How Milwaukee won the NBA Cup

On By Littum

The Milwaukee Bucks is the hottest team in the NBA.

With their NBA Cup championship – earned by one 97-81 win Tuesday over Oklahoma City Thunder in the Cup Finals – the Bucks have now won 13 of their last 16 games, and Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard continued their stellar play.

The 2-8 start and talk of Lillard’s challenging adjustment to a new team along with Antetokounmpo fade into the embers of October and early November.

Antetokounmpo earned NBA Cup MVP, helping finish off the Thunder with a 26-point, 19-rebound, 10-assist triple-double. He also had three blocks and two steals.

Lillard contributed 23 points.

Here are the NBA Cup winners and losers:

NBA Cup winners and losers

Winner: Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo

In six Cup games, Antetokounmpo averaged 30.5 points, 10.2 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 2.8 blocks and 1.2 steals and shot 66.7% from the field.

Nikola Jokic is having a great season, nearly averaging 30 points in a triple-double. But no one is playing better and helping his team win right now more than 30-year-old Antetokounmpo.

He is the NBA’s top scorer with 32.7 points per game. game and is averaging 11.5 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.6 blocks and is shooting 61.4%, which would be a career high if he maintains that percentage.

A third MVP for the Bucks star is a strong possibility if he continues to play like this and the Bucks continue to win.

Loser: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s production

OKC’s MVP candidate was limited to 21 points on 8-for-24 shooting Tuesday, including 2-for-9 on 3s. The Bucks did a great job using their size to prevent Gilgeous-Alexander from controlling the game. He had just four rebounds and two assists.

“The way I felt tonight, I was still hitting my shot, my spot, I just wasn’t doing anything,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Those kinds of things happen.”

Winner: Damian Lillard-Giannis Antetokounmpo combo

They are the highest scoring duo in the NBA with 58.4 points per game. game, and they’re playing like the nearly unstoppable combination the front office expected when the Bucks acquired Lillard before the start of the 2023-24 season. Of Lillard’s 23 points, 15 came on 5-for-10 3-point shooting.

Lillard and Antetokounmpo playing at that level puts tremendous pressure on an opposing defense.

“So proud of the group,” Antetokounmpo said. “Everybody was extremely locked in. We came in, we were focused and played great basketball and we were able to win this game. We had this goal as a team and we accomplished it… I’m so happy for Dame , that we got our first trophy together. This is just the beginning. We have to keep improving and getting better.

Winner: Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks used the NBA Cup to help turn their season around after that 2-8 start. Can they now use this success to propel them through the rest of the season? They have moved into sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings and are just 1½ games behind the New York Knicks for third place.

“I don’t think you can wash it off,” Lillard said of the poor start to the season. “But we’ve shown that the team we started the season is not the team we are now and that was never who we really were. Just got off to a rough start.”

Loser: Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder lost and their offense gave them up in the Cup Final. It’s hard to win an NBA game by 81 points. They scored just 31 points in the second half – 14 in the third quarter.

Oklahoma City is still a quality team with depth, an MVP candidate in Gilgeous-Alexander and another potential All-Star in Jalen Williams. They will get Chet Holmgren back later this season and will be a team to beat in the West playoffs.

“We didn’t score nearly enough points, especially in the second half, to give ourselves a chance to win, but we can learn from that,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “We’re moving on here.”

Winner: Milwaukee’s 3-point shooting

The Bucks were 17-for-40 on 3-pointers (42.5%) and outscored Oklahoma City 51-15 on 3s. Five Bucks made at least two 3s, a sign of Milwaukee’s success from that distance this season. That’s third in 3-point shooting percentage and 10th in 3s made per game this season.

Winner: Darvin Ham and Taurean Prince

Special shoutout here to Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham and Bucks reserve Taurean Prince. They are now 14-0 in NBA Cup games. Ham was 7-0 as the Los Angeles Lakers’ head coach in 2023 and 7-0 as a Bucks assistant this season. Prince played for the Lakers last season and joined the Bucks for this season.

“We brought our secret weapon,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “Darvin Ham is now an undefeated trainer for two years in this Cup and when I said that, TP, he was like, ‘What about me?’ “

Loser: Thunder’s 3-point shooting

The Thunder were a dismal 5-for-32 (15.2%): 1-for-6 in the first quarter; 0-for-11 in the second quarter; 2-for-7 in the third; and 2-for-8 in the fourth. The Thunder are an OK 3-point shooting team (19th in 3-point percentage), and that area of ​​their game is worth monitoring. A team has to make 3s in today’s NBA, and the Thunder are 12th in made 3s per game. match.

Winner: NBA Cup

Now in its second season, the NBA Cup is showing potential as a major event on the NBA calendar, and momentum is building. Players want to win, and they created compelling games and matchups.

“It’s fun to play in Vegas,” Antetokounmpo said. “This is my second year playing in Vegas. I’ve played a few Summer League games, maybe 10 years ago here in Vegas. The atmosphere is incredible. I think the atmosphere in the game tonight was very, very fun as well .”