The NBA's Eastern Conference play-in tournament has come early.
Well, that's the joke everyone is making, at least, as the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat prepare to play three times in the next four days, beginning Thursday night.
The Heat are the 8-seed in the East, and the Bulls are the 10-seed as they enter this odd scheduling quirk.
They usually find themselves in right about those spots in recent seasons, and so the irony of it all certainly hasn't gotten lost on hoops fans.
But wait, three games in four days? How?
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Why are the Bulls and Heat playing 3 games in 4 days?
The Bulls and Heat were originally scheduled for two games this weekend.
On the season's official schedule were the Bulls playing a back-to-back in Miami on Friday, Jan. 30 and Sunday, Feb. 1.
They were meant to play in Chicago on Jan. 8, but condensation on the court made it unplayable, and so that game had to be moved.
The only time the NBA could find to place it was Thursday, Jan. 29, in Chicago. And in doing that, they chose to move the Jan. 30 game back a day to Jan. 31.
So because of high humidity coupled with the ice rink below the court in Chicago, the surface got too slippery and a game couldn't be played three weeks ago.
Now, the Bulls and Heat play three times in four days.
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Bulls vs. Heat schedule
The schedule for the next four days looks like this (times ET):
Thursday, Jan. 29: Heat at Bulls, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 31: Bulls at Heat, 8 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 1: Bulls at Heat 6 p.m.
Both teams just played on Wednesday night, too, before their quick stretch against one another.
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