Thanks in part to basketball world champion Franz Wagner‘s best performance of the season, the Orlando Magic started the second edition of the NBA Cup with a victory. The team from Florida easily beat the Charlotte Hornets 114:89 in front of their home crowd and celebrated their third success in a row.
Franz Wagner achieved a personal season best with 32 points. His eight rebounds and five assists were also team highs in the game. Brother Moritz Wagner was also reliable once again, contributing 18 points. Rookie Tristan da Silva ended up with five points.
Mavericks lose without glue
Meanwhile, without Maximilian Kleber, the Dallas Mavericks narrowly lost their first tournament game at the Golden State Warriors 117:120. While Stephen Curry once again stood out for the Warriors with 37 points, Luka Doncic scored 31 points for the Mavericks. However, the Slovenian had enormous problems from the three-point line, only two of his ten attempts ended up in the basket. Kleber was in the squad after his injury break, but was not used.
Meanwhile, champions Boston Celtics suffered a surprising setback. In their own stadium, Boston lost to the Atlanta Hawks 116:117 and is already under pressure after the first tournament game to make it into the knockout round of the competition.
Second edition of the NBA Cup
The NBA Cup was held for the first time last year and is based on the cup competitions in European football. However, there will be a group phase at the beginning; the 30 NBA teams have been divided into six groups of five teams each. Each team plays once against each group opponent, two games take place at home and two away. Only the six group winners and the best group runner-up in each conference reach the quarterfinals.
The tournament is directly integrated into the regular NBA season; the results up to and including the semifinals are included in the statistics and balance sheets. The group phase will take place on Tuesdays and Fridays (local time) until the beginning of December. The two semi-finals and the final will take place in Las Vegas in mid-December. The defending champions are the Los Angeles Lakers.
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