Hate It All You Want, But The Matchups In The Knockout Stage Of The NBA Cup Are Pretty Great
Now that Group Play has concluded in the NBA Cup, let us have a quick moment of silence for those who are not moving on (PHX, BOS, LAL, MEM, LAC, DEN, MIN etc) and will not fulfill their dream of hanging a fugazi banner in their rafters later this month. What a shame.
But just because there are some big names and contenders that didn't make the cut doesn't mean the matchups we DID get aren't sneaky kind of awesome
Allow me to explain:
Magic vs Bucks (in MIL)
On the surface, if you haven't really been paying attention to the first quarter of the season you may not be sure why this is an intriguing matchup, but that's exactly why you clicked on this blog. Outside of CLE/BOS, there has not been a better team in the East than the Magic, and this is all happening without their best player. The Magic are 15-8 and have lost just twice in what has been basically a month. Franz Wagner has exploded in the absence of Paolo Banchero, and this team is proving to be one of the rising teams in the conference.
Their defense is legitimately insane. With good size at pretty much every possession, scoring on them is certainly a challenge. They own the NBA's #2 ranked defense and hold opponents to just 103.1 points a night, which is the best mark in the entire league. Add in the offensive development of Wagner and guys like Suggs, this is a great opportunity for the Magic to continue to make a statement that they are very much for real.
On the other side, you have the Bucks. A team that was left for dead at 4-9, they entered the soft part of their schedule and have rattled off 7 wins in a row. One would think they're back right? Well, of their 11-9 record, they are just 1-6 against teams .500 or better, while being 10-3 against teams under .500. You win the games you have to win, but there is certainly more to prove especially when it comes to good teams, and the Magic will pose that threat.
Plus, this has the potential to end up being a playoff series, so H2H tie breakers could come into play.
Hawks at Knicks (at MSG)
Trae Young at MSG. What more needs to be said?
We all remember the 2021 playoff series. To this day you still get random "FUCK TRAE YOUNG" chants from Knicks fans regardless of who is actually playing. It could be Knicks/Hornets and they still chant it. Nobody has embraced being a villain more than Young has when it comes to the Knicks and their fans, not to mention the Hawks have already beaten the Knicks earlier this season.
As fans, we want juice. We want drama. We want villains. Well, that's exactly what this matchup gives us! Add in the potential that this too could eventually end up being a playoff series given how close the two are in the standings, and you have my attention. You don't think Young is going to pull out all the stops while playing in MSG if the Hawks eliminate the Knicks? As a fan of chaos, who wouldn't want that?
Mavericks vs Thunder (in OKC)
I'll take a rematch of last year's second round playoff series, sure! Luka vs SGA, two "title contenders", and two top 3 seeds in the West absolutely makes for an intriguing matchup.
Currently winners of 5 straight, the Mavs needed some Luka Magic to even get into this stage of the NBA Cup, but they've recovered from their mini slump and are back to the level most expected when we entered the season. Two awesome defensive teams, I'm very interested to see how these versions of each match up compared to what we saw last Spring. In their game a few weeks ago the Mavs won by 2 points, but the Thunder didn't have Hartenstein, which changes a lot of how they play.
If you remember the playoff series, a huge reason why the Thunder lost was how badly the Mavs destroyed them on the glass. That and PJ Washington's unsustainable shooting, but really the glass problem was the main culprit. It's why OKC went out and gave Hartenstein 80M, and he's immediately been awesome for them, solving a lot of those issues that plagued them in that playoff series.
So if you're telling me two of the best teams in the West are facing off, with the Thunder having added motivation of payback from their earlier loss in mid November, you have my attention. The SGA vs Luka battle is enough for me anyways, and something tells me whatever happens in that game is going to make for a very fun night on the internet. Agenda pushing like you read about.
Warriors vs Rockets (in HOU)
The Warriors are in a free fall at the moment. Losers of 5 straight, Draymond has a fucked up calf, they're now in the Play In, things just aren't going all that great for GS. Oh well!
So why is this game exciting? Well, the Rockets are the 2nd seed in the West and much like the Magic are proving to be a legit threat in their conference. Backed by a top 3 defense, this is your classic old guard vs new guard type game. The Warriors used to be the ones at the top of the West with a league-best defense, and now in 2024 that team is the Rockets. Can a GS team that's just 6-7 against teams .500 or better have enough or will this be the start of a true changing of the guard in the West?
Plus, we get a nice little 2022 Finals rematch (sigh) between Ime Udoka and Steph Curry. Something tells me he's not to continue to play nothing but drop coverage against Steph while he watches Curry bury 3 after 3 after 3 (again….sigh) and the last time these two teams played earlier this year they played a 127-121 OT thriller, so I'll gladly sign up for another round.
Just like the other matchups, this too has the potential to end up being an early playoff series, especially if Draymond misses a decent chunk of time and the Warriors float around the 6/7 seed.
So listen, I get it. People think the NBA Cup is stupid and a waste of time and not important blah blah blah. I'm not going to debate you on that, people like what they like. But now that we've entered this stage, there's no denying the matchups are interesting and have the potential to provide some pretty awesome games. At the end of the day, that's all that matters. Plus, it was kind of fun doing all the point differential math during last night's games, so maybe Adam Silver is actually onto something with this idea?