The Hawks and seven other teams advance to the knockout rounds. This group includes the winners of each of the six groups as well as two wild cards (the team from each conference with the best record in group play that finished second in their group).

Things have become a little more difficult as it is now win or go home. The knockout rounds are single-elimination games beginning with the quarterfinals and will be played on Tuesday, December 10 and Wednesday, December 11 in the NBA team markets.

Since the Hawks finished the Cup as the third seed, they will travel to Madison Square Garden to face the Knicks for the second time this season. If they lose this duel, their bid for the NBA Cup will end.

However, if they win, they will advance to the semifinals, where they will face the winner of the quarterfinal between the Bucks and Magic. If they prevail, they advance to the championship where they will face the winner of the Western Conference.

Both the semifinals and championship will be held in Las Vegas on December 14th and 17th, respectively. Teams compete for a prize pool and the NBA Cup championship trophy.

All games except the championship count toward the regular season standings. Should they be eliminated after the semifinals, another regular season game will be announced to ensure they complete an 82-game season.

The seven games in the knockout round will be televised nationally. TNT will broadcast one of the semifinal games, while ABC/ESPN will broadcast the second game and the championship.