NBA In-Season Tournament Semifinals: Matchups, Schedule, How to Watch

The NBA's inaugural In-Season Tournament has reached its Final Four.

The Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers claimed the final two spots in the tournament's semifinals with wins on Tuesday night, and they will be joined by the Indiana Pacers and New Orleans Pelicans in the next stage of the single-elimination knockout round, which will take the NBA to Las Vegas.

Results from the semifinals will factor into each of the four teams' regular-season win-loss records, though the title game will not impact the standings. The next round of the tournament begins later this week.

Before tip-off, here's what basketball fans should know.

Matchups, Schedule for NBA Final Four

The Pacers and Pelicans won the first pair of In-Season Tournament quarterfinal games on Monday to advance to the semifinals.

Tyrese Haliburton registered his first-career triple-double and completed a crucial go-ahead four-point play with just over a minute remaining in a 122-112 win over the Boston Celtics. The Pelicans also advanced with a 10-point victory, though theirs came on the road against the higher-seeded Sacramento Kings. Brandon Ingram tallied 30 points, eight rebounds, and six assists in the win-or-go-home game.

Then, on Tuesday, the Bucks and Lakers both eliminated the two Wild Card teams remaining in the tournament. Milwaukee, led by 35 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo, blew out the New York Knicks 146-122. In the next game, LeBron James scored 15 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter in a 106-103 win—with some timeout controversy—over Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns to secure the last semifinal spot.

So the two remaining Eastern Conference teams will face off on Thursday night in Las Vegas right before the Western Conference teams do so. The semifinals and tournament championship game will both be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as opposed to home venues.

The remaining tournament schedule goes as follows.

Thursday, December 7

East semifinal: Pacers vs. Bucks, 5 p.m. ET, ESPN

West semifinal: Pelicans vs. Lakers, 9 p.m. ET, truTV/TNT

Saturday, December 9

Championship game: East winner vs. West winner, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC

NBA In-Season Tournament Bracket

The one seeds in each conference are still alive heading into the Final Four.

Milwaukee and Los Angeles earned the top spots on their sides of the bracket after winning their respective group play groups and having point-differential advantages. Indiana is the No. 2 seed in the East, while New Orleans is the No. 3 seed in the West. No Wild Card teams advanced to the Las Vegas portion of the tournament.

Betting Odds For NBA In-Season Tournament

The Bucks are a few seasons removed from winning the 2020-21 NBA title, but Milwaukee may soon be adding a new trophy to its collection in Vegas, according to oddsmakers.

DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Bucks as the odds-on favorite to win the first NBA Cup at +170 as of Wednesday afternoon. Next up is the Lakers at +240, followed by the Pelicans (+360) and Pacers (+425).

Players on the championship-winning team will each earn $500,000 in prize money. Players on the losing finals team will receive $200,000, while the losers in the semifinals will net $100,000 per player