The 2024 Emirates NBA Cup resumes Tuesday, with five of the eight spots in the knockout round three in the East, two in the West still up for grabs on the seventh and final night of group-stage play.
Here’s a look at whats at stake in Tuesdays 11-game NBA Cup slate, as well as the lay of the land in each of the six groups as the race for the NBA Cup begins to heat up:
This will be the final night of Group Play, with the top eight teams in the East and West the winners of Groups A, B and C, plus two wild cards (the team from each conference with the best record in group-play games that finished second in its group) advancing to the single-elimination knockout rounds.
Because of the small number of games, tiebreakers will likely come into play (even for the wild card), with the advancing team being decided by:
and, finally, if all of that fails to break the tie:
The four quarterfinal games will be played Tuesday, Dec. 10, and Wednesday, Dec. 11.
The four winners will advance to Las Vegas, where the semifinals will be held on Saturday, Dec. 14. The championship game for the NBA Cup will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC. It will be the only game in the entire tournament that wont also count toward the participating teams regular-season records or their players statistics.
The teams that dont make it to Las Vegas wont just be chilling at home, though. During the knockout rounds, on the days where no NBA Cup games are scheduled Thursday, Dec. 12, Friday, Dec. 13, Sunday, Dec. 15 and Monday, Dec. 16 the 22 teams who didnt qualify for the knockouts will each play two regular-season games. The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each play one regular-season game against one another, too.
After a massive Black Friday slate, were now up to 14 teams eliminated.
In the West, weve bid farewell to the Pelicans, Jazz, Timberwolves, Kings and Lakers. LeBron James and Co. finished group play at 2-2, sitting behind three teams in West Group B, and with a -24 point differential, well behind any of the teams still alive in the Western Conference.
In the East, its bon voyage to the Wizards, Raptors, 76ers, Nets, Hornets, Heat, Bulls, Pacers and, somewhat surprisingly, Cavaliers who have lost just three games total this season, but who packed two of those Ls into group play. Oh, well. Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Co. will just have to content themselves with setting their sights on an even bigger gold trophy.
Only three teams have punched their tickets to the knockout round:
That leaves three groups West Group B, East Group A and East Group B as well as each conferences wild-card berth still in play, and 13 teams still in the hunt to snare a knockout slot on the final day of group play.
EAST GROUP A: Two teams alive
This one, thankfully, is pretty clean. The Magic and Knicks both sit at 3-0, and play each other at Madison Square Garden in the front end of TNTs Tuesday doubleheader. The winner wins Group A.
If Orlando loses, it will almost certainly be the Easts wild card, thanks to rolling up a league-high +60 point differential through its first three games. So long as the Magic dont lose by more than 37 points, theyre moving on.
New York, however, enters the group-stage finale at +15 a worse point differential than the Bucks (+29), Pistons (+28) and Celtics (+23), and one that would only decrease with a loss. That means Tom Thibodeaus club has to win to advance.
EAST GROUP B: Two teams alive
Its a similar story here: The Bucks and Pistons enter Tuesday at 3-0, and will face off on Tuesday in Detroit, with the winner taking Group B.
The loser can still advance, but would need to finish with a better point differential than both the Celtics and the loser of the aforementioned Magic/Knicks game to take the wild-card spot. For the Bucks, at a minimum, that means they cant lose by more than six points; the Pistons cant lose by more than five.
EAST GROUP C: One team in, one team alive
The Hawks, as we laid out earlier, have already clinched a spot in the knockout round. That leaves the Celtics, who finished 3-1 in group play, sweating out Tuesdays results in Detroit and New York.
If the Knicks lose and the loser of Bucks/Pistons loses by enough to finish with a point differential below +23, then Boston moves on. If the Knicks win well, the Celtics will need them to win by more than 37 points to bump Orlando out of position, and for the loser of Bucks/Pistons to lose by enough to finish with a point differential below +23.
WEST GROUP A: One team in, two teams alive
The Rockets, riding high after taking down the West-leading Thunder in a heavyweight fight on Sunday, are already on to the knockout round. The Trail Blazers (2-1, -5 point differential) and Clippers (1-2, -6 point differential), both still hanging on in the wild-card race despite negative point differentials, will square off at Intuit Dome.
The Blazers can snipe the Wests wild card if:
The Clippers can take the wild card if:
WEST GROUP B: Three teams alive
The liveliest group left! The Spurs, Thunder and Suns all sit at 2-1, all within five points of one another in total point differential, with San Antonio and Phoenix facing off in the group-stage finale.
Heres how the game of rock-paper-scissors breaks down:
If they dont finish atop the group, all three still have pathways to the wild card, too.
(takes a deep breath)
To win the wild card, OKC needs:
To win the wild card, Phoenix needs:
To win the wild card, San Antonio needs:
WEST GROUP C: One team in, three teams alive
The Warriors were the first team to sew up a spot in the knockout stage, and the Pelicans were the first team eliminated. The other three members of Group C, though the Mavericks (2-1, +41 point differential), Nuggets (1-2, +2 point differential) and Grizzlies (1-2, -6 point differential)? Theyre still slugging it out in hopes of pulling the wild card.
The Mavericks can clinch it with:
The Nuggets can clinch it with:
And the Grizzlies can clinch it with:
See? Not that complicated, really. Pretty simple, actually, now that weve laid it all out.
EAST GROUP A
EAST GROUP B
EAST GROUP C
WEST GROUP A
WEST GROUP B
WEST GROUP C