The virescent Milwaukee Bucks will depart from Las Vegas with a lot of green after a convincing 97 – 81 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup. Veteran Giannis Antetokounmpo proved to be a vital cog and added to his professional resume with 26 points (10/19 FG, 6/11 FT), 19 rebounds, and 10 assists to become the 2024 Emirates Cup MVP.
Initially, the contest was far more competitive until the 9-minute mark of the third quarter when a loose ball scrum resulted in technical fouls being assessed to a choleric Luguentz Dort and Head coach Mark Daigneault; however, Dort did have cause for his frustration after Antetokounmpo seemingly rolled on top of his head as Dort had two hands on the basketball. The unfortunate circumstance occurred at a critical juncture in the game because the young Thunder were within striking distance of the Bucks holding a slight advantage of 59-53 until a loss of composure began to derail Oklahoma City.
As the great Oscar Robertson (my late father’s favorite player) sat courtside adjacent to the Bucks’ bench with a veneration of an éminence grise, he appeared to have nodded his approval that it was time for Milwaukee to take over. Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and company obliged with a dominant run that resulted in a 77 – 64 after the third quarter. Unfortunately, the Thunder were unable to respond as they were 4/28 from the three-point line at 8:00 in the fourth; it was good to see a team not to bet the farm on the three for a change, but their inability to connect from downtown forestalled any hopes of a miraculous comeback.
Ultimately, the National Basketball Association’s governance should earn kudos for providing a good postgame trophy presentation at T-Mobile Arena with a reasonable degree of pomp and circumstance for the end of an in-season tournament. Antetokounmpo was more than willing to hold both trophies on behalf of his teammates while his name was called.
Nonetheless, it is challenging to ascertain the overall significance of the Milwaukee Bucks’ achievement in winning the Emirates NBA Cup. The only competition the NBA had that evening was against the National Hockey League with its interesting ten games of good play on the same night. Of course, we should be able to see the viewership numbers soon enough.
The decent level of intensity between the Bucks and Thunder, with their two moments of minor pushing and shoving, does seem to indicate that the players did seem to care enough to provide significant effort until the contest was out of hand. In the future, the essential question is whether basketball fans will care enough about this event to watch between the final weeks of an NFL season and the start of the College Football Playoff. Congratulations to the Milwaukee Bucks!
Tuesday, December 18, 2024