NBA Game Notes: NBA Cup rolls on!

Notes from: NYK-CHA, MEM-NOP, BOS-CHI, POR-SAC, OKC-LAL

The NBA Cup makes for some weird rooting interests. For example: The Boston Celtics are chasing the Cleveland Cavaliers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. For the overall standings, Boston should have been rooting for the Atlanta Hawks.

For the Cup? It works differently. The Celtics needed the Cavs to take down the Hawks to have a shot at winning the group. Alas for Boston, Atlanta beat Cleveland for the second time in a week, and the Hawks are advancing to the NBA Cup quarterfinals.

Then you have point differential drama across a bunch of groups too. I’ll call out a couple of things that are Cup-related as we go.

Here’s what I saw on a full day of NBA Cup action on Black Friday!

New York Knicks - 99 at Charlotte Hornets - 98

• The Knicks offense is still at its best when Jalen Brunson is keying the actions on a regular basis. Things get a little sideways when Brunson isn’t as involved. That happened a few times throughout the afternoon on Friday.

• Miles McBride has become a terrific sixth man for the Knicks. He's taken on Immanuel Quickley's former role and done quite well with it.

  One of the things that helps McBride to be so successful is the lift he gets on his jumper. That allows him to get it off, even against tight closes like this:

• Mikal Bridges was benched for most of the fourth quarter in this one. Bridges owned the benching by saying, “I got to be better.” It’s been a bit of a rough adjustment for Bridges, who went from a primary on-ball role with Brooklyn to playing as a third, and sometimes fourth, option with New York.

• Tom Thibodeau is making it work with a short bench, both in numbers of players available and in actual physical size. Thibodeau has gotten good run from Cameron Payne, who has played well as a fourth guard in an off-ball role.

• With LaMelo Ball out, a lot fell on Brandon Miller to create offense. The challenge was the Knicks cadre of athletic wings made life tough on Miller for most of the game. The second-year player eventually got it going for Charlotte, but the Hornets needed to scheme him open more.

• Tidjane Salaun has looked a little overmatched at times on defense as a rookie. On the plus sides, Salaun seems to figuring out his role on offense. And he’s been a pretty solid rebounder when he’s seen decent minutes.

• I’ve been watching basketball for over 40 years (yes, I’m old!). I’ve never, ever seen the clock run out on a game while the ball toilet-bowled around the rim like this:

New Orleans Pelicans - 109 at Memphis Grizzlies - 120

• Santi Aldama is having a very good season for Memphis. Against New Orleans, he showed off how diverse his scoring game can be.

  First, Aldama ran for a transition alley-oop. Then, he overpowered a smaller defender. Then a nice step-back. Finally, a good show-and-go drive. Good stuff here from the pending restricted free agent.

• This wasn’t a good shooting night for the Grizzlies and that kept the Pelicans in the game. On the plus side, those nights are starting to become fewer and further between as Memphis has gotten healthier.

• All of those extra on-ball reps for Jaren Jackson Jr. during last year’s mess of a season have really paid off. Jackson looks more confident than ever when putting the ball on the floor and attacking the defense.

• Jaylen Wells continues to be a very solid surprise for Memphis. He’s given them shooting and more playmaking than anyone could have expected.

• As the Pelicans have gotten healthier their play has improved. That’s little consolation, as the losses continue to mount. But New Orleans has been better.

• Who knows how it will play out long-term, but Elfrid Payton has proven he’s worth of an NBA roster spot. He’s still a shaky shooter, but Payton is solid on defense and remains a very good playmaker.

Boston Celtics - 138 at Chicago Bulls - 129

• Seven straight wins for Boston, who will play Cleveland on Sunday for first place in the Eastern Conference.

• It’s a testament to his play that Jayson Tatum can have a “quiet” 35/14/5/1/1 game.

• Payton Pritchard went off in the fourth quarter of this one. He scored 19 points in the first 6:35 of the final period. That included a stretch where he buried three-pointer after three-pointer. Here’s what Pritchard’s scoring binge looked like:

• Boston was chasing point differential late in the game. With that mind, the Celtics called a timeout with 1.4 seconds remaining and the game in hand. That led to Sam Hauser draining this buzzer-beater, which could make the difference in Boston getting the East wild card spot in the NBA Cup quarterfinals:

• Nikola Vucevic continues to play out of his mind. After going 11-for-16 overall and 6-for-9 from deep against Boston, Vucevic is up to 57.7% overall and 46.9% on threes this season.

• Not be outdone, Zach LaVine was terrific in this one too. He added 29 points and hit several big buckets late to keep the Bulls close. Both LaVine and Vucevic have had great bounce-back seasons on offense.

• No idea where things end up for Josh Giddey, but Boston basically ignored him all game. He made some plays as a passer, but his reluctance to even look for his shot sunk several Bulls possessions.

• Matas Buzelis saw a little run early, but he record-scratched out of a wide-open corner three and came out shortly thereafter. Those are shots Buzelis has to take, even if they don’t fall.