The quarterfinals of the NBA Cup: just one more step to play it in Las Vegas

Miami (USA), Nov 29 (EFE).- With the group stage in the rearview mirror, the NBA already has the eight teams that will fight next week in a single game to get a ticket in the quarterfinals for Las Vegas (USA), where the champion of the first NBA In-Season Tournament will be decided.

With a very attractive draw of eight teams that could perfectly be in a conference final in May, on Monday the 4th the Pacers-Celtics will be played in Indianapolis and the Kings-Pelicans in Sacramento. On Tuesday the 5th there are Bucks-Knicks in Milwaukee and Lakers-Suns in Los Angeles.

It seemed strange that a new tournament was inaugurated and that a franchise as winning and historic as the Celtics was not opting for it. Joe Mazzulla’s men raised their hand as candidates, with classification at stake, passing over the Bulls this Tuesday in a game that they won by 35 points.

Boston is not going to have an easy time since their quarterfinal matchup will not be on the Garden floor, where they have won absolutely everything this season. And whoever resides in that stage called Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis is the best attack in the NBA with 127.6 points per game.

Both teams already played this year and Jayson Tatum’s team won by a beating (155-104). There’s no doubt that Tyrese Haliburton’s block is hoping for revenge.

Sacramento, with morale through the roof

Surely for many fans, the Kings deserved to go directly to Las Vegas on Tuesday night after coming back from 24 points against Golden State. They not only saved the match but also their continuity in the tournament, in addition to getting a good injection of confidence.

Now they face some Pelicans that are difficult to predict: at the Smoothie King Center they are not completely reliable and when they go far from Louisiana the usual thing lately is to see them lose. In Sacramento they will have a young and very dynamic team in front of them, similar in playing style to the Jazz who recently defeated them back-to-back.

CJ McCollum’s recovery marks the game a lot: he hasn’t played since early November and his team noticed it. For the Kings, the pace is and will be set by De’Aaron Fox who averages 29.9 points per game.

Although Domantas Sabonis and his intelligence on the court will have to say a lot to stop the brute force of Zion Williamson who forgot about injuries and physical problems to play almost everything this year.

Although their attack remains among the best in the competition, even more so with the addition of Damian Lillard to the equation, the pending issue for Adrian Griffin’s team is defense, where they falter until conceding an average of 117.5 points per game.

This has translated into a major irregularity and that is that their five losses of the course have been against teams from the noble zone, all of them, such as Indiana, Orlando or Boston.

Of the victories, one is very notable: the one achieved on November 3 against, precisely, the Knicks. That day everything was decided in the last quarter in a duel that seemed more like a one-on-one between Jalen Brunson and Lillard with 15 points for each one.

The New Yorkers are the opposite of the Bucks: they find it difficult to score (they are the 25th offense in the NBA) but, nevertheless, they are the second defense that concedes the fewest points to the rival.

The favoritism of playing at home is not doubted, but it is probably the most even match of the four

Even with the hangover of having received the fourth biggest beating in their history this Monday against the Sixers, LeBron James’ Lakers can boast when talking about the NBA Cup, in which they have been the best team without a place doubts winning their four games and with an indisputable +74 in the point difference.

The big question is: which Lakers will be seen on Tuesday against the Suns? The reliable and motivated ones from the tournament or the irregular and sometimes embarrassing ones from the other games?

Better to be guided by the recent confrontations to lift the spirits of the Angelenos since there is no doubt: this season they have won both games against the Suns, one away and the other at home.

Phoenix is, today and along with Orlando, the most in-form team in the league with seven consecutive wins. The arrival of Frank Vogel seems to have improved these Suns, who score on average 3 more points per game than last year, reminiscent in this sense of that team that reached the NBA Finals in 2021.

Kevin Durant – who will face off once again with LeBron – and Devin Booker together add an average of almost 61 points per game and are one of the most decisive couples. But it was precisely in those two games against the Lakers that the second one was absent. Will they together be able to knock out the best team in the group stage?

Nacho Garcia