Presented by Nationwide Insurance Agent Jeff Vukovich

The NBA has a new name for its in-season tournament and the Chicago Bulls hope that the new design will lead to better results than the first edition.

The NBA released its NBA Cup schedule on Tuesday. The Bulls, who went 0-4 in the group stage last season, will play in Cleveland on Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, host the Atlanta Hawks on Nov. 22 at 7 p.m., travel to Washington to face the Wizards on Nov. 26 at 6 p.m. and play the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics in East Group C on Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. at the United Center.

The NBA Cup begins on November 12 and includes semifinals and finals on December 14 and 17 in Las Vegas. The top eight teams from the group stage will qualify for the knockout round, which will include quarterfinals in NBA markets on December 10 and 11.

The teams that don’t make it to the knockout rounds, like the Bulls did last season, will play two regular-season games from a pool of the other teams that didn’t advance. The NBA is expected to release its full regular-season schedule this week, which will only include 80 games because of this change.

The Bulls’ minus-48 point differential last season was the second-worst in the Eastern Conference, trailing only the Charlotte Hornets. The 0-4 record also brought the low point of the season, a 124-97 loss in Boston in which Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan were injured and the Celtics played with them while focusing on improving their point differential.

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