NBA Cup final highlights: Bucks defeat Thunder, win in-season tournament – USA TODAY

Given the style of play in today’s NBA, 3-pointers are a necessity. In Tuesday’s NBA Cup final, the Milwaukee Bucks made them and the Oklahoma City Thunder did not.
It also helps to have two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo on your side.
The Bucks captured the NBA Cup championship with a 97-81 victory against the Thunder, capitalizing on 3-pointers, a triple-double from Antetokounmpo (26 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists) and 23 points from Damian Lillard.
The Bucks outscored the Thunder 51-15 on 3-pointers, with Milwaukee shooting 42.5% from 3 (17-for-40), and the Thunder making just five of their 32 3-point attempts (15.6%). It’s about impossible to win a game in today’s NBA with that discrepancy.
“It’s the best feeling ever, just winning,” Antetokounmpo said. “Winning feels good. 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.”
Brook Lopez had 13 points and nine rebounds, and Gary Trent Jr. also added 13 points off the bench for the Bucks.
While this game does not count in the standings, the Bucks have rebounded from a 2-8 start and have won 13 of their past 16 games.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 21 points but was just 8-for-24 from the field and 2-for-9 on 3s.
Antetokounmpo earned NBA Cup MVP. In six Cup games, he averaged 30.5 points, 10.2 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 2.8 blocks and 1.2 steals and shot 66.7% from the field. 
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s assist late in the fourth quarter gave him a triple-double with 26 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists – plus three blocks and two steals as Milwaukee closed in on the NBA Cup title.
The Thunder need a big fourth-quarter comeback. Milwaukee’s quick 6-2 start to the fourth quarter on 3-pointers by Gary Trent Jr. and Brook Lopez has extended its lead to 83-66 with 10:01 left in the fourth.
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is two assists from a triple-double, and the Bucks are 12 minutes from winning the NBA Cup.
They have a 77-64 lead against Oklahoma City after three quarters as Antetokounmpo has 26 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists, two steals and one block, and teammate Damian Lillard has 20 points. They are the only two Bucks players in double figures, but five other Milwaukee players have at least five points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a team-high 19 points, and Jalen Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein each have 14 points for the Thunder. However, Oklahoma City remains hampered by poor 3-point shooting – just 3-for-24 on 3s and it’s been outscored 33-9 on 3s. It’s hard to win a high-level game shooting 12.5% from deep.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault did not like his team’s start to the third quarter and called a timeout 2 minutes, 6 seconds into the third with the Bucks ahead 59-53. Giannis Antetokounmpo is moving closer to that triple-double: he has 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Damian Lillard is up to 15 points after making a 3-pointer.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard make the Bucks go – and they have Milwaukee halfway to an NBA Cup title. Milwaukee took a 51-50 lead into halftime, buoyed by Antetokounmpo’s 14 points, six rebounds and five assists (triple-double watch) and Lillard’s 12 points, four assists and three rebounds. The Bucks have 14 assists on 19 made field goals – ball movement is leading to good shots.
Oklahoma City was just 1-for-17 on 3-pointers and was outscored by the Bucks 21-3 from that distance. Isaiah Hartenstein has a team-high 14 points for the Thunder. Jalen Williams had 11 points, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 10 for OKC in the first half. Gilgeous-Alexander is just 4-for-13 from the field, including 1-for-5 on 3s.
Milwaukee’s Andre Jackson Jr. and Oklahoma City’s Isaiah Hartenstein were issued technical fouls for a brief altercation that occurred with 1:56 left in the second quarter.
It appeared Jackson gave Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a little shove on a Gilgeous-Alexander field goal attempt. On the next possession, Hartenstein and Jackson exchanged words and had to be separated. After an altercation review by referees, both were given technical fouls. 
Isaiah Hartenstein (12 points), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (10 points) and Jalen Williams (eight points) have combined for 30 points as the Thunder are up 41-37 against the Bucks with 6:15 left in the second quarter. Damian Lillard leads the Bucks with 12 points. Milwaukee has outscored Oklahoma City 21-3 on 3-pointers, but OKC is shooting 69.6% on shots inside the 3-point line while Milwaukee is just 5-for-16 on 2-pointers.
