NBA Cup Final: Why the OKC Thunder Went Home without Their Allowance
Last night, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Milwaukee Bucks battled for the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup Final, an In-Season Tournament that began last year, with the Oklahoma City Thunder falling short 97-81. Before playing each other, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the Quarterfinals, the Houston Rockets in the Semifinals, and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks to advance to the NBA Cup Final. Depending on what source you looked at, both teams were widely betted for and against. The people’s prince, Jeff Teague, made a claim for the Milwaukee Bucks in his Club 520 Podcast, stating that despite strong contenders on both sides, veterans Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard tend to pull off exceptionally impressive performances given a big moment or high stakes, i.e., some extra allowance and a shiny trophy. He proved to be correct, and the Bucks’ players each went home with a sweet allowance of five hundred thousand dollars.
Giannis Antetokounmpo came off with a deep triple-double, racking up 26 points, 10 assists and 19 rebounds. The Oklahoma City Thunder, being a smaller team, struggled to fend off Antetokounmpo, especially in the absence of their star center, Chet Holmgren, due to injury. Isaiah Hartenstein was the only player sized up to defend Antetokounmpo without excessive fouling, and when he was drawn out from the key, mismatches were easy for the Milwaukee Bucks to exploit. All starters for the Milwaukee Bucks had greater than a +10 plus/minus rating, including two of their players off the bench, while all starters for the Oklahoma City Thunder were in the negatives.
Shooting was a clear issue for the Thunder team. The Milwaukee Bucks shot 42% from the field and 42.5% from the three-point line; the Oklahoma City Thunder, on the other hand, shot a lesser 33.7% from the field and a dreadful 15.6% from the three-point line. In other words, the Thunder only made five of their 32 three-point shot attempts, a poor omen for any NBA team attempting to close out a win. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who posted a lower-than-normal stat line of 21 points and two assists, only shot 33% from the field despite shooting 51% from the field throughout the season. As is typically the case with young teams, lack of veteran playoff or NBA Finals experience tends to be a detriment come around playoff time. Although the Oklahoma City Thunder went home without their allowance this time, this pseudo-playoff was sure to be a good experience to prepare the young team for the playoff season to come.
