Bucks celebrity Giannis Antetokounmpo felt like Milwaukee was snubbed when he noticed that the league had left it off the Christmas Day slate.
Antetokounmpo nonetheless discovered a strategy to get on nationwide tv across the holidays, although, because the Bucks are set to face the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder in Las Vegas on Tuesday evening within the championship recreation of the NBA Cup.
Milwaukee went an ideal 4-0 in East Group B play to punch its ticket to the quarterfinals, the place it edged the Orlando Magic 114-109. The Bucks then topped the Atlanta Hawks 110-102 on Saturday, getting 32 factors, 14 rebounds and 9 assists from Antetokounmpo to arrange the date with Oklahoma Metropolis.
Everybody appears to have an opinion on the in-season match. Some hate it, some adore it, and others simply straight up couldn’t care much less about it.
However Milwaukee must be treating its upcoming assembly with the Thunder like Recreation 7 of the Finals—you understand, those in June.
When the Bucks traded for Damian Lillard simply earlier than the 2023-24 marketing campaign, it felt like Milwaukee had just about locked up a spot within the Japanese Convention finals, the place it could probably collide with the Boston Celtics.
Nevertheless, the Bucks by no means actually discovered a groove, with a mid-season teaching change including to the disarray in Milwaukee. As soon as the playoffs rolled round, accidents to each Antetokounmpo and Lillard severely hampered the Bucks, stopping them from getting out of the primary spherical for the second straight season.
It didn’t appear to be issues have been going to get any higher when Milwaukee dropped eight of its first 10 video games this season, however the Bucks are 12-3 since and sit at sixth within the East.
Nonetheless, the Antetokounmpo-Lillard period has but to offer Milwaukee followers something to actually cheer about. The duo hasn’t actually proved it might truly cling with the perfect of the perfect, both.
We received’t discover out if Antetokounmpo, Lillard and the remainder of the Bucks are minimize out for the precise postseason till the spring, however Tuesday will a minimum of give us some thought of how this workforce seems when the stakes are raised.
An in-season match title doesn’t imply this workforce is certain for a championship this season, and it truthfully most likely doesn’t even warrant a banner—a minimum of not one the dimensions of the 2 at present hanging within the rafters of Fiserv Discussion board for Milwaukee’s titles in 1971 and 2021.
What it does present is that the Bucks really are contenders, and don’t be shocked in the event that they use it as a basis for the remainder of the common season.
Oklahoma Metropolis is in the identical boat, simply to a lesser extent. Few tabbed the Thunder as the perfect workforce within the West a season in the past, however they have been, shattering expectations by going 57-25 earlier than coming two wins shy of a visit to the convention finals.
Thanks to twenty wins in its first 25 video games, Oklahoma Metropolis continues to be within the highlight, nevertheless it isn’t almost as pressed for time because the Bucks are relating to successful an NBA championship. The hope for the Thunder is that they are going to be able to go all the best way in two to 3 years, whereas the time to win for Milwaukee is now.
No matter occurs on Tuesday, let’s not overreact, however this recreation actually does imply one thing. So don’t go and simply shrug off the in-season match.