And then there were two: It's Milwaukee vs. Oklahoma City for the NBA Cup.
They'll meet Tuesday in Las Vegas for the title. It will be one of 83 games this season for both teams, meaning it will not count in the standings and the statistics won't count toward anything other than the outcome of that game.
Saturday’s Cup semifinals saw Milwaukee beating Atlanta behind a monster effort from Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Oklahoma City beating Houston in a predictable show of top defenses.
How to watch
Tuesday's game starts at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC. It will only be broadcast on national TV; the local broadcast partners for the Bucks and Thunder won't be doing the game.
Betting favorites
According to BetMGM Sportsbook, Oklahoma City (-190) is the favorite to win the NBA Cup. Milwaukee has money-line odds of +155 for the title game.
The Thunder are favored by 4.5 points.
Quarterfinal recap
— 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.
Group standings
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.
Highest scoring performances
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
More triple-doubles
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).
What’s at stake?
To the winners: pride, a trophy and money.
The players on the teams that made it to the title game have already earned $205,988. The players whose teams lost in the semifinals earned $102,994 apiece. The players on the teams that lost in the quarterfinals got $51,497 apiece.
The players who win the Cup get another $308,983 in prize money. The losing team's players on Tuesday night get an additional $0.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
The Associated Press
