Last season’s NBA champion and the reigning NBA Cup champion – then called the in-season tournament – are both eliminated.

After a dramatic final night of play – and many fans wanting to do the math to see if their team could qualify based on points difference – the starting spots for the knockout round of the 2024 NBA Cup are ready.

Let’s break it all down.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

1. Milwaukee Bucks
2. New York Knicks
3. Atlanta Hawks
4. Orlando Magic (Wild Card)

East NBA Cup quarterfinal games

Orlando in Milwaukee, December 10, 7 p.m. ET (TNT)
Atlanta in New York, December 11, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Milwaukee reached the knockout rounds as Group B East winners after a comfortable 128-107 victory in Detroit – a game that was never in doubt.

It was a similar story in New York, where the Knicks jumped out to an early lead over Orlando and won Group A with a 121-106 victory – but there was plenty of drama in the fourth quarter. New York led this game by as many as 37 points in the third quarter – had it won by 37 or more, Orlando would have been eliminated from the Wild Card spot, which would have gone to Boston. That led to Orlando’s starters playing deeper into the fourth quarter and suffering a huge loss than they would in a normal regular-season game on Tuesday night. Orlando barely managed enough to survive and Boston is out.

Atlanta had locked up Group C before the night even began, but now it’s off to New York City, where Trae Young had some great games and was public enemy No. 1.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. Houston Rockets
3. Golden State Warriors
4. Dallas Mavericks (Wild Card)

West NBA Cup quarterfinal games (December 10 or 11):

Dallas at Oklahoma City, December 10, 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Golden State at Houston, December 11, 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT)

Golden State and Houston, the winners of West Groups A and C, were already in the knockout round, but both lost their final NBA Cup games on Tuesday – in a way that infuriated both coaches – and that opened the door Door for Oklahoma City to grab the No. 1 seed in the West.

As expected, the Thunder outscored the Jazz 133-106, giving them a 3-1 record with a +45 point advantage. Combined with Phoenix’s win over San Antonio, OKC secured the West Group B crown (the Thunder previously defeated the Suns, giving them the head-to-head tiebreaker).

Houston or Golden State could have secured first place with a win. However, the Rockets lost to the Kings, with coach Ime Udoka and center Alperen Sengun both being ejected after a non-call on a Sengun drive with 1:52 left (the Rockets trailed by a dozen and were trying to mount a comeback ). “Obvious missed calls right in front of you. You call hectic, moving screens and little things like that, but you don’t want to call the obvious calls right in front of you,” Udoka said after the game. which earns him a penalty from the league.

The Warriors lost in Denver 119-115. Kerr left the court angry because after Moses Moody missed a 3 with 7.1 seconds left, the Nuggets’ Christian Braun recovered the loose ball and then tried to call a timeout – but the Nuggets were out of timeouts. However, the referees did not grant a timeout, the Warriors players rushed in tied Braun and a jump ball was called. At this point there were only 1.9 seconds left and the game was as good as over. However, this timeout would have given the Warriors a chance.

Now the Warriors and Rockets face each other.

Dallas was likely to advance as a wild card as long as it won, but that needed a 15-point fourth-quarter comeback against Memphis to become a reality.

The Mavericks will be rewarded with a trip to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder.

NBA CUP FORMAT

The NBA Cup began by dividing all 30 NBA teams into six groups of five teams (three East and three West teams). Teams played everyone in their group – games that count as regular season games and NBA Cup games – with the winners of those three groups plus the one wild card from each conference now advancing to the Knockout Round.

The four winners of the December 10th and 11th games will travel to the semifinals in Las Vegas on December 14th and the NBA Cup championship game on December 17th.

The 22 teams that did not make it to the knockout rounds will play two games this week – one home and one away – to ensure they reach the full 82-game regular season.