The Toronto Raptors announced on Wednesday updates to the schedule for the week of Dec. 3-10. Regular season games will be played Dec. 6 when they host Miami, and Dec. 8 at Charlotte.
Toronto’s games were scheduled against other Eastern Conference teams that did not qualify for the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals. The teams were chosen from clubs the Raptors were originally scheduled to play three times over the course of the season.
READ MORE:
NBA Reveals Two Additional Game for Raptors Next Month
Hopefully, you haven’t made plans for next week yet. The Toronto Raptors have added two more games to their schedule this year and will play the Miami Heat at home on Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. and on the road in Charlotte on Dec. 8 at 7 p.m., the league announced. That finalizes Toronto’s schedule at 82 games this year.
The late addition is due to the league’s new in-season tournament which will continue with the next round of action on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5. The winners of those games will advance to the semi-finals on Dec. 7 before the final on Dec. 9 in Las Vegas. Only the final will not be counted toward regular season standings as it will be game 83 for the two teams competing for the $500,000 prize money.
Toronto finished fourth of the five teams in Group C in the inaugural version of the in-season tournament. The Raptors went 1-3 with a minus-21 point differential, topping only Chicago who went winless in group play. Boston narrowly came out of the group at 3-1 thanks to a plus-27 point differential. Orlando and Brooklyn finished second and third with plus-22 and plus-20 point differentials, respectively.
The addition of the tournament means the Raptors will have a short break in early December with no games taking place from Dec. 2 to Dec. 5. They’ll play the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday and the New York Knicks on Friday before the four-day break. As for the in-season tournament, Boston will play Indiana, New Orleans will play Sacramento, New York will play Milwaukee, and Phoenix will play the Los Angeles Lakers.