Bucks vs. Thunder NBA Cup Finals: Champions once again!

Giannis and Dame carry Milwaukee to NBA Cup championship

The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 97-81, to win the NBA Cup in a game very few neutral observers saw coming. The story of the night was Giannis Antetokounmpo, who controlled the game from beginning to end, racking up 26 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists, and three blocks. Damian Lillard was also very solid while only attempting 12 shots, ending with 23 points, four assists, and a game-high +15 in 35 minutes of action. For OKC, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander simply could not get anything going, ending the night with 21 points on 8/24 shooting and a team-worst -17. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.

What Did We Learn?

Interestingly, OKC didn’t elect to have Isaiah Hartenstein guard Giannis. I touched on GA’s improved patience when teams try to guard him with wings after the latest Boston game. For the most part, his decision-making was pretty good in that one, but there were still a few possessions where he didn’t quite think it through. This was maybe the most composed game I’ve seen him play. OKC just kept putting wings on Antetokounmpo and loading up around him—stunts, late doubles, paint switches, quasi zones—and he made the right decision damn near every time. The guy just took what the defence gave him and didn’t force anything. He knew that his advantage—and the whole team’s advantage, frankly—was his size, and that OKC was going to give something up due to that size. Giannis just had to be patient and wait for opportunities to materialise.

And then there was Giannis’ defence. Our Morgan Ross and myself were remarking on the Playback stream that although Giannis looked physically exhausted about two thirds of the way through the third quarter, the guy just kept sliding his feet, grabbing rebounds, and altering shots at the rim. Truly just a legendary performance from Antetokounmpo on so many levels. Look at this block after playing the entire quarter: gets a hand to deny the shot, flips his hips and slides, blocks the shot without fouling, and bats it off Caruso. What?

Three Things

Andre Jackson Jr. may have earned himself some money last night.

This game was always going to be the ultimate test for Andre. For all his athleticism and defensive talent, we know Jackson can lack discipline on the defensive end sometimes (although he’s been much improved this season). Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the shiftiest and smartest players in the league. And yes, he has been known to foul grift from time to time. All the signs were there for Andre to get played off the floor under the bright lights and taught a lesson. Lo and behold, Andre stepped up in a major way and the opposite happened. AJax shot 1/6 and 0/4 from deep while being one of the most important players on the floor, a +12 in his 25 minutes. He just hounded Shai without fouling. All. Night. Long. It was beautiful. SGA couldn’t get anything going and was clearly getting tired out by Andre’s relentless pressure and ability to move his feet. Andre would have played more if the fourth quarter unit wasn’t killing it as much is they were. This was the type of performance that gives Doc and the coaching staff confidence in handing him 25-30 minutes in a playoff game.

It wasn’t just luck that OKC missed a bunch of threes.

This was an interesting game because OKC’s defence stood up. They own the top defensive rating in the NBA, giving up 103.1 points per contest, and the Bucks scored 97. It was their offence that sputtered. As was mentioned in the rapid recap, the Thunder shot horribly from three. And yes, a decent portion of that is because of an off-shooting night. But the Bucks 1) made them shoot tough shots and 2) helped off the right guys, I thought. Shai went 2/9 and began to resort to pull-up threes at speed due to Andre’s presence. Alex Caruso shot two; he’s at 26% this season. Kenrich Williams, and Ajay Mitchell shot a combined six threes. Both players are, like AJax, shooting around 40% but on pretty low volume, thus making them unproven shooters. Lue Dort, although he is shooting well this season on good volume, is not what you would call a knockdown shooter; he went 0/4. Even Isaiah Joe’s attempts were mostly well contested and many of them were taken off the dribble; he shot 1/6. So yes, it was an outlier shooting game to some degree, but that shouldn’t discount the Bucks’ defensive gameplan and effort.

The Others showed up yet again in Middleton’s absence.

Although Bobby was not all that impactful, the quartet of Brook Lopez, Taurean Prince, Gary Trent Jr. and AJ Green went 11/22 on threes. You’re never going to fully replace Khris Middleton’s playmaking and shot-making, but I thought those guys, especially AJ Green, did a great job of shooting when they were open and making the next play when Giannis or Dame got the Thunder defence into rotation. Add Lillard’s 23 points, and that was enough to gut it out.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• Giannis was voted unanimously as the NBA Cup MVP.
• Taurean Prince and Darvin Ham have still never lost an NBA Cup game.
• Pat Connaughton got dusted off last night. Ran his trusty DHO going right a few times. Nice.
• Chet Holmgren would have been very valuable for OKC in this game to combat the twin towers of Giannis and Brook in the paint. Alas.
• Ryan Rollins got no minutes again, even in garbage time. That shoulder surgery might be coming soon.

Up Next

The Bucks will resume regular season play against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night at 6:30 PM CST. Watch the game on NBA TV and FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.

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