NBA In-Season Tournament odds, update, knockout stage preview: Bucks, Pacers, Lakers, Kings host quarterfinals

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The Elite Eight is set for the quarterfinals of the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament. The Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Sacramento Kings won their respective Eastern and Western Conference groups and will serve as quarterfinal hosts on Monday and Tuesday (Dec. 4 and Dec. 5)

Boston and New Orleans also finished atop their groups and will be joined in the final eight by the two conference wild-card qualifiers: The New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns.

The quarterfinal winners advance to the Dec. 7 semifinals in Las Vegas, with the championship two nights later on Dec. 9. Here’s our group-play recap and previews of the Eastern and Western Conference quarterfinals.

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Each conference was divided into three, five-team groups for round-robin play.

Four teams — the Bucks, Pacers, Lakers, and Kings — posted 4-0 pool records. And with Milwaukee (plus-46) and L.A. (plus-74) finishing with the best group-play point differentials in their respective conferences, they earned No. 1 quarterfinal seeds.

The two wild cards were decided in the exact same fashion with the 3-1 Knicks (plus-42 point differential) and 3-1 Phoenix Suns (plus-34) standing above the other non-group winners in their conferences.

With 4-0 group records, Indiana and Sacramento earned the East and West No. 2 seeds, respectively, and will host the two 3-1 group winners, Boston and New Orleans.

Entering the quarterfinals, Boston (+310 best odds as of early Wednesday) and Milwaukee (+350) are the two favorites to win the inaugural NBA Cup.

And with good reason as the Celtics (14-4) and Bucks (13-5) currently own the best regular season winning percentages in the Eastern Conference. Behind the high-scoring tandem of Jayson Tatum (27.7 points per game) and Jaylen Brown (21.9), the Celtics owned the top net rating (plus-9.7) in the league as of Wednesday.

Boston must win its quarterfinal contest in Indiana (+1400) and then get past Milwaukee (assuming the seeds hold) just to reach the championship game.

Led by supremely skilled point guard Tyrese Halliburton (25.9 points, league-leading 11.9 assists), the Pacers boast the NBA’s top offensive rating (122.5). The Bucks are powered by the All-NBA duo of big man Giannis Antetokounmpo (30.1 points, 10.6 rebounds) and guard Damian Lillard (26.0 points).

They’ll have to solve the defensive-minded Knicks (+2000) in the quarterfinals, with New York holding foes to a league-low 105.5 points per game. Guard Jalen Brunson leads the Knicks in scoring with 24.1 points per outing.

LeBron James and the Lakers are only 10-8 so far this season with a negative overall point differential. But four of those wins came in IST group play, where L.A. dominated the Suns, Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers, and Memphis Grizzlies by an average margin of 18.5 points per contest.

They draw Kevin Durant (No. 2 with 31.4 points per game) and the Suns in the Dec. 5 quarterfinals for a third time this season after posting 100-95 and 122-119 wins previously.

High-scoring guard De’Aaron Fox (29.8 points) and the Kings (+500 best odds) are the favorites to emerge out of the West bracket, with the Lakers (+550) and Suns (+600) just behind.

Brandon Ingram (24.6 points) and the Pelicans (+1200) are the West’s underdog, but it should be noted that they’ve beaten their quarterfinal opponent, Sacramento, in each of their two previous meetings (both at home) this season.

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