The preamble is officially over, and now, we've reached the meat of the NBA Cup. With group play in the books, the knockout stage of the cup is here. No more will games feel quite as baked into the fabric of the regular season.

Milwaukee and New York are back in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, just like they were a year ago.The other six remaining Cup contenders — Oklahoma City, Golden State, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Orlando — are heading there for the first time.

With the field for the knockout rounds of the NBA Cup set, there will be a new champion, and an almost entirely different field, than from last year's inaugural version, including the New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks,