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 approach 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 night time within the championship sport 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 like 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 Sport 7 of the Finals—you already know, those in June.
When the Bucks traded for Damian Lillard simply earlier than the 2023-24 marketing campaign, it felt like Milwaukee had nearly locked up a spot within the Japanese Convention finals, the place it might possible collide with the Boston Celtics.
Nonetheless, 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 seem like issues had 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 provide Milwaukee followers something to actually cheer about. The duo hasn’t actually proved it could actually truly cling with the very best of the very best, both.
We gained’t discover out if Antetokounmpo, Lillard and the remainder of the Bucks are lower out for the precise postseason till the spring, however Tuesday will no less than give us some concept of how this group appears when the stakes are raised.
An in-season match title doesn’t imply this group is sure for a championship this season, and it truthfully most likely doesn’t even warrant a banner—no less than not one the scale 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 actually 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 very best group within the West a season in the past, however they had 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, however it isn’t almost as pressed for time because the Bucks are on the subject of 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 sport actually does imply one thing. So don’t go and simply shrug off the in-season match.
