2024 Emirates NBA Cup Bracket Now Set! Quarterfinal Matchup Breakdowns

Eastern Conference NBA Cup Quarterfinal Matchups:

• No. 3 seed Atlanta Hawks (11-11, Group C) at No. 2 seed New York Knicks (13-8, Group A)

• No. 4 seed Orlando Magic (15-8, Wild Card) at No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks (11-9, Group B)

Eastern Conference Cup Notes: The Knicks defeated the Magic on Tuesday night, 121-106, which clinched home court advantage for their quarterfinal matchup. By New York winning by less than 30 points, the Magic clinched the wild card spot.

New York had a lead as big as 37 points in the second half, and had Karl-Anthony Towns and company held it the Boston Celtics would have advanced via the wild card slot. Orlando used a big fourth quarter (31-15 advantage) to bring the game closer and secure the wild card spot. Orlando is the only 2023 NBA Cup semifinalist to advance to the quarterfinals this time around.

The four qualifying teams are currently No. 3 - No. 6 seeds in the conference, as the East’s two best teams did not qualify with No. 3 seeded Atlanta beating both clubs, including back-to-back wins over the Cavaliers on Nov. 27 and Nov. 29. The Bucks defeated the Pistons, 128-107, behind Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 28 points to earn the top seed, but if Milwaukee would have lost it would have been eliminated because of the Knicks’ victory.

Eastern Conference Head-to-Head Results (2024-25 regular season)

• Hawks 121, Knicks 116 (Nov. 6 @ Atlanta)
• The Magic and Bucks have not played so far this season.

Western Conference NBA Cup Quarterfinal Matchups:

• No. 3 seed Golden State Warriors (12-8, Group C) at No. 2 seed Houston Rockets (15-7, Group A)

• No. 4 seed Dallas Mavericks (14-8, Wild Card) at No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder (16-5, Group B)

Western Conference Cup Notes: The Thunder clinched the top seed by downing the Utah Jazz, 133-106, behind Jalen Williams’ 28-point performance, combined with the Phoenix Suns defeating the San Antonio Spurs, 104-93. OKC had to sweat it out to see if the Suns won later Tuesday evening. The Spurs would have won Group B had they won because the Thunder also won their game. The Mavericks defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, 121-116, behind Luka Doncic’s 37 points and based on the tie-breaking criteria had the best probability to clinch the wild card spot and did so.

The four qualifying teams are currently the top three seeds in the conference plus Golden State, which would be in the play-in tournament as the No. 7 seed if the post-season began today. Golden State was 10-2 after its game on Nov. 15 and is now 12-8 and on a five-game losing streak. None of the West’s qualifiers from last season made it this time around. The Mavs vs. Thunder matchup on December 10 is a rematch of last year’s conference semifinal matchup.

Western Conference Head-to-Head Results (2024-25 regular season)

• Warriors 127, Rockets 121 OT (Nov. 2 @ Houston)
• Mavs 121, Thunder 119 (Nov. 17 @ OKC)

2024 Emirates NBA Cup Elimination Round Schedule (All times ET)

Note: The two semifinal games feature the winners of each quarterfinal contest within their respective conference and are not re-seeded.

December 10

No. 4 Orlando Magic (15-8) at No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks (11-9), 7 pm (TNT)

No. 4 Dallas Mavericks (14-8) at No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder (16-5), 9:30 pm (TNT)

December 11

No. 3 Atlanta Hawks (11-11) at No. 2 New York Knicks (13-8), 7 pm (ESPN)

No. 3 Golden State Warriors (12-8) at No. 2 Houston Rockets (15-7), 9:30 pm (TNT)

December 14

Semifinal 1, 4:30 p.m. (TNT)

Semifinal 2, 7:30 p.m. (ABC)

December 17

Championship Game, 8:30 p.m. (ABC)