Six teams into NBA Cup quarter-finals for first time as Boston Celtics exit

Milwaukee and New York are in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup, just like a year ago. The other six remaining Cup candidates – Oklahoma City, Golden State, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Orlando – will go there for the first time.

NBA Cup group play is over and next week’s quarterfinals are scheduled: Orlando goes to Milwaukee and Atlanta goes to New York on the Eastern Conference side of the tournament; while Oklahoma City will host Dallas and Houston will play Golden State in the Western Conference brackets.

Milwaukee (4-0) clinched their spot on Tuesday by beating Detroit to win East Group B, while New York (4-0) defeated Orlando (3-1) to win East Group A. The Magic finished as the East wild card by winning a points difference tiebreaker over Boston. Atlanta (3-1) had previously clinched East Group C, thanks in large part to a one-point win over the Celtics on Nov. 12.

Oklahoma City’s victory over Utah gave the Thunder the West Group B title, and the Thunder joined Houston (West Group A) and Golden State (West Group C) as qualifiers; the Rockets and Warriors had settled before Tuesday night. And Dallas rallied from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Memphis and clinch the West wild-card spot.

“I love this Cup,” said Mavericks star Luka Dončić.

The four quarterfinal winners will meet in the semifinals in Las Vegas on December 14, with the title game there on December 17.

“They have presented us with a tournament and we want to win it. And we said that early,” 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’ve earned a chance to play at home, I think.”

Even in year 2 of the event, some are still not clear on all the rules. But Rivers was right: the Bucks will be home for the next few quarters.

All the Magic had to do to clinch the wild-card spot was not lose by more than 37 points to stay ahead of Boston in the points differential race. They discovered they trailed New York by, yes, 37 points late in the third quarter. But the Magic outscored the Knicks the rest of the way 40-18, losing by 15 on the scoreboard but beating the Celtics in the wild-card race.

“We earned our way to the quarterfinals,” Magic forward Franz Wagner said. “It’s clearly not our best game today, but that’s why you play every minute in the other games. It feels strange to move on after a match like this, but that’s just part of it.”

The Thunder defeated Phoenix for the West Group B title on a head-to-head tiebreaker – both went 3-1 in group play, but the Suns’ loss was to Oklahoma City – and the points difference widened, making OKC the top seed from West . over Houston.

“I don’t really know much about the Cup and how it works and stuff,” Thunder guard Cason Wallace said. “I just know I want to win.”

Last year’s NBA Cup champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, were eliminated in the group stage this year.

NBA Cup quarterfinals schedule

December 10: Orlando in Milwaukee; Dallas-Oklahoma City.

December 11: Atlanta at New York; Golden State in Houston.