Bucks silence the Thunder, win NBA Cup

LAS VEGAS: The Milwaukee Bucks continued their perfect streak in the NBA Cup, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder in Tuesday night’s final.

Milwaukee won the second iteration of the in-season tournament, peppering the Thunder with 17 shots from deep on a 43.5 per cent clip, while Oklahoma struggled to find their range.

Unlike the group stage and semi-final games, the finals does not count towards either team’s regular season record, meaning the Bucks remain with 14 wins and 11 losses, while the Thunder continue sit atop the Western Conference throne with 20 wins and five losses.

THE GAME

The first half of the game was closely contested, with nine lead changes. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard had a combined 26 points in the half, while Isaiah Hartenstein was the lead scorer for the Thunder with 14. Shai Gilgeous Alexander and Jalen Williams were the two other players in double digits, as they scored 10 and 11 points for the Thunder respectively.

By the time the second frame ended, Milwaukee had taken the lead, and found a winning strategy. To wit, buckets from deep. They knocked down seven of their 18 attempts in the first half, while the Thunder only managed one of 17.

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Oklahoma’s struggles from beyond the arc continued into the second half, as they missed 11 of their 15 attempts. The Bucks did much better, hitting 10 of their shots from deep on a 54.5 per cent clip.

Giannis and Lillard would score 12 and 11 more points respectively, while Gary Trent Jr. backed them up, scoring four buckets, three of which were from deep, to add another 11 on the scoreboard.

Early in the final frame, Milwaukee led by 20 after Brooke Lopez hit a three from the right wing. The Thunder failed to crawl their way back into the game, continuing to suffer from an abysmal streak of shooting. A floating jump shot from Hartenstein would reduce the deficit to 15.

But, three Milwaukee buckets from deep later, and only a couple jump shots from the men in blue, and the Thunder found themselves down by 20 again, with less than two minutes in the game.

Ajay Mitchell would score one of two free-throws, and Kenrich Williams would hit a consolation three to make the final score, 97-81 for Milwaukee.

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