NBA Cup champions Milwaukee Bucks set to face league-best Cleveland Cavaliers
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Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the NBA Cup against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
PHOTO: REUTERS
CLEVELAND – Fresh from hoisting the NBA (National Basketball Association) Cup, the Milwaukee Bucks are set to re-emerge on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec 20 (Dec 21, Singapore time).
The Bucks spent much of the past week in Las Vegas, defeating the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA Cup semi-finals before beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 97-81 on Dec 17 to secure the second-ever NBA Cup.
Giannis Antetokounmpo earned Most Valuable Player honours with a triple-double of 26 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists in the championship game. Damian Lillard added 23 points for Milwaukee.
“It’s great for our team. We’re playing good basketball, we trust in one another,” Antetokounmpo said, looking forward to the games ahead.
“I’m so proud of this group. Most importantly, we were competing defensively. Job’s not done. We have a lot of basketball in front of us.”
Next up will be Cleveland, who have been off since Dec 16, when they dominated the Brooklyn Nets 130-101 in New York.
The victory was a team effort for the Cavs, with seven players scoring at least 11 points, led by Evan Mobley’s 21.
The only negative was a shoulder injury to forward Isaac Okoro that will keep him out for at least two weeks.
“Sometimes with all the three-point shooting in this league, you forget all the activity you need to contest,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said, regarding his defence bouncing back from some struggles.
“I think we got back to turning teams over, that was a point of emphasis, getting more physical.”
Antetokounmpo leads the NBA with 32.7 points per game, while also leading Milwaukee with 11.5 rebounds. Lillard has a team-high 7.5 assists per game.
Donovan Mitchell leads Cleveland with 23.3 points and 1.6 steals per game. Darius Garland is not far behind at 20.3 points and leads the team with 6.5 assists per game.
On the injury front, Milwaukee were without Khris Middleton against the Thunder due to illness and not the ankle injury that delayed his start to this NBA season.
Cleveland’s injury report is busier. In addition to Okoro, Craig Porter Jr (ankle sprain), Jaylon Tyson (illness) and Max Strus (ankle) all missed the Nets game.
The Cavs have won three games in a row over Milwaukee dating back to last season.
The teams played back-to-back games on Nov 2 and 4, with those games decided by one and two points respectively. Antetokounmpo did not play in the second game.
Lillard scored 41 and 36 points in the two games respectively to keep Milwaukee in those contests. The losses were the final two in the Bucks’ six-game losing streak early in the season that followed their opening-night win.
The four-game season series between the teams has been split the last two seasons.
During their NBA-best start, the Cavs lead the NBA in offensive rating (120.6) and are ninth defensively (110.3). Cleveland also lead the NBA in field-goal percentage (50.4) and three-point percentage (39.9).
Milwaukee can score too. The Bucks have moved up to third in the league in three-point percentage (38.9) and lead the NBA in that category over the last 15 games (40.9). REUTERS
