The Milwaukee Bucks continued their dramatic early-season turnaround by capturing the NBA Cup, the league’s in-season tournament, on Tuesday night in Las Vegas with a dominant 97-81 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Western Conference’s top team and owner of the league’s third-best record overall.
In a matchup of the NBA’s oldest team, the Bucks, and the league’s youngest team, the Thunder, it was a determined Milwaukee squad that turned in the more spirited effort in front on a prime-time national network television audience.
CAPTURED THE CUP. pic.twitter.com/X6FLMUN4s4
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 18, 2024
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way with a championship-clinching triple-double performance (26 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists) to earn the Most Valuable Player award based on his performance in both in group play and the knockout rounds.
BUCKS WIN! pic.twitter.com/7I4A2kLXUq
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 18, 2024
Damian Lillard had 23 points, while Brook Lopez and Gary Trent each added 13 for Milwaukee, which went 7-0 in NBA Cup play.
Each member of the Bucks team received a medal and more than $500,000 for winning the NBA Cup.
Bucks royalty was on hand at T-Mobile Arena – Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson, a member of the 1971 Bucks NBA champion squad, and Ray Allen, a fan favorite who spent the first six-plus years of his career with the team – to take in the action.
Leading by a single point (51-50) at halftime, the Bucks broke open the game with a commanding second-half performance, holding the high-scoring Thunder to 14 points in the third quarter and 17 in the fourth to pull away.
A barrage of 3-pointers boosted the Bucks performance against the league’s best defensive team while the Thunder struggled mightily to connect from deep, with Milwaukee connecting on 17 of 40 shots (42.5%) from three-point range while Oklahoma City made just 5 of 32 shots from deep (15.6%).
“It’s great for our team. We’re getting better,” said Antetokounmpo, who added another honor to go with two regular-season MVP awards and the 2021 NBA Finals MVP when he led the Bucks to their first NBA crown in 50 years and just the second in franchise history. “The last 15 games we’ve competed and played team basketball. We trust one another. I’m so proud of this group.”
The NBA Cup championship game featured a matchup of two of the league’s highest-scoring duos. Antetokounmpo and Lillard have combined to average an NBA-best 58.4 points per game, while the Oklahoma City duo of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams stand at 52 points per game.
“We both did not feel 100% but we grind and we knew that we had to do our jobs and that our team needed us,” Antetokounmpo said when asked about his on-court relationship with the sharp-shooting Lillard. “Whenever I need this guy, he’s always there for me and whenever he needs me, I’m always there for him. We’ve got to keep on leading this team. Our chemistry is the best it’s ever been. We have so many important games ahead of us and I’m so excited to have this guy by my side.”
League’s best duo. pic.twitter.com/9iKwuQWEVk
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 18, 2024
Milwaukee’s run to an NBA Cup championship comes as part of a stunning turnaround after the team began the season by losing eight of its first 10 games.
“Having the tough start that we had, the only way out of it was us being together and doing it as a connected group,” Lillard said after the game as his teammates celebrated the victory. “Coming out here tonight knowing that a lot was on the line for our team, how connected were tonight when the stakes were this high was going to be the most important thing.”
The Bucks, who played the NBA Cup championship game without veteran forward Khris Middleton due to illness, were well aware of the chatter around the league after their surprisingly slow start to the season.
“Everybody was talking about us. A lot of criticism,” Lillard said. “We knew who we were coming out of camp, day in and day out in practice. We just had to trust it. We had to look within and come together in the hard times. When you continue to fight and stay together and you push through, you can experience these types of things.”
Bucks coach Doc Rivers said the NBA Cup crown is “the byproduct of a team sticking together.”
“But we’ve still got work to do” Rivers said.
The Bucks have their sights set on the coveted Larry O’Brien trophy, presented to the team that captures the NBA post-season championship. With that in mind, the Bucks had a raucous on-court celebration and were shown on video dancing in the locker room but reportedly chose not to douse each other with champagne in recognition of the longer-term goal.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers told me after talking with Darvin Ham and his experience with Lakers last season, they chose not to celebrate The Cup championship with dousing and drinking of champagne. Want to focus on the remainder of the season. pic.twitter.com/CQ0J0aoeWz
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) December 18, 2024
Tuesday night’s win marked the Bucks 13th in their past 16 games. Milwaukee defeated the Atlanta Hawks in a semifinal game on Saturday night in Las Vegas to reach the championship game.
The Bucks reached the semifinals of the inaugural in-season tournament last year before bowing to the Indiana Pacers, leaving the team with what many players described as “unfinished business” and a desire to bring an NBA Cup title home to Milwaukee this season.
The Bucks join the Los Angeles Lakers as the only champions of the in-season tournament.
