James Edwards III, Eric Koreen, Darnell Mayberry and Josh Robbins

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NBA Cup quarterfinals.

Two 30-point games highlighted the Eastern Conference knockout round of the NBA Cup on Tuesday night.

In Game 1, Desmond Bane tied his season high with 37 points to help the Orlando Magic overcome a sluggish start before defeating the Miami Heat 117-108. Orlando trailed by 16 points in the opening minutes. The Magic then used a 39-27 second quarter to flip the game and cruise to victory, leading by as many as 14 points.

In Game 2, Jalen Brunson dropped 35 points to lead the New York Knicks to a 117-101 win over the Toronto Raptors. Brunson made 6 of 9 3-pointers, and the Knicks got a season-high 21 points from Josh Hart, who went 4-for-7 from 3-point range. New York also used a dominant second quarter (34-13) to take control before leading by as many as 24 points.

The Magic and Knicks will now meet in Las Vegas for a Saturday semifinal.

Knicks eye finals berth after rare road surge

Equally as impressive as advancing to the semifinal of the NBA Cup for the first time since the in-season tournament began, the Knicks grabbed an impressive road win.

New York has been dominant at home all season, winning 13 of its 14 games. However, the road had been a different story. The Knicks were 3-6 away from Madison Square Garden before Tuesday’s game, with wins against the Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets and Dallas Mavericks, who were without Anthony Davis and Cooper Flagg.

New York now turns its attention to the Magic for a chance to make it to the Cup final. The two teams have already played three times this season, with Orlando winning two of those matchups.

This is a rare, high-stakes game for the Knicks before the postseason. They know the Magic as well as any opponent and now have the opportunity to focus solely on scouting one team over the next few days, just as New York would do in the playoffs.

New York will need to match Orlando’s physicality as it did in the last meeting between the two teams. The Magic are usually more physically imposing, but the Knicks were recently able to match that toughness and end a losing skid to their Eastern Conference foe.

Making the NBA Cup finals would add an unexpected long trip to the Knicks’ schedule. If they make it to the end of the tournament, New York will be away from home for more than 10 days, with games in Toronto, two in Las Vegas and then one in Indiana before heading home the following day to play the Philadelphia 76ers on the second night of a back-to-back. New York also spent a week of its preseason in Abu Dhabi and still has games on the West Coast scheduled for the second half of the season. — James Edwards III, Knicks beat writer

Raptors’ offense falters, injuries expose depth

After a 15-5 start, the Raptors have cratered. The second quarter against the New York Knicks presented as good an encapsulation of what is going on as anything else, as they lost for the sixth time in seven games.

After Brandon Ingram’s dynamic scoring kept them afloat in the first quarter, the Raptors scored just one bucket — a Scottie Barnes dunk off a broken play — during Ingram’s time on the bench to start the second. Otherwise, they were punchless, and things didn’t get much better when Ingram re-entered the game. The Raptors scored just 13 points for the quarter, and their Vegas dreams were essentially dashed.

The offense has been a significant problem for the Raptors since RJ Barrett, who has missed the last nine games with a sprained knee, has been out. They were fifth in offensive rating when Barrett was in the lineup and entered Tuesday’s game 29th since his injury. It is not as simple as getting Barrett back in the lineup, but his absence has exposed the Raptors’ lack of shooting and scoring depth.

Fortunately, the Raptors play just once between now and next Thursday. That could be enough time to get Barrett back, and will get Immanuel Quickley, who missed Tuesday’s game with an illness, back on the floor. If and when that happens, the Raptors’ recent run of poor play means they’ll have to prove all over again that their excellent start to the season was not a fluke. — Eric Koreen, Raptors beat writer

Magic storm back from slow start

Few double-digit leads in the NBA seem safe these days. Still, it feels like a long time since I’ve seen a first half take a 180-degree turn the way Tuesday night’s Heat-Magic quarterfinal did.

Miami stormed to a 15-0 lead, and Orlando could not generate any stops or turnovers and, therefore, could not push forward in transition. If the last few seasons have taught the NBA nothing else about the Magic (other than how hard the team plays and its physicality, especially on defense), it’s that their offense has been weak when opponents force them to play in the half-court.

Orlando no doubt initially felt the absence of its best two-way player, Franz Wagner, who suffered a left high-ankle sprain Sunday. Without Wagner, the Magic looked rudderless … at first.

What changed?

The Magic finally ramped up their defense, keyed by Jonathan Isaac off the bench. And, critically, a Desmond Bane early second-quarter steal off Pelle Larsson near the Magic’s defensive basket.

Bane was Orlando’s best player in the first half, with 12 points, three rebounds and three assists as he helped steady things from Orlando’s perspective.

Usually, the Magic’s road map for success is to get stops and live-ball turnovers to give themselves a reasonable chance offensively, before opponents set their defense. On Tuesday night, however, Orlando generated only eight turnovers and just 14 fast-break points. Meanwhile, Orlando received better-than-usual 3-point shooting, going 15-for-32 from beyond the arc. Talk about flipping the usual script — that’s what the Magic did.

Miami missed a ton of open 3s, going eight for 33 beyond the arc. That’s usually how Orlando has shot from distance in key games. Again, a flipped script.

Their NBA Cup quarterfinal win Tuesday night was one of the franchise’s most consequential single-game wins since Dwight Howard left the franchise in 2012 via trade.

To do it against their in-state rival, who have won three NBA titles since their inception in 1988, must have made the night more satisfying for the Magic and their fans. — Josh Robbins, NBA writer