The New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks advanced to the knockout phase of the NBA Cup with emphatic victories on Tuesday, the Knicks hammering Orlando 121-106 in a blowout that still allowed the Magic to grab a quarter-final berth.
The Knicks dominated at Madison Square Garden in the battle to finish unbeaten and win the East Group A.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, Jalen Brunson added 21 points, Mikal Bridges scored 19 and OG Anunoby and Miles McBride scored 18 apiece for the Knicks while Josh Hart contributed a triple-double of 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.
Franz Wagner scored 30 to lead Orlando, who were assured of advancing so long as they didn’t lose by 37 points or more.
The Magic, who gave up 32 points on 16 turnovers, saw their deficit hit that number in the third quarter but clawed back to grab the East wild card berth on points differential over NBA champions the Boston Celtics, who also finished group play 3-1.
In Detroit, the Bucks drained 23 three-pointers on the way to a 128-107 victory over the Pistons in a battle of East Group B leaders that saw the hosts eliminated.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points with seven rebounds and eight assists and Damian Lillard scored 27 points for the Bucks, who have won seven straight games — including a victory over Detroit in which Antetokounmpo dropped a season-high 59 points.
Antetokounmpo made 10 of 11 shots from the floor and sat out the entire fourth quarter.
Milwaukee had seized control early, connecting on 69.2 percent of their shots in the first half — including 15 of 21 from three-point range.
The quarter-finals of the in-season tournament will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday with the semi-finals to be played on December 14 in Las Vegas — where the final will be held on December 17.
“They put a tournament in front of us and we want to win it,” Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said. “We’re 4-0 and we still have a lot of work to do, but the bottom line is we earned a chance to play at home.”
The Bucks will host the Magic and the Knicks will host the Atlanta Hawks next week. In the West the Oklahoma City Thunder will host the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets will host the Golden State Warriors.
– Mavs rally for win –
Oklahoma City Thunder pummelled the Utah Jazz 133-106 and emerged as the winners of West Group B over the Phoenix Suns, who beat the San Antonio Spurs 104-93 to finish with the same 3-1 record but lose out on points differential.
Jalen Williams scored 28 points and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 26 points for the Thunder, who harried the Jazz into 29 turnovers leading to 45 Oklahoma City points.
Devin Booker scored 29 points to lead the Suns, who lost star Kevin Durant to a sprained left ankle late in the first half. Even without him the Suns led wire-to-wire against a Spurs team led by 25 points from reserve Devin Vassell.
The Mavericks, fueled by 37 points and 12 rebounds from Luka Doncic, erased a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 121-116 and grab the West wild card berth.
Ja Morant scored 15 of his season-high 31 points in the fourth quarter and the Grizzlies led 101-86 with 10:34 to play.
Memphis were up 111-103 with 3:34 remaining, but Dallas scored the next 13 points as they surged to victory, halting the Grizzlies’ six-game winning streak.
Group stage games count as regular-season games and the Cleveland Cavaliers, eliminated from the Cup, improved their league-best record to 19-3 with a 118-87 victory over the hapless Washington Wizards.
The Denver Nuggets, already eliminated from Cup contention, had 38 points and 10 rebounds from Nikola Jokic in a gritty 119-115 victory over the Warriors, who had already secured victory in their group.
Stephen Curry scored 24 points with seven rebounds and 11 assists for the Warriors, who led by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter. They were up by six with 2:32 remaining, but the Nuggets scored the last 10 points of the game.
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