There is suddenly a sense of urgency in the Emirates NBA Cup because there’s no margin for error anymore. From here, it’s either win or no Bellagio fountains, no Strip, no Sphere and certainly no T-Mobile Arena, the Las Vegas site of the last four teams standing.

The Knockout Rounds bring that level of drama and in these do-or-die situations, certain players elevate their game to the next level as well. We’ve seen that through the Group Play where a handful of usual suspects, plus a few others who found an extra gear, willed their teams into the quarterfinal round.

Meaningful games invite meaningful performances and 10 players in particular were good enough to land spots on, yes, the NBA Cup MVP Ladder.

This is the other MVP race where established stars merely confirm their existenc

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