The NBA Cup semifinals are set: Milwaukee vs. Atlanta, and Oklahoma City vs. Houston.
They’ll meet Saturday in Las Vegas, with the winners heading to the championship game there on Tuesday night.
The semifinal games will count as regular-season games, meaning there will be five Bucks-Hawks and Thunder-Rockets games this season instead of the customary three or four between clubs from the same conference.
Meanwhile, the quarterfinal losers will play each other on Sunday to fill out their regular season schedules. New York will play Orlando and Dallas will play Golden State.
And that means former Warriors guard Klay Thompson could play on his former home floor three times during the regular season; he and the Mavericks visited San Francisco on Nov. 12 in a Cup group stage game and are scheduled to return on Feb. 23.
Tuesday’s title game will not count in the regular-season standings and statistics. The championship game is considered extra (an 83rd game) and therefore isn’t part of the 82-game season for the two teams that make the final.
TNT will show the first Cup semifinal from Las Vegas on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, followed by the second semifinal at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.
The championship game is an 8:30 p.m. Eastern airing on Tuesday on ABC.
These games will be national TV broadcast only.
According to BetMGM Sportsbook, Oklahoma City (+120) is the favorite to win the NBA Cup.
Milwaukee (+240) is the next choice, followed by Houston and Atlanta (both +500).
A look at Saturday’s semifinals:
— Atlanta vs. Milwaukee: The Hawks went into Milwaukee and beat the Bucks 119-104 on Dec. 4, riding huge edges in rebounding (55-40) and bench scoring (50-31).
— Oklahoma City vs. Houston: The teams are 1-1 against each other this season, both winning at home. The Thunder prevailed 126-107 on Nov. 8 (a 44-20 second quarter was the difference there) and the Rockets won 119-116 on Dec. 1 behind 38 points from Fred VanVleet.
— Milwaukee 114, Orlando 109: Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 37 points for the Bucks, who improved to 10-1 all-time in Cup games. Jalen Suggs had 32 for the short-handed Magic.
— Oklahoma City 118, Dallas 104: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 39 points for the Thunder. That was more than any two Mavericks players did combined.
— Atlanta 108, New York 100: The Knicks led by 10 in the third quarter, then got outscored by 24 over the next 19 minutes. De’Andre Hunter led the Hawks with 24 points.
— Houston 91, Golden State 90: Alperen Sengun scored 26 for the Rockets, who outscored the Warriors 7-0 in the final 1:16.
A breakdown of the groups and their final standings:
East Group A — New York 4-0, Orlando 3-1, Philadelphia 2-2, Brooklyn 1-3, Charlotte 0-4.
East Group B — Milwaukee 4-0, Detroit 3-1, Miami 2-2, Toronto 1-3, Indiana 0-4.
East Group C — Atlanta 3-1, Boston 3-1, Cleveland 2-2, Chicago 2-2, Washington 0-4.
West Group A — Houston 3-1, Los Angeles Clippers 2-2, Minnesota 2-2, Portland 2-2, Sacramento 1-3.
West Group B — Oklahoma City 3-1, Phoenix 3-1, Los Angeles Lakers 2-2, San Antonio 2-2, Utah 0-4.
West Group C — Golden State 3-1, Dallas 3-1, Denver 2-2, Memphis 1-3, New Orleans 1-3.
The best single-game scoring efforts in the NBA Cup this season.
60 — De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento vs. Minnesota, Nov. 15
43 — Cam Thomas, Brooklyn at New York, Nov. 15
40 — Tyler Herro, Miami at Detroit, Nov. 12
40 — Anthony Davis, LA Lakers at San Antonio, Nov. 15
39 — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City vs. Dallas, Dec. 10
38 — Nikola Jokic, Denver vs. Golden State, Dec. 3
There were four triple-doubles in NBA Cup games last season (Domantas Sabonis had two, Nikola Jokic had one and Tyrese Haliburton had one). There have been 12 already in Cup games this season (Alperen Sengun and Josh Hart each have two, while Jokic, Sabonis, Bam Adebayo, Scottie Barnes, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Jalen Johnson all have one).
To the winners: pride, a trophy and money.
The players on the teams that made it to Las Vegas have already earned $102,994 apiece. The players on the teams that lost in the quarterfinals got $51,497 apiece.
The semifinal games are worth another $102,994 apiece for the winning players. And players on the title-winning team will finish the NBA Cup with $514,971 apiece.
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