The second iteration of the NBA’s in-season tournament, now called the NBA Cup, is officially down to four teams. After two days of elimination games, the Milwaukee Bucks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, and Houston Rockets will travel to Las Vegas to do battle in Saturday’s semifinals for a spot in the NBA Cup Final where a massive cash prize, bragging rights and a banner await.
While it’s in the eye of the beholder whether the NBA succeeded in getting fans to care more about these games than other December regular-season contests, the quarterfinals were collectively intense and competitive contests that made for enjoyable viewing experiences pretty much across the board. And on-screen, at least, it appeared like the players were giving extra effort in a playoff-like atmosphere. Or as close as anyone will get in December, anyway.
Here are the four biggest takeaways from the first elimination round of NBA Cup action.
The Bucks, surprisingly, were pushed to the limit by an Orlando Magic team missing its top two players on Tuesday night. Absent Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero, both sidelined with oblique injuries, the shorthanded Magic hung tough in Milwaukee and made the home team fight for every inch. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard proved up to the task, and in the process demonstrated the perfectly complementary nature of their partnership that must thrive for Milwaukee to reach championship heights.
Antetokounmpo was the engine that drove the Bucks throughout the 114–109 win. He dropped 37 points on 15-of-24 shooting, generally rampaging up and down the court all night in the manner typical for the two-time MVP. The Greek Freak ensured the Bucks kept the feisty visiting team at arm’s length for the first three quarters as he consistently found ways to score over, around and through Orlando’s suffocating defense.
The Magic simply wouldn’t go away, however, and with the game tied at the two-minute mark the possibility the Bucks would fall short in the in-season tournament yet again loomed large. Then it was Dame Time. Lillard sensed the time was nigh and wrested control of the game away from everyone on the court. He ripped off 11 straight points for the Bucks to finish with 28 points and nine assists, accounting for all but two of Milwaukee’s final 13 points. Milwaukee is now 21–11 dating back to last season when Giannis and Lilllard both score at least 25 points.
It was just the sort of high-leverage performance the Bucks hope for and, frankly, need from their two stars to win big games. Antetokounmpo’s physicality wears down defenses. Then, when the big man himself is worn out in the fourth quarter, Lillard seizes the wheel with his dazzling array of stepbacks and dribble drives. It is the balance the franchise had in mind when acquiring Lillard in 2023, and one Milwaukee found on Tuesday.
In what was, on paper, the most intriguing NBA Cup matchup of the quarterfinals, Oklahoma City avenged last season’s playoff loss by beating down the Mavs. And we do mean beat down. The Thunder’s incredibly physical brand of defense was on full display as they refused to give Luka Doncic any space to breathe throughout the 118–104 win; the Slovenian superstar finished with only 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the floor. By smothering the Slovenian superstar, the Thunder suffocated Dallas’s offense.
The Mavs’ offensive rating in Doncic’s 40 minutes was a paltry 101.2. For the 2024–25 season, the Washington Wizards have the worst offensive rating in the league at 104. In other words the Thunder defended Doncic so effectively the Mavs produced points at a worse clip than the worst team in the NBA this year when he was on the floor. Some of that can be attributed to an off night, which happens to even the best of players, but credit must be given where is due; OKC defenders were in Doncic’s jersey all night. In the case of human boulder Lu Dort, this was often literal.
Shai-Gilgeous Alexander’s herky-jerky wizardry offensively is often what garners the most attention when it comes to the Thunder, but the endless waves of long, smart, strong and downright irritating defenders the roster can unleash is what will win games against the best teams.
Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young, center
Young, center, finished with 22 points and 11 assists to lead the Hawks to victory against the Knicks despite an off shooting night. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
This year’s Atlanta Hawks are, by pretty much every measure (statistical and otherwise) a perfectly mediocre team. Which is to be expected. The organization trading Dejounte Murray over the offseason signaled that the 2024-25 campaign was something of a reset year. Most nights this is quite clear and they’ve hovered around .500 all season.
But on Wednesday night, that very team marched into Madison Square Garden and overcame a double-digit second-half deficit to eliminate the New York Knicks, 108–100. And who was at the center of it all? You guessed it: Trae Young.
The primary villain in recent Knicks lore, Young obviously relishes the passionate and aggressive jeers that rain from New York fans every time he’s on the legendary MSG floor. But that isn’t all that makes him the best heel in the NBA. Young not only shows up, but shows out for big games at the Garden.
In the big picture, Wednesday’s triumph was a team win for the Hawks; De’Andre Hunter, not Young, led the team in scoring. The star point guard missed all of his fourth-quarter shots. But the four assists he recorded in the last five minutes gave Atlanta the exact push it needed at the exact right time to upset one of the East’s most dangerous teams.
As long as Young is playing basketball, he’ll be at war with the New York Knicks. Based on his postgame smiles and celebrations, he won’t get tired of it anytime soon, either.
There was no sight of “the beautiful game” in the final matchup of the NBA Cup quarterfinals. The Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors took turns building brick houses in what was an unsightly conclusion to two nights of elimination games. It was the sort of battle that felt like a victor emerged only because someone had to win. The two teams combined to shoot 27% from deep and committed a whopping 39 total turnovers.
It was therefore only natural that the very end of the game was just as ugly as the rest of it. The Rockets won, 91–90, in the only NBA Cup quarterfinals game where a team finished in double-digit scoring. Houston earned the win by way of a strange foul call on the Warriors that came at the end of a scramble for a loose ball off of a Steph Curry miss in the game’s waning seconds. Jalen Green sunk two free throws to give Houston the lead with 3.5 seconds to go, then Jabari Smith Jr. blocked Brandon Podziemski’s game-winning three-point attempt.
Ugly as it was, though, the Rockets gritted out a tough win over championship-tested opponents. This sort of contest is the type Houston is supposed to lose as a young team with a questionable offense; in the final minutes, it sure seemed like GSW’s veteran edge would elevate them over a largely inexperienced Rockets team. Yet it did not. There’s no such thing as a bad win in professional sports, and certainly no such thing as a bad win for a team learning how to win in a do-or-die environment.
The Rockets are headed to Vegas. They vanquished Steph Curry and Draymond Green. No matter how unsightly it was, it serves as something for head coach Ime Udoka to build on.