Final 4 to battle for title in Vegas

NBA CUP

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will lead the Thunder against the Rockets in the semifinals of the NBA Cup on Saturday in Las Vegas. The Hawks and Bucks will face off in the other semifinal. The title game is Tuesday. Nate Billings/ap

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Associated Press

The NBA Cup semifinals are set: the Bucks vs. Hawks, and Thunder vs. Rockets.

They’ll meet Saturday in Las Vegas, with the winners heading to the championship game there on Tuesday night.

The semifinal games will count as regular-season games, meaning there will be five Bucks-Hawks and Thunder-Rockets games this season instead of the customary three or four between clubs from the same conference.

Meanwhile, the quarterfinal losers will play each other on Sunday to fill out their regular season schedules. The Knicks will play the Magic, and the Mavericks will face the Warriors.

And that means former longtime Warriors guard Klay Thompson could play on his former home floor three times during the regular season; he and the Mavs visited the Warriors on Nov. 12 in a Cup group stage game and are scheduled to return on Feb. 23.

Tuesday’s title game will not count in the regular-season standings and statistics. The championship game is considered extra (an 83rd game) and therefore isn’t part of the 82-game season for the two teams that make the final.

How to watch

TNT will show the first Cup semifinal from Las Vegas on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, followed by the second semifinal at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.

The championship game is an 8:30 p.m., airing Tuesday on ABC.

These games will be national TV broadcast only.

Betting favorites

According to BetMGM Sportsbook, the Thunder (+120) are the favorite to win the NBA Cup.

The Bucks (+240) are the next choice, followed by the Rockets and Hawks (both +500).

Hello, again

A look at Saturday’s semis:

Hawks vs. Bucks: The Hawks beat the host Bucks 119-104 on Dec. 4, riding huge edges in rebounding (55-40) and bench scoring (50-31).

Thunder vs. Rockets: The teams are 1-1 against each other, both winning at home. The Thunder prevailed 126-107 on Nov. 8 (a 44-20 second quarter was the difference there), and the Rockets won 119-116 on Dec. 1 behind 38 points from Fred VanVleet.

What’s at stake?

To the winners: pride, a trophy and money.

The players on the teams that made it to Las Vegas have already earned $102,994 apiece. The players on the teams that lost in the quarterfinals got $51,497 apiece.

The semifinals are worth another $102,994 apiece for the winning players. And players on the title-winning team will finish the NBA Cup with $514,971 apiece.