NBA Cup Power Rankings: How the remaining teams stack up — from least to most likely to win the tourney

Welcome back to the world’s most accurate power rankings, where this week we will place the eight NBA Cup quarterfinalists into so perfect an order they barely even have to play the tournament to sort it out.

That is right: We ranked the eight teams remaining in the NBA Cup field from from least likely to most likely to win the single-elimination extravaganza. Bet accordingly, or don’t. I can’t guarantee winnings.

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What I can guarantee is that these are the best damn NBA Cup quarterfinal power rankings around …

How they got here: PHX 118, UTA 96 • PHX 114, MIN 113 • PHX 112, SAC 100 • OKC 123, PHX 119

NBA Cup quarterfinal: at Oklahoma City (-15.5) on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video)

The Suns (14-10) are playing better than anyone anticipated, hovering above .500, holding firm to a play-in tournament berth in the crowded Western Conference through the season’s first quarter. They are 3-4 in their last seven games, playing more like the team we imagined them to be, with a -4.7 net rating.

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Devin Booker missed their last two games, including a blowout loss to the Houston Rockets, with a strained groin. He is questionable for Wednesday’s Cup quarterfinal against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Thunder, then, will host the hobbled Suns, and since every team but the Portland Trail Blazers has befallen the same fate against the defending champions, I cannot say I am in love with the Suns’ odds.

(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

How they got here: TOR 112, CLE 101 • TOR 109, ATL 97 • TOR 140, WAS 110 • TOR 97, IND 95

NBA Cup quarterfinal: NYK 117, TOR 101

As Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković said, suggesting his team needs a kick in the you-know-what at the campaign’s quarter-point, “I’m demanding more urgency from the whole team. I’m demanding more scrappiness. When we do that … we’re a completely different team, and we can compete with anybody.”

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[Devine: Breaking down the East quarterfinal matchups]

That has been, for the most part, true, as Toronto has held its own in the Eastern Conference, seizing a home playoff seed through the season’s first 25 games. Like…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/nba-cup-power-rankings-how-the-remaining-teams-stack-up–from-least-to-most-likely-to-win-the-tourney-171501601.html

Author : Ben Rohrbach

Publish date : 2025-12-09 17:15:00

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