The NBA Cup is down to its quarterfinalists: Milwaukee, New York, Atlanta and Orlando in the Eastern Conference and Oklahoma City, Houston, Golden State and Dallas in the Western Conference.
The Bucks and Knicks made it this far last year in the inaugural version of the tournament. The other six teams are in the quarterfinals for the first time.
All games in the tournament except for the Dec. 17 championship count in the regular-season standings and statistics. The championship game is considered extra and isn’t part of the 82-game season for the two teams that make the final.
The NBA Cup was called the In-Season Tournament last year when it debuted, after years and years of Commissioner Adam Silver wanting to add something extra to the regular season.
How to watch
Tuesday quarterfinals: Orlando at Milwaukee (TNT, 7 p.m. Eastern), Dallas at Oklahoma City (TNT, 9:30 p.m. Eastern).
Wednesday quarterfinals: Atlanta at New York (ESPN, 7 p.m. Eastern), Golden State at Houston (TNT, 9:30 p.m. Eastern).
Local broadcasts will be available for the quarterfinal games as well.
TNT will show the first Cup semifinal from Las Vegas on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, followed by the second semifinal at 8:30 p.m. on ABC. The championship game is an 8:30 p.m. Eastern airing Dec. 17 on ABC.
Betting favorites
According to BetMGM Sportsbook, New York is now the favorite again to win the NBA Cup — at +300, a super-slight favorite over Oklahoma City (+310).
Milwaukee (+450) is the next choice, followed by Houston (+600), Dallas and Golden State (both plus +700), Atlanta (+2000) and Orlando (+2500).
The home teams are all favored in the quarterfinal games: Milwaukee by 7.5 points over Orlando, Oklahoma City by 4.5 points over Dallas, New York by 6.5 points over Atlanta and Houston by 2.5 points over Golden State.
Against each other
Golden State is 5-1 so far this season against the other NBA Cup quarterfinalists.
Dallas is 4-2, Oklahoma City is 4-3, Houston is 3-4, Atlanta and New York are both 2-3, Milwaukee is 1-2 and Orlando is 0-3.
Hello, again
A look at the quarterfinal matchups and if the quarterfinalists have faced off this season:
—Golden State at Houston: The Warriors are 2-0 vs. the Rockets this season, winning both games by exactly six points. Stephen Curry didn’t play in either game for Golden State. Jonathan Kuminga averaged 28 points for the Warriors in the two games.
—Atlanta at New York: The Hawks beat the Knicks 121-116 in the teams’ only meeting this season, one played in Atlanta. Zaccharie Risacher had 33 for the Hawks, Karl-Anthony Towns had 34 for the Knicks.
—Dallas at Oklahoma City: The Mavericks won 121-119 at Oklahoma City on Nov. 17. Dallas played without Luka Doncic and survived the Thunder getting 36 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
—Orlando at Milwaukee: First meeting of season.
Group standings
A breakdown of the groups and their final standings:
East Group A — New York 4-0, Orlando 3-1, Philadelphia 2-2, Brooklyn 1-3, Charlotte 0-4.
East Group B — Milwaukee 4-0, Detroit 3-1, Miami 2-2, Toronto 1-3, Indiana 0-4.
East Group C — Atlanta 3-1, Boston 3-1, Cleveland 2-2, Chicago 2-2, Washington 0-4.
West Group A — Houston 3-1, Los Angeles Clippers 2-2, Minnesota 2-2, Portland 2-2, Sacramento 1-3.
West Group B — Oklahoma City 3-1, Phoenix 3-1, Los Angeles Lakers 2-2, San Antonio 2-2, Utah 0-4.
West Group C — Golden State 3-1, Dallas 3-1, Denver 2-2, Memphis 1-3, New Orleans 1-3.
Highest scoring performances
The best single-game scoring efforts in the NBA Cup this season.
60 — De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento vs. Minnesota, Nov. 15
43 — Cam Thomas, Brooklyn at New York, Nov. 15
40 — Tyler Herro, Miami at Detroit, Nov. 12
40 — Anthony Davis, LA Lakers at San Antonio, Nov. 15
38 — Nikola Jokic, Denver vs. Golden State, Dec. 3
More triple-doubles
There were four triple-doubles in NBA Cup games last season (Domantas Sabonis had two, Nikola Jokic had one and Tyrese Haliburton had one). There have been 12 already in Cup games this season (Alperen Sengun and Josh Hart each have two, while Jokic, Sabonis, Bam Adebayo, Scottie Barnes, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Jalen Johnson all have one).
What’s at stake?
To the winners: pride, a trophy and money.
Players on the winning team will claim $514,971 each, while $205,988 goes to each player on the runner-up team, $102,994 to players whose teams lost in the semifinals and $51,497 to those players whose teams lost in the quarterfinals.
What to know
For teams that got eliminated in group play, two more games were added to their regular season schedule and those contests will all be played between Thursday and Dec. 16. The teams that get eliminated in the quarterfinals will play the other quarterfinal loser from their conference in a regular season game in the next few days.
The title game doesn’t count in the standings; it would be an 83rd game for those teams.
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