The knockout round of the NBA Cup begins Tuesday night, with the final eight teams competing for a chance to head to the semifinals in Las Vegas.
The first Western Conference matchup has the Dallas Mavericks traveling 200 miles up Interstate 35 to play the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks shook off their opening loss to the Golden State Warriors to finish 3-1 and surprisingly take the wild card out of a tough West Group C by defeating the Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies — and running up the score on the New Orleans Pelicans.
Dallas might be the hottest team in the NBA. It’s won seven straight games and 11 of its last 12, which included a 121-119 win over the Thunder on Nov. 17. The Mavericks have the NBA’s No. 4 offense and the No. 8 defense, with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving averaging a combined 53 points per game. P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively are all averaging more than a block per game.
This is a burgeoning rivalry. The Mavericks upset the top-seeded Thunder in the second round of the playoffs last season, beating up the Thunder on the boards and likely inspiring them to sign center Isaiah Hartenstein this summer. Not only are they both title contenders, but the cities are quite close and they have a pre-existing Texas-Oklahoma college football rivalry.
One big factor? Sickness. Both Washington and Naji Marshall are questionable with illness, which could be a problem for Dallas against the Thunder’s endless supply of rangy wing players.
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder ended up as the Western Conference’s top seed with a 3-1 record, righting the ship after an upset loss to the San Antonio Spurs, who were missing Victor Wembanyama. Of course, OKC has been without its own young star center since Chet Holmgren suffered a fractured pelvis a month ago.
OKC has the NBA’s third-best record at 18-5 even without Holmgren and Hartenstein available for most of the season. They’ve got their own high-scoring backcourt with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (29.8 points per game) and Jalen Williams (22 PPG), while the undersized team is nonetheless fourth in the league in blocks.
Tuesday’s game might come down to possession. While Doncic and Irving are intimidating, the Thunder get the most steals and force the most turnovers in the league while committing the fewest. If the Thunder can get enough takeaways, they’ll be taking their ball and heading to Vegas.
