The games have been played, the points have been tallied and 22 of the 30 colorful courts have been retired, at least for this year. The knockout stages are set for the NBA’s in-season tournament with the Lakers hosting the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena.
Here’s how we got here:
What’s the NBA’s in-season tournament?
In an attempt to get more attention during the pre-Christmas schedule, the league cooked up its first in-season tournament, modeled in part after European soccer competition.
In each conference, teams were placed into three pools with five teams.