With group-stage play now complete in the Emirates NBA Cup 2024, we now know what comes next for the Houston Rockets and seven other teams advancing to the quarterfinal knockout round on Tuesday, Dec. 10, and Wednesday, Dec. 11.
After factoring in all group-stage results from Tuesday night — including Houston’s loss at Sacramento, Golden State’s loss at Denver, and Oklahoma City’s blowout home victory over Utah — the Rockets (15-7, 3-1) will be the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference bracket.
The Rockets, Warriors, and Thunder all won their West groups with matching 3-1 Cup records, and the tiebreaker is point differential — which finished at Oklahoma City +45, Houston +40, and Golden State +8 points.
Thus, the Thunder are the No. 1 seed and will face the West’s wild-card team, which is Dallas. Houston is the No. 2 and Golden State the No. 3, with the Rockets hosting that matchup at Toyota Center based on their superior differential.
Tipoff is at 8:30 p.m. next Wednesday, Dec. 11, with the game televised to a nationwide audience on TNT.
The Rockets did lose a memorable overtime game at home to the Warriors earlier this season, but that game was not an NBA Cup matchup. Thus, it did not factor into the tiebreaker.
The two quarterfinal winners in each conference will advance to the NBA semifinals on Saturday, Dec. 14, which take place in Las Vegas. The two quarterfinal losers in each conference will play each other later that week in what counts as a standard regular-season game.
The championship is on Tuesday, Dec. 17, also in Las Vegas. The championship match is the only Cup game that doesn’t also count toward the 2024-25 regular-season standings.
More: NBA names Rockets star Alperen Sengun as Western Conference Player of the Week
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Rockets earn home date versus Warriors in NBA Cup quarterfinals
