Milwaukee and New York Repeat, Six Teams Make NBA Cup Quarters for First Time

The NBA Cup quarter-finals are set, and there are some new faces in the mix. Milwaukee and New York have once again secured their spots, just like last year. Joining them for the first time are Oklahoma City, Golden State, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and Orlando. The group stage is over, and the matchups are ready. In the Eastern Conference, Orlando will face Milwaukee, and Atlanta will visit New York. Over in the Western Conference, Oklahoma City will host Dallas, and Houston will take on Golden State. Milwaukee clinched their berth by defeating Detroit, while New York beat Orlando to win their group. Orlando snagged the wildcard spot by winning a point-differential tiebreaker over Boston. Atlanta secured their spot largely due to a one-point win over the Celtics earlier in the season. Oklahoma City won their group by beating Utah, and they were joined by Houston and Golden State, who had already clinched their spots. Dallas made a comeback from a 15-point deficit to beat Memphis and grab the Western wildcard spot. The quarter-final winners will meet in the semifinals in Las Vegas on December 14, with the championship game on December 17. Some teams and fans are still getting used to the rules of the NBA Cup, which is in its second year. But the Bucks coach, Doc Rivers, is excited about the opportunity to play at home. In an interesting twist, the Magic only needed to avoid losing by more than 37 points to clinch the wildcard spot. They were down by 37 points in the third quarter against New York but managed to outscore the Knicks 40-18 in the final stretch, losing by 15 but securing their spot. The Thunder edged out Phoenix for the West Group B title on a head-to-head tiebreaker and became the top seed out West based on point differential. Last year's champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, were unfortunately eliminated in the group stage this year. The NBA Cup quarter-finals schedule is as follows: December 10, Orlando at Milwaukee and Dallas at Oklahoma City; December 11, Atlanta at New York and Golden State at Houston.