Sometimes, there are moments on the hardwood that surprises everyone present. It is true that these are moments for the players to share their skills. But who says the spectators can’t have any fun either. Just take a look at what happened at the first NBA’s In-season Tournament. A fan managed to take everyone by surprise with their exceptions skills of shooting from the half-court. 

The inaugural In-Season Tournament starts on November 3 and will wrap up on December 7 with the championship game. Every game except the title game will count towards regular season standings. The grouping of the 30 teams in the league was based on their finishing position last season, and then the 15 teams in each conference were randomly drawn into three groups of five.

A place where talent shines

As the Bucks took on the New York Knicks, a fan was given a unique opportunity. If they managed to score from the hail-court, they could easily win a prize money of $10,000. And they did!! Just watch it unfold:

As the arena erupted in glee, one couldn’t help but wonder, will they be willing to go pro? Last night marked the start of the all new NBA’s In-season Tournament 

The tournament format

It is designed in such a way that every team will play the other four teams in their group once with each playing two home and two road games. All group stage games are designated and played on ‘Tournament Nights’ which will take place every Tuesday and Friday from November 3 to 28. The six group winners will move on to the knockout stages, where they will be joined by one wild card from each conference, which will be given to the teams that finished second.

The quarterfinals, which will take place on December 4 and 5, will be played in the home arena of the two teams in each conference with the best group stage records. The knockout games will all be single elimination. The wild card squad will be hosted by the team with the best record in each conference.

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The prize pool will only be divided between the teams that reach the knockout stages, and the further a team progresses, the larger the portion of the prize pool they will receive for their players. The tournament will also name an MVP and an All-Tournament team.

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This move by the league is an attempt to keep the games more relevant to the viewers. In 2020, the ‘Play-In’ between the teams finishing 7th-10th in each conference was announced. With this, final two playoff spots in each conference was decided giving the teams a better shot at the play-offs. After its success, this new format has been introduced. Will it be successful to draw in more casual fans?