The Denvers Nuggets, NBA champions, eliminated from the Cup

NBA working day 30

Houston Rockets

Denver Nuggets

Last season’s NBA champions will not be able to achieve a double in 2023. Nikola Jokić’s Denver Nuggets were defeated this Friday against the Houston Rockets and are left out of the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup, the new seasonal tournament of American professional basketball. An impressive Jokić added 38 points, 19 rebounds and 8 assists in the 42 minutes he was on the court, but his team lost 105-86 in Houston against the Rockets. The absence of Jamal Murray weighed too much on the champions, who after their second defeat in the group stage lost any chance of qualifying.

The NBA cup tournament is conducive to surprises with its four-day group stage plus single-game playoffs. The top two finishers last Tuesday were teams that were not seeded in their respective groups (the Los Angeles Lakers and the Indiana Pacers). This Friday, apart from the elimination of the Nuggets, the Orlando Magic have left the Boston Celtics on the ropes, who with their defeat depend on various combinations and the point difference to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Phoenix Suns are close to qualifying as the best runners-up in the three groups of the Western Conference. This Friday they worked hard and beat the Memphis Grizzlies 89-110 in a great game by Devin Booker, who scored 40 points. In the Grizzlies, Santi Aldama continues to give the best version of himself and has added 21 points and 5 rebounds in 36 minutes. He has been his team’s leading scorer, but with the losses of Ja Morant (suspended) and Steven Adams and Marcus Smart (injured), the Grizzlies have only held out until the end of the first quarter. The Suns have closed the group stage with three wins and one loss, but with an aggregate difference of 34 points in favor that seems unattainable for any other group runner-up in the West. Curiously, if they passed, the Suns would play the quarterfinals against the Lakers, who were in the same group and who are the best first.

In group B of the West, the New Orleans Pelicans and the Houston Rockets are fighting for first place, while in group C, the first in the group are the Sacramento Kings of D’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, who this Friday won to the Minnesota Timberwolves at home by 111-124. They still have one game left against the Golden State Warriors. Depending on what the Timberwolves do against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Kings could qualify even if they lose to the Warriors.

In the three groups of the Eastern Conference, almost everything is up in the air. In Group A, with the Pacers classified, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ hopes of being the best runner-up are remote. In Group B, the Milwaukee Bucks almost have it done. They have won their three games and, although they still have to face the Miami Heat, they have accumulated a difference of 39 points in favor that no other potential runner-up is close to now. Miami, last season’s NBA finalist, has been defeated by the New York Knicks and classification is complicated, but both still have options to compete against the Bucks and go as first or second in the group.

The Celtics, in danger

And in Group C, Orlando Magic has all the cards in its favor after this Friday’s victory against the Celtics. They have closed their participation in the group stage with three wins and one loss and a point difference in favor of +22. This Friday they surpassed the Celtics with relative comfort with 27 points from German Moritz Wagner and 23 from Paolo Banchero. The team has six consecutive wins and in the NBA regular season standings it has placed second in the Eastern Conference. Even so, a place in the quarterfinals is not guaranteed.

A three-way tie at the top is very likely in that group C, if the Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls and the Nets beat the Toronto Raptors. The Celtics, who currently have zero points difference, would need to win by 22 in the last game and for the Nets to win to be first in the group. In addition, they would have to take advantage of the +7 that the Nets have, plus the advantage they get from the Raptors. If they only beat one of the two group rivals in the three-way tie, they will have to take out the calculator to see if they qualify as the best runners-up in the East. And it’s not easy.

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