NBA Cup upset: Six new teams reach quarterfinals

The NBA Cup knockout rounds have a new look this season. Six of the eight teams that advanced from the group stage are different from last year’s inaugural quarter-final qualifiers.

Only the Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks will take part in the quarterfinals again.

Milwaukee is number 1 in the Eastern Conference after winning Group B, while New York is in second place in the East Conference after winning Group A. They are the only two teams in the league to be eliminated 4-0 in group play in the 2024 Cup.

The other two qualifiers in the East are the Atlanta Hawks, who won Group C and secured third place, and the East’s lone wild card entrant, the Orlando Magic. The Hawks will visit the Knicks on December 11th, while the Magic will face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks on December 10th.

“We earned our way to the quarterfinals,” Orlando forward Franz Wagner said after he scored 30 points but his team lost to the Knicks on Tuesday but still advanced on point difference. “Of course it’s not our best game today, but that’s why we play every minute in the other games. Even after a game like that it feels strange to move on, but yeah, that’s just part of it.”

While the Magic continue to play without standout forward Paolo Banchero (oblique), the Bucks have jumped on the backs of Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard en route to seven straight wins. The duo combined for 55 points in a decisive Group B win over the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday.

“You have a tournament in front of us and we want to win it,” Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said of the lucrative event in which players on the winning team will each take home more than $500,000.

In the West, the star power secures the quarterfinals as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder host Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on December 10th. Oklahoma City secured the No. 1 seed in the West after defeating the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, while the fourth-seeded Mavericks advanced by points after sneaking past the Memphis Grizzlies in their final group game.

The other two participants in the Western Conference knockout round are the second-seeded Houston Rockets, who won Group B, and the third-seeded Golden State Warriors, winners of Group C. Steph Curry and the Warriors will face Houston on April 11th. Visit in December.

Thanks to a scheduling quirk, the Warriors and Rockets will also meet in Houston on Thursday as Golden State looks to end a five-game losing streak and build momentum toward the knockout rounds of the NBA Cup.

“We’re not finishing, we’re not executing, we’re not making good decisions,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Tuesday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets. “This has to get better.”

On the other hand, up-and-coming teams like the Thunder (5-1 in their last six games) are hoping to stay hot until the NBA Cup quarterfinals.

“I didn’t pay any attention to the NBA Cup standings until I knew we were going to win tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Tuesday’s win. “I just asked around, but it’s all too confusing. I’ll just win and then we’ll see where we end up.”

The four teams that win in the quarterfinals advance to the semifinals in Las Vegas on December 14th. The championship will also take place in Las Vegas on December 17th. All NBA Cup games played up to this point, including the upcoming quarterfinals and semifinals, count as regular season games. Only the NBA Cup Championship does not count towards the regular season rankings and statistics.

The Los Angeles Lakers, who won the first tournament in 2023, were eliminated after two losses last week.