LAS VEGAS — The joy was undeniable on the faces of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, as the streamers came from the heavens of T-Mobile Arena in the aftermath of the Milwaukee Bucks clinching the NBA Cup with a 97-81 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
They needed it, not as a dress rehearsal for June, not to complete their resurrection from the NBA’s early doldrums — but for each other and this brick-by-brick approach they have to take between now and April.
But for as much as the Bucks needed this, the NBA needed it more, and probably in spades.
It feels like a similar refrain was uttered this time last year, when the Los Angeles Lakers showed they could concentrate in one-game sample sizes early in the season better than anyone cared to, but we largely already knew that.
Teams seemed to understand the concept of an NBA Cup better this time around, and even if Tuesday night’s final ultimately won’t make a dent in the overall standings, it felt different.
“It was something we wanted to win and just being in something like this, the second year, I feel that teams cared about it a little bit more,” Lillard said. “I think teams played with a little bit more pride about trying to reach Vegas and having an opportunity to win at the end.”
There was an authenticity in the air, perhaps punctuated by increased physicality and some harmless technical fouls.
It felt … confrontational, but not dangerous.
Or at the very least, it didn’t feel as analytical. It didn’t feel as sterile.
And that’s the biggest win NBA commissioner Adam Silver could’ve hoped for, regardless of who was taking center stage in Vegas. Sure, the big American stars would’ve helped, but they didn’t make it here and it’s becoming increasingly unlikely the usual suspects will be around when we are in full bloom of the playoffs in a few months.
There was an irony given that earlier in the day, the NBA unveiled its latest plans to revamp All-Star weekend, or the showcase game on Sunday afternoon that has become far more of a joke than anyone wishes it is.
Silver admitted as much in a small session with reporters an hour before the Cup final.
“I was wrong about last year,” Silver said. “I thought in Indiana that, you know, given the sort of the fact it was sort of viewed as the heartland of basketball and strong presence from some legends there, that the guys would roll the clock back a bit and play a traditional game, and it wasn’t meant to be.”
What ensued was the most embarrassing midseason showcase, where calling it “mid” would’ve been an extreme compliment. The whispers in the aftermath centered around perhaps adding more of a financial incentive — again, the premise of the league having to beg the players to play as opposed to someone stepping in among the 24 stars to say “we have to do better”.
Better was on display Tuesday, and although it’s unfair to compare one type of exhibition to another, the point stands. The competition here, was pure. Even though Oklahoma City’s misfortunes laid largely at the feet of wayward shooting (five of 32 from 3-point range), that team of long, rangy competitors went after it and challenged the more experienced, more determined Bucks.
The final spread wasn’t indicative of effort but of execution. And again, these results are easier to swallow when the game feels guided more by emotion than a math equation.
Milwaukee clearly won the 3-point game, outscoring the Thunder by 35 points, but the tone was aggressive. Fans can connect to aggression, and the league can package that and sell it — they’d probably love to bottle that magic potion and spread it around, if for no other reason than to change the narrative, that players are uncaring and unserious until Christmas Day at the earliest.
“I’ve even heard from some players, and you see this, it’s not unique to the NBA, where analytics start to be too controlling,” Silver said. “And create situations where players are doing seemingly unnatural things because they’re being directed to do something that is a more efficient shot.
“And part of what we’re focusing on, too, is that what makes these players so incredible is the joy they bring to playing the game and the freestyle notion of the game too.”
Silver again admitted a fault of the league in leaning too much into offense by way of the rules and trying to walk a delicate balance of gradually balancing the scales — fans want to know what they’re seeing is something truly remarkable and difficult while also being amazed at the creativity of players and the investment of a team coming together for a common goal.
The latter is what Oklahoma City has begun to master as they sit atop the West standings for the second straight year, and stand to be more recognizable over the next few seasons, a franchise built to last.
The latter is what Milwaukee has been able to pull off over the last several weeks following a rough start, and with their headlining duo finding chemistry through repetition, we can see a showdown against the Boston Celtics in a high-stakes playoff series — one that hopefully, doesn’t fully revolve around math.
“One advantage we had, and again, we came in here and we heard about the old team and all the young guys (Oklahoma City),” Doc Rivers said. “And we just kept talking about our size, and as the slower the game gets, the bigger we get.”
That’s the advantage of having a supernova like Antetokounmpo, and another giant in veteran Brook Lopez. Presumably, they can play different styles, especially then Khris Middleton (out with illness) is back to reasonable strength.
But their big strength is the man who’s elbowing his way to the front of the MVP race at the elbows, the player unashamed to say how much he wanted this seemingly meaningless accolade just because it was a competition he wanted to win.
“It’s the best feeling ever. Just winning. Winning feels good,” Antetokounmpo said. “Playing big games, feels good when you’re able to come to the game and execute your game plan, and then the outcome is exactly what you want it to be.”
Make no mistake, there was no championship won, and if either team underwhelms when things really get tight a Las Vegas night in December won’t feel like a memory, but a mirage.
For a night, though, Silver was reminded, and so were the rest of us, that beauty doesn’t look and feel so homogenous and it’s never too late to start getting it right.
