The NBA Cup quarterfinal field was set Friday night, with Miami going to Orlando and New York going to Toronto on the Eastern Conference side, followed by an Oklahoma City-Phoenix rematch and San Antonio facing the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n
And the defending Cup champions won’t have a chance to go back-to-back in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
New York got the last of the four available quarterfinal berths from the East on Friday night, topping the reigning Cup champion Milwaukee Bucks 118-109 to win East Group C. The Bucks’ loss prevented them from moving on to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told the guys they did a heck of a job finding a way,\u201d Knicks coach Mike Brown said.<\/p>\n
Toronto won East Group A, Orlando won East Group B, and both did so with 4-0 records. The Knicks went 3-1 in Group C and finished on top because they held the head-to-head tiebreaker over Miami, which also finished 3-1 to earn the East wild card.<\/p>\n
Oklahoma City \u2014 the defending NBA champion which is now 19-1 on the season \u2014 held off Phoenix on Friday to win West Group A and grab a quarterfinal spot, and San Antonio emerged from a back-and-forth battle in the final minutes to beat Denver in the game that decided West Group C and another quarterfinal berth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t know much about it other than the guys are really excited about it,\u201d Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. \u201cI know we’re in because we won. I know we beat some really good teams to do it … so we feel really good about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Suns went 3-1 in group play and earned the West’s wild-card spot. Their reward? A rematch with the Thunder in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’re feisty as hell. They play hard,\u201d Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of the Suns.<\/p>\n
The Magic won their group with a 112-109 victory over Detroit on Friday night \u2014 and as the East’s top seed, they will play the wild-card Heat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re so happy to be home,\u201d Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. \u201cWe have some of the best fans in the NBA. They’re going to be back there, supporting us, ready to go. … For us to do this is very special for our guys right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Heat-Magic, Knicks-Raptors and Thunder-Suns games will create a bit of a schedule quirk. The quarterfinal games count toward the regular season records, so Miami and Orlando will wind up playing five times this season \u2014 the first time that’s happened in the Sunshine State rivalry since 1993-94. The Knicks and Raptors will now also meet five times this season, as will the Thunder and Suns.<\/p>\n
The Heat play a regular-season game at Orlando on Dec. 5, their second time there this season, then will go back for a Cup quarterfinal four days later.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s great,\u201d Orlando’s Desmond Bane said when told the Magic got a home Cup quarterfinal. \u201cWe’re building. We’re building something special.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lakers, who won the inaugural Cup in 2023, were the only West team to be assured of a quarterfinal spot going into Friday.<\/p>\n
(All games on Amazon Prime, all times EST)<\/p>\n
Tuesday, Dec. 9 \u2014 Miami at Orlando, 6 p.m.; New York at Toronto, 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Wednesday, Dec. 10 \u2014 Phoenix at Oklahoma City, 7:30 p.m.; San Antonio at L.A. Lakers, 10 p.m.<\/p>\n
The 22 teams that missed the quarterfinals will all have two regular-season games added to their schedules to push their total to the full 82. All teams entered the season with only 80 games on the calendar to allow for what happens in the NBA Cup.<\/p>\n
Those additional regular-season games for those 22 teams \u2014 one will be home, one will be on the road \u2014 will be scheduled for Dec. 11, Dec. 12, Dec. 14 or Dec. 15.<\/p>\n
For the teams that moved on, the quarterfinals become game No. 81. The teams that lose in the quarterfinals will play the other quarterfinal loser from their conference, filling out the remaining game on their schedule.<\/p>\n
The semifinals are in Las Vegas on Dec. 13 and those games will also count toward the regular-season standings. The championship game \u2014 which doesn’t count in the standings \u2014 is in Las Vegas on Dec. 16.<\/p>\n
Players on the quarterfinal teams will each get $53,903. The payout increases to $106,187 for berths in the semifinals, $212,373 for a spot in the final \u2014 and $530,933 for each player on the winning team.<\/p>\n
Two-way players will receive half those amounts, if applicable.<\/p>\n
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