Milwaukee and New York are back in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, just like they were a year ago. Atlanta and Orlando are heading there as well.
The first two quarterfinal matchups are set: Orlando goes to Milwaukee and Atlanta will visit New York on the Eastern Conference side of the bracket next week as the knockout stage of the NBA Cup gets underway. The Hawks-Knicks game will be Dec. 11, the Knicks announced.
Milwaukee (4-0) clinched its berth by beating Detroit to win East Group B on Tuesday, while New York (4-0) beat Orlando (3-1) to win East Group A. The Magic wound up as the East’s wild-card by winning a point-differential tiebreaker over Boston. Atlanta (3-1) had previously wrapped up East Group C, largely because of a one-point win over the Celtics on Nov. 12.
The final two spots in the Western Conference quarterfinal field — Houston (West Group A winner) and Golden State (West Group C winner) are already in — were to be decided later Tuesday night. The four quarterfinal winners will meet in the semifinals at Las Vegas on Dec. 14, and the title game is there on Dec. 17.
“They put a tournament in front of us and we want to win it. And we said that early on,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “We’re 4-0 but we still have a lot of work to do, but the bottom line is, we earned a chance to play at home — I think.”
Even in Year 2 of the event, some still aren’t clear on all the rules. Yes, Doc, you’ll be at home for the quarters.
All the Magic had to do to clinch the wild-card spot was not lose by more than 37 points in order to stay ahead of Boston in the point-differential race. They found them trailing by — you guessed it — 37 points at New York late in the third quarter.
The Magic outscored the Knicks 40-18 the rest of the way, losing by 15 on the scoreboard but winning over the Celtics in the wild-card race.
“We earned our way into the quarterfinal,” Magic forward Franz Wagner said. “Obviously, not our best game today but that’s why you play every minute in the other games. It feels weird after a game like this to advance, but that’s just part of it.”
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