The Milwaukee Bucks demand your attention. Milwaukee made its biggest statement yet that a miserable 2-8 start is firmly in the past, defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder, 97-81, in the final of the NBA Cup.
A lot of the conversation entering this game was about the Thunder’s top-ranked defense. Instead, it was the Bucks that put the clamps on in this one. Oklahoma City was restricted to just 31 points in the second half and 53 points in the final three quarters.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has looked like a leading MVP candidate all season but shot just 8-for-24 in this game. As a team the Thunder were just 5-for-32 from 3-point range and shot 33.7 percent from the field.
Meanwhile, Giannis Antetokounmpo further enhanced his MVP credentials with a dominant 26-point, 19-rebound, 10-assist, two-steal, three-block performance that controlled the flow of the entire game and also clinched the NBA Cup MVP award.
As a result, Antetokounmpo is the first player in NBA history to have regular season MVP (x2), Defensive Player of the Year, All-Star MVP and Finals MVP on his resume. He also won the Most Improved Player award in 2016-17.
“It’s great, it’s great for our team,” Antetokounmpo said. “We’re getting better. … We know we’re leaving Vegas as a better team. I’m so proud of this group. Man, I’m so proud of this group.”
Thanasis was HYPED for Giannis' block 😤
📺 NBA Cup final | LIVE on ABC pic.twitter.com/pv7iHhLRxi
— ESPN (@espn) December 18, 2024
Damian Lillard played a solid supporting act with 23 points — including five 3-pointers — four rebounds, and four assists. Brook Lopez had 13 points and nine rebounds while combining with Antetokounmpo to play brilliant interior defense. Credit must also go to Andre Jackson Jr., who had the primary assignment on Gilgeous-Alexander and was very effective in making the Canadian work extremely hard for any kind of space.
Making the Bucks’ win all the more impressive is the fact that three-time All-Star Khris Middleton was ruled out just a couple hours before the game with illness.
The first half was extremely competitive, both teams battling at a high level and the Bucks sneaking a one-point lead into halftime. Milwaukee opened the third quarter with a 13-3 run on the back of some hot outside shooting that included a pair of Lillard triples. Another 9-2 run to open the fourth quarter pushed the lead to 20 and the Thunder never got closer than within 15 from there.
Such was the Bucks’ dominance defensively that despite turning the ball over nine more times (19-10), they conceded just one more point off turnovers. Allowing absolutely nothing inside, it was imperative the Thunder hit shots from the outside but it wasn’t to be. Milwaukee outscored Oklahoma City by 36 points from beyond the arc.
This is the nature of a knockout tournament setting, and the Bucks now stand tall as the second NBA Cup champion in history after the Los Angeles Lakers won last year’s inaugural event.
“We struggled coming out of the gates,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said. “No one here doubted what we can be and who we can be and we just hung in there. We stuck together and this is the byproduct of a team sticking together. But we still have work to do.”
