NBA ‘Seeding Games’ Schedule Announced For Utah Jazz, 21 Other Teams
Jun 26, 2020, 5:13 PM | Updated: Jun 27, 2020, 2:16 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The NBA released the “seeding games” schedule for the Utah Jazz and 21 other teams participating in the league’s restart in Orlando, Florida.
Starting on July 30, 22 NBA teams, including the Jazz, will finish the 2019-20 regular season with an eight-game schedule.
The games will be played at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and no fans will be in attendance.
No NBA games have been played since the league suspended the season on March 11 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Utah Jazz “Seeding Games” Schedule
The Jazz will open the NBA’s restart and be back in action for the first time since March 9 when they play against the New Orleans Pelicans on July 30.
#Jazz fans, in one GIF share your excitement level for the @UtahJazz opening up the NBA’s restart against the Pelicans…#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/GEVyqZGoUw
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) June 26, 2020
Here is the full schedule of “seeding games” for the Jazz:
Game 1 – vs. New Orleans Pelicans
Date: July 30
Time: 4:30 p.m (MDT)
TV: TNT, AT&T SportsNet
Game 2 – vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Date: August 1
Time: 1:30 p.m. (MDT)
TV: ESPN, AT&T SportsNet
Game 3 – vs. Los Angeles Lakers
Date: August 3
Time: 7 p.m. (MDT)
TV: ESPN, AT&T SportsNet
Game 4 – vs. Memphis Grizzles
Date: August 5
Time: 12:30 p.m. (MDT)
TV: AT&T SportsNet
Game 5 – vs. San Antonio Spurs
Date: August 7
Time: 11 a.m. (MDT)
TV: AT&T SportsNet
Game 6 – vs. Denver Nuggets
Date: August 8
Time: 1:30 p.m. (MDT)
TV: TNT, AT&T SportsNet
Game 7 – vs. Dallas Mavericks
Date: August 10
Time: 1 p.m. (MDT)
TV: NBATV, AT&T SportsNet
Game 8 – vs. San Antonio Spurs
Date: August 13
Time: TBD
TV: AT&T SportsNet
Basketball, we missed you ❤️#RoadToOrlando | @UofUHealth
𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 » https://t.co/vNYobcQlRW pic.twitter.com/FF9N48ouFi— utahjazz (@utahjazz) June 26, 2020
When the NBA and National Basketball Players Association announced the finalized plan to restart season, the Jazz officially clinched a berth to the postseason for the 29th time in franchise history.
Western Conference & Eastern Conference Schedules
Eastern Conference Opponents ⤵️#WholeNewGame pic.twitter.com/J5uHbKiYuy
— NBA (@NBA) June 26, 2020
Click here to see additional details of the restart schedule.
NBA Restart Format
Under the league’s restart format for the restart, the 22 NBA teams participating in the plan will play eight “seeding games” to close out the regular season. The games will be selected from the teams’ remaining regular-season matchups.
The NBA Comeback begins on Thursday, July 30th at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Florida. Learn more about the competitive format. #WholeNewGame
FOLLOW THREAD ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/YaGbctnQdE
— NBA (@NBA) June 26, 2020
After the “seeding games” are played, the top seven teams from each conference will automatically advance to the NBA Playoffs.
According to the league’s plan, the final seed for the postseason in each conference could potentially feature a play-in tournament.
“If the team with the eighth-best combined winning percentage (regular-season games and seeding games) in a conference is more than four games ahead of the team with the ninth-best combined winning percentage in the same conference, then the team with the eighth-best winning percentage would be the eighth playoff seed in that conference,” the NBA said. “If the team with the eighth-best combined winning percentage in a conference (Team 8) is four games or fewer ahead of the team with the ninth-best combined winning percentage in the same conference (Team 9), then those two teams would compete in a play-in tournament to determine the eighth playoff seed in the conference. The play-in tournament will be double elimination for Team 8 and single elimination for Team 9.”
The restart plan states that the league’s standard playoff tiebreaker procedures will be used to break any ties on winning percentage.
After the 16 teams have qualified for the postseason and the playoff field is set, the “NBA Playoffs will proceed in a traditional conference-based format with four rounds and best-of-seven series in each round.”
NBA Playoffs will proceed in a traditional conference-based format with four rounds and best-of-seven series in each round.
The 2020 NBA Finals will end no later than October 13. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/uxir3bothy
— NBA (@NBA) June 26, 2020
The latest the NBA Finals would conclude is if a Game 7 were to take place on October 13.