Friday’s NBA Cup action saw the quarter-finals decided with eight teams qualifying: in the East, the Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors; in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers. The matchups will be Magic-Heat and Raptors-Knicks in the Eastern Conference, and Thunder-Suns and Lakers-Spurs in the Western Conference
In Detroit, the Magic earned their ticket with a hard-fought 112-109 victory over the Pistons, who were eliminated despite a spectacular triple-double by Cade Cunningham, who scored 39 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. The game was decided in the final seconds, with four offensive rebounds by Orlando in the final stretch that allowed them to defend a three-point lead. Cunningham had a chance to force overtime from the free throw line, missed the first and threw the second to miss, grabbed his own rebound, but time ran out. Desmond Bane led the Magic with 37 points and eight rebounds.
Knicks eliminate the champions
At Madison Square Garden, the Knicks knocked out the defending champions, the Milwaukee Bucks, with a 118-109 victory thanks to Jalen Brunson’s 37 points and the enormous work of Josh Hart, who had 19 points and 15 rebounds. The return of Giannis Antetokounmpo, after four games out, went unrewarded despite his 30 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, in a game in which Milwaukee clearly lost the rebounding battle (55-40).
The Miami Heat qualified without playing, thanks to the combination of results, and will be Orlando’s opponent. In other games without impact on the Cup, the Indiana Pacers thrashed the Washington Wizards 119-86, the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Brooklyn Nets 103-115 and the Atlanta Hawks won 130-123 against a Cleveland Cavaliers team that was still fighting for a place despite Donovan Mitchell’s 42 points.
Spurs shock Suns without Wembanyama
In the West, the big surprise came in Denver, where a Spurs team without Victor Wembanyama or Stephon Castle came from 18 points down to beat the Nuggets 136-139, also depleted by the absence of Aaron Gordon. Jamal Murray shone with 37 points, but it was Devin Vassell who decided the game with 35 points and a fantastic 7 of 9 from three-point range, well accompanied by Julian Champagnie (25 points and 10 rebounds) and De’Aaron Fox (15 points and 12 assists). Nikola Jokic, for his part, was close to a triple-double (21 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists)
In Oklahoma, the Thunder defeated the Suns 123-119 in a game in which the winner was assured of a place and the loser depended on other results. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was once again the driving force with 37 points. Phoenix, who cut a 15-point deficit in the final quarter, ended up qualifying despite the defeat because of their favorable points difference over the Memphis Grizzlies.
The day was completed with the Utah Jazz’s 128-119 victory over the Sacramento Kings, in a game that was already irrelevant to the tournament standings.
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