NBA Cup 2024 Final Eight set: Bucks, Thunder top seed, while Magic, Mavericks wild cards

On December 4, 2024By Littum

Last season’s NBA champion and the defending NBA Cup champion – then called the In-Season Tournament – are both out.

After a dramatic final night of games — and plenty of fans trying to do the math to see if their team could qualify based on point differential — the court is set for the knockout round of the 2024 NBA Cup.

The seeds for the Knockout rounds are set!

(4) Mavericks at (1) Thunder
(3) Warriors by (2) Rockets

(4) Magic for (1) Bucks
(3) Hawks at (2) Knicks

The quarterfinals will take place on Tuesday 12/10 on TNT and Wednesday 12/11 on ESPN and TNT. #EmiratesNBACup

— NBA (@NBA) December 4, 2024

Let’s break it all down.

THE EASTERN CONFERENCE

1. Milwaukee Bucks
2. New York Knicks
3. Atlanta Hawks
4. Orlando Magic (Wild Card)

East NBA Cup quarterfinal game

Orlando at Milwaukee, Dec. 10, 7 p.m. 19 ET (TNT)
Atlanta at New York, December 11, at 19 ET (ESPN)

Milwaukee advanced to the knockout round as the East Group B winners behind a comfortable 128-107 victory in Detroit – a game that never felt in doubt.

The same was true in New York, where the Knicks raced out to an early lead at Orlando and cruised to a 121-106 victory to take Group A — but there was plenty of drama in the fourth quarter. New York led that game by as many as 37 points in the third quarter — had it won by 37 or more, Orlando would have been knocked out of the Wild Card spot, which would have gone to Boston. That caused the Orlando starters to play deeper into the fourth quarter of a blowout loss than would happen in a typical Tuesday night regular-season game. Orlando came close enough to survive and Boston is out.

Atlanta had clinched Group C before the night even tipped, but now it’s off to New York City, where Trae Young has had some huge games and has been Public Enemy No. 1.

THE WESTERN CONFERENCE

1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. Houston Rockets
3. Golden State Warriors
4. Dallas Mavericks (Wild Card)

West NBA Cup quarterfinal games (December 10 or 11):

Dallas at Oklahoma City, Dec. 10, 7 p.m. 9:30 PM ET (TNT)
Golden State at Houston, December 11 at 9:30 PM ET (TNT)

Golden State and Houston were already through to the Knockout Round, the winners of West Groups A and C, but they both lost their final NBA Cup games on Tuesday — in a way that left both coaches reeling — and that opened the door for Oklahoma City to grab seed no. 1 in the West.

As expected, the Thunder blew out the Jazz 133-106, giving them a 3-1 record with a +45 point differential. That combined with Phoenix beating San Antonio gave OKC the West Group B crown (the Thunder and earlier beat the Suns, giving them the head-to-head tiebreaker).

Houston or Golden State could have clinched the top seed with a win. However, the Rockets lost to the Kings, with coach Ime Udoka and center Alperen Sengun both ejected after a no-call on a Sengun drive with 1:52 left (the Rockets were down a dozen and trying to mount a comeback). “Blatant missed calls right in front of you. You call ticky-tack moving screens and stuff like that, but you don’t want to call the obvious ones right in front of you,” Udoka said after the game. which will earn him a fine from the league.

The Warriors fell in Denver 119-115. Kerr left the court fuming because after a Moses Moody missed 3 with 7.1 seconds left, the Nuggets’ Christian Braun recovered the loose ball and then tried to call a timeout — but the Nuggets were out of timeout. However, the refs did not call the timeout, the Warriors players rushed in and tied up Braun and a jump ball was called. At that point, there were just 1.9 seconds left and the game nearly over, but that timeout call would have given the Warriors a chance.

Now the Warriors and Rockets will face each other.

Dallas would likely advance as a wild card as long as it won, but it took a 15-point fourth-quarter comeback against Memphis to make that happen.

The Mavericks are rewarded with a trip to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder.

NBA CUP FORMAT

The NBA Cup started with all 30 NBA teams drawn into six groups of five teams each (three East and three West). The teams played all in their group — games that count as regular season games and NBA Cup games — with winners of those three groups plus the one wild card from each conference now advancing to the Knockout Round.

The four winners of games on Dec. 10 and 11 will head to Las Vegas for the semifinals on Dec. 14 and then the NBA Cup championship on Dec. 17.

The 22 teams that did not reach the knockout round will play two games that week – one at home and one away – to ensure they get a full 82 games in the regular season.