In a first quarter that had six lead changes, the Thunder grabbed a 28-27 lead after the opening 12 minutes. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Isaiah Hartenstein each had 10 points for the Thunder, and Gilgeous-Alexander also had two rebounds and two assists.
The potent 1-2 punch of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard combined for 13 of Milwaukee’s 27 points, and the Bucks went 5-for-9 from 3-point range to stay close.
OKC shot 57.1% from the field (but just 1-for-6 on 3s) in the first quarter, and Milwaukee was 9-for-20 from the field.
Even though the Thunder are 10-for-17 shooting from the field, they are 0-for-4 on 3-pointers. Meanwhile, the Bucks are shooing 46.7% from the field but have made four of their seven 3-pointers and own a 22-20 lead with 3:25 left in the first quarter. Taurean Prince, Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis and Damian Lillard have made 3s for Milwaukee.
Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein, one of the savvy offseason acquisitions, had six points (3-for-3 shooting) and two rebounds in the first three minutes, and teammate Jalen Williams, who is making a case for his first All-Star appearance, has four points, one rebound, one assist, one steal and one block as the Thunder own an early 16-9 lead, forcing a Milwaukee timeout with 7:30 left in the first quarter.
Milwaukee small forward Khris Middleton, who played in his first game this season on Dec. 6, is out with a non-COVID illness.
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo has won two MVPs. Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished second last season to Denver’s Nikola Jokic, who won his third MVP in four seasons.
They are among the leading candidates for the 2024-25 MVP two months into the season, and Antetokounmpo’s Bucks play Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder in the NBA Cup final.
The Bucks are hot after a 2-8 start and have won 12 of their past 15 games, and Antetokounmpo is leading the way. He is the NBA’s top scorer at 32.7 points per game and averages 11.5 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.6 blocks and shoots 61.4%, which would be a career high if he maintains that percentage. If the Bucks continue to win and vault into the top four in the Eastern Conference by season’s end (they are in sixth place right now), Antetokounmpo will have a great case for his third MVP.
Gilgeous-Alexander averages 30.3 points, 6.3 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 1.9 steals and shoots 51% from the field, 34% on 3s and 86.4% on free throws – and the Thunder are atop the West at 20-5. Just two players (Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic) average at least 30 points, 6.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals this season. A 60-win season with those stats might give Gilgeous-Alexander his first MVP.
Here is the NBA Cup prize money for players in 2024: 
The prize money increased because the players and the league agreed on it in the 2023 collective bargaining agreement as it relates to basketball-related income.
Following the first season of the NBA Cup in 2023, according to the CBA, prize money will increase “for each subsequent Salary Cap Year: (A) for each IST Player on the Team that wins the IST Finals Game, an amount equal to $500,000 multiplied by the ‘BRI Growth Factor’ for such Salary Cap Year; (B) for each IST Player on the Team that loses the IST Finals Game, an amount equal to $200,000 multiplied by the BRI Growth Factor for such Salary Cap Year; (C) for each IST Player on a Team that loses an IST Semifinals game, $100,000 multiplied by the BRI Growth Factor for such Salary Cap Year; and (D) for each IST Player on a Team that loses an IST Quarterfinals game, $50,000 multiplied by the BRI Growth Factor for such Salary Cap Year.”
What is BRI growth factor? According to the CBA, “the BRI Growth Factor for a Salary Cap Year is a fraction, the numerator of which is BRI for the immediately preceding Salary Cap Year and the denominator of which is BRI for the 2022-23 Salary Cap Year; provided, however, that the NBA and Players Association may agree to reduce the BRI Growth Factor for one (1) or more Salary Cap Years to a smaller fraction with value of no less than one (1).”
In simpler terms, the prize money is about a 3% increase season over season.
The NBA Cup final tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s NBA Cup final is at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC and can be streamed on Fubo.
Tuesday’s final is being played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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