hangover for Final Four teams?

What do they have in common? Le Thunder, Spurs, Les Knicks etc the Magic ? Four franchises were in Las Vegas in mid-December for the Final Four of the NBA Cup. And they’ve all seen their scores drop since then. Oklahoma City, San Antonio, New York and Orlando have worse winning percentages after the Cup than before the competition. Same consequence, for the same causes?

Since the NBA Cup Finals, which are not included in the regular season results, four teams have slowed down, on their own scale. After Tuesday night’s win against the Spurs, the Thunder have a 10-5 record, one more than San Antonio (9-6). Nothing dishonorable, nor capable of causing them to lose – for now – the top two spots in the Western Conference.

But the bad luck of the Texans, who have lost six times in their last ten outings, has solidified the top of the rankings with Denver tied (27-13) and Minnesota now in ambush (27-14).

The nixes stuck out their tongues

For the Knicks and Magic, the decline is more marked with an average score of 7-7 for Orlando and even a negative record (6-7) for New York after lifting the trophy in Las Vegas.

New York in particular seems to be suffering not only because of the results, but also because of the visual impression it has made in recent weeks Jalen Brunson and your own.

New York’s leader seems to have less juice and especially struggles to impress his team’s play at the beginning of the match. With one place among the twenty players who make the most fouls per game, he is at the bottom of the Top 30 in this statistical category from the last four NBA Cups (from 5.8 to 4.2). Less intense, less aggressive… If his influence remains huge on his team’s play, his weight on opposing defenses becomes a little less oppressive.

« I think the NBA Cup is great because it’s a different type of basketball than during the season. Jalen Brunson noted last week. « But I don’t know, I wouldn’t say it’s a reaction, I don’t call it that. We’re just not where we should be. » « It won’t always be a smooth ride, especially this time of year. » the coach tried to explain Mike Brown. « Our Cup was a little different, but those were bad days of the year. »

Outpatient clinics are very busy

Engine return Josh Hart against the Blazers on Sunday was good for revive a struggling Knicks team. Like him, absent eight games after Christmas, other key players from teams that qualified for the Cup Final Four joined the infirmary shortly after Las Vegas (although the NBA ensures that the order of the games it has nothing to do with it).

Spurs had to do without Victor Vembanyama (knee hyperextension, two games absent) i Devin Vassellanother name on the long list of muscle injuries this season. Magic saw Jalen Suggs injured his hip against the Knicks in the Cup semifinals, then injured his knee just two games after returning. The Thunder have seen several players bounce back and forth on the injured list, Isaiah Hartenstein in the lead, injured in the lower leg from 28.12.

For Oklahoma City, the timing of this decline may be more of a coincidence. Starting off at a blistering pace, the reigning champion arrived in Las Vegas with an astounding 24-1 record. This dynamic seemed logically destined to slow down sooner or later, and three losses to the Spurs in as many weeks seriously slowed OKC’s momentum. ” There are times in the NBA season when you have the wind in your face, other times when you have the wind at your back », summarized coach Mark Daigneault after a surprise slap in the face by the Hornets on Jan. 5. When you have the wind in your face, you have to overcome it. »

To see a team come off a 100-plus game season after winning the title in Game 7 of the Finals, then in the conversation for the best regular season record in history to undergo moments of decompression is nothing illogical or illegitimate. And you don’t have to work for so long that concentration and engagement eventually falter. ” We are coming out of a very difficult period in our calendar, which we negotiated well, with games that required a lot of mental concentration from us. » explained Victor Vembanyama on Dec. 29 after a loss to the Cavaliers. “And we had to get out of it.”

Flip the calendar

To achieve this, the four NBA Cup semifinalists were not eligible for preferential treatment. While some franchises used the welcome break to recharge their batteries and hone their game in practice, the Knicks played three games in four days in four different cities starting with the Cup Final. The situation is even more inconvenient for the Magic, who played just one game in eight days during the Final Four after losing in the semifinals, before seeing the schedule shake up with 14 games in 25 days … then they played rescheduled games in Berlin and London this week, and played just twice in nine days. This convoluted schedule may have played a role in Orlando’s current form, which has gone from win to loss in their last 14 outings.

« The cup is fun, it’s top notch and all that, but somehow they have to look at the rest of the calendar, at least for the finalists » Knicks coach Mike Brown complained. « Because it’s like you’re penalized for winning, from a scheduling standpoint. »

The precedents of the 2023 and 2024 Cups suggest that this opus in 2025 has as many aggravating factors (cumulative fatigue, difficult schedule) as there are circumstances. Last season, none of the semi-finalists of the competition slowed down the momentum, on the contrary, even for the Thunder, who perfectly returned from the lost final by signing ten victories in a row.

But the Bucks, like the Knicks this year, struggled to recover from the title game at first, losing five of their first eight games after Las Vegas. It was even worse for the Lakers in the first edition of the then-season tournament, as the Angelinos won just five of their seventeen games after lifting the trophy in Nevada.

Two champions that New York will not look up to for a long time, as they subsequently did not advance beyond the first round of the playoffs. The stage that only the Pacers in the 2023/24 season (conference final) and the Thunder in 2024/25 (champion) have passed among the previous qualifiers for the NBA Cup Final Four.