The Emirates NBA Cup closed the qualifying phase with an intense evening on Tuesday 3 December with 11 matches scheduled, he has issued his verdicts and now awaits the start of the quarter-finals which will take place on 10 and 11 December. The final four games, the Final Four, will then take place in Las Vegas with the semifinals on December 14, and then the final on December 17. For the eliminated teams, two “classic” regular season games will be scheduled on December 12-13, then on December 15-16 the posters will be determined by the current standings of each conference. Only two games will be played between two teams from different conferences.
After the Warriors, the Rockets and the Hawks, who had already stamped their ticket even before the last day, the Knicks, the Magic, the Bucks, the Thunder and the Mavericks have entered the Top 8. Goodbye to the Los Angeles Lakers, therefore, who will not be able to defend the title acquired in the first edition of last season, nor the two teams with the best record in the championship, the Cavaliers and Celtics. Boston was expected to rely primarily on an Orlando win in New York, a scenario that did not occur.
Eastern Conference. Finally, it was the Bucks who closed out the number one “seed” in this group stage with a record of four wins in as many games after dominating the Pistons. They will face the Magic, who qualified as a “wild card” in the East with the best record of the group’s runners-up. The Knicks, another team with a 4-0 record, will host the Hawks.
Western Conference. No team from the West finished undefeated at this stage, and it was the Thunder, who were still not assured of qualifying before the final day, who finished first. Oklahoma City, winner of Group B, will receive the “wild card” Dallas and the challenge promises to be more uncertain than ever given the success of the Mavs in OKC at the beginning of the season. The final game of the playoffs will see the Rockets face the Warriors.
The quarter-final programme
– December 10th
Bucks – Magic (1 hour French time on the night between the 10th and the 11th)
Thunder – Mavericks (3h30)
– December 11th
Knicks – Hawks (1 hour French time on the night between the 11th and the 12th)
Rockets – Warriors (3h30)
