Milwaukee and Oklahoma City are headed to Las Vegas.
The other NBA Cup semifinalists will be decided Wednesday, when New York faces Atlanta and Houston faces Golden State.
The in-season tournament is winding down. 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.
How to watch
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 those 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, Oklahoma City (+200) is now the favorite to win the NBA Cup.
Milwaukee (+300) is the next choice, followed by New York (+375), Golden State (+625), Houston (+625), and Atlanta (+1800).
The home teams were all favored in the quarterfinal games: Milwaukee didn’t cover, Oklahoma City did, and on Wednesday, New York is favored by 7.5 points over Atlanta and Houston by 1.5 points over Golden State.
Hello, again
A look at Wednesday’s quarterfinals:
—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.
Quarterfinal recap
—Milwaukee 114, Orlando 109: Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 37 points for the Bucks, who improved to 10-1 all-time in Cup games. Jalen Suggs had 32 for the short-handed Magic.
—Oklahoma City 118, Dallas 104: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 39 points for the Thunder. That was more than any two Mavericks players did combined.
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
39 — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City vs. Dallas, Dec. 10
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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