LAS VEGAS — The joy was undeniable on the faces of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard as streamers descended on T-Mobile Arena following the Milwaukee Bucks’ NBA Cup victory with a 97-81 win over Oklahoma City. Thunder.
They needed it, not as a dress rehearsal for June, not to complete their resurrection from the NBA’s early doldrums – but for each other and for that brick-by-brick approach they need to take. ‘here April.
But as much as the Bucks needed it, the NBA needed it more, and probably in spades.
It feels like a similar refrain was uttered this time last year, when the Los Angeles Lakers showed they could focus on samples from a game early in the season better than anyone could. wanted, but we already knew most of that.
The teams seemed to understand the concept of an NBA Cup better this time around, and while Tuesday night’s final ultimately won’t make a difference in the overall standings, it was different.
“It was something we wanted to win and just being in something like this, the second year, I feel like teams cared a little more,” Lillard said. “I think the teams played with a little more pride in trying to get to Vegas and having an opportunity to win at the end.”
There was an authenticity in the air, perhaps punctuated by increased physicality and a few harmless technical fouls.
It was… confrontational, but not dangerous.
Or at least it didn’t seem as analytical. It didn’t seem as sterile.
And it’s the biggest win NBA Commissioner Adam Silver could have hoped for, no matter who took center stage in Vegas. Sure, the big American stars would have helped, but they failed to make it here and it’s becoming increasingly unlikely that the usual suspects will be here when we’re in the full playoff bloom in a few months.
There was an irony given that earlier in the day the NBA revealed its latest plans to revamp All-Star weekend, or the Sunday afternoon exhibition game that has become much more of a joke than anyone would not wish it.
Silver admitted as much during a small session with journalists an hour before the Cup final.
“I was wrong about last year,” Silver said. “I thought in Indiana, you know, given that it was sort of considered the heart of basketball and the strong presence of some legends there, guys would turn back the clock a little bit and play a traditional game, and it was it wasn’t meant to be.
What followed was the most embarrassing mid-season showcase, where calling it “mid-season” would have been an extreme compliment. The whispers that followed focused on adding an extra financial incentive — again, the principle that the league should be begging players to play rather than someone intervening among the 24 All-Stars to say, “We must do better.”
Better was on display Tuesday, and while it’s unfair to compare one type of exposure to another, the point remains. The competition here was pure. Even though Oklahoma City’s woes were largely due to wayward shooting (5 of 32 from 3-point range), this team of long, slender competitors chased it down and challenged the more experienced and determined Bucks.
The end result was indicative not of effort but of execution. And again, these results are easier to swallow when the game seems driven more by emotion than a math equation.
Milwaukee clearly won the 3-point game, outscoring the Thunder by 35 points, but the tone was aggressive. Fans can connect with the aggression, and the league can package it and sell it – they’d probably love to bottle that magic potion and spread it, if only to change the narrative that players are indifferent and not serious until Christmas day. as soon as possible.
“I’ve even heard some players talking, and you see, it’s not unique to the NBA, where the analytics are starting to get too controlling,” Silver said. “And create situations where players do seemingly unnatural things because they are asked to do something that is a more efficient shot.
“And part of what we’re also focusing on is that what makes these players so amazing is the joy that they bring to the game and the freestyle notion of the game as well.”
Silver again admitted league misconduct in relying too much on rule-based offense and trying to strike a delicate balance by gradually balancing the scales – fans want to know what they’re seeing is something truly remarkable and difficult while also being amazed by the creativity of the players and the investment of a team united for a common goal.
It is this last point that Oklahoma City has begun to master as it occupies first place in the West rankings for the second year in a row, and should become more recognizable in the coming seasons, a franchise built to last.
It’s the latter that Milwaukee has managed to pull off in recent weeks after a rocky start, and with its headliner duo finding chemistry through repetition, we can see a showdown against the Boston Celtics in a high-stakes playoff series – one that hopefully doesn’t revolve entirely around math.
“We had an advantage, and again, we came here and we heard about the old team and all the young guys (Oklahoma City),” Doc Rivers said. “And we kept talking about our size, and the slower the game gets, the bigger we get.”
That’s the advantage of having a supernova like Antetokounmpo and another giant like veteran Brook Lopez. Presumably they can play different styles, especially when Khris Middleton (absent due to illness) has returned to reasonable strength.
But their great strength is the man who elbows his way to the front of the MVP race, the player unashamed to say how much he wanted this seemingly meaningless distinction simply because it It was a competition he wanted to win.
“It’s the best feeling ever. I just win. Winning feels good,” Antetokounmpo said. “Playing big games is good when you are able to go to the game and execute your game plan, and then the result is exactly what you want.”
Make no mistake, no championships have been won, and if either team disappoints when things get really close, a night out in Las Vegas this December won’t feel like a memory, but a mirage.
However, for one night, Silver was reminded, and all of us too, that beauty doesn’t look so seamless and that it’s never too late to start doing things right.
