much to guys at the top of Boston’s roster, but that’s a nice chunk of change for guys at the end of Boston’s bench.
The tournament also gives Boston a chance to make a statement against what figures to be some contenders. For a team with their eyes set on a championship trophy in June, a little appetizer in December wouldn’t hurt.
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