LAS VEGAS — This would have been a measuring stick game for both teams if it had just been a random Tuesday during the regular season. Milwaukee comes in having won 10-of-12, but much of that came against a soft schedule; how will the Bucks fair against one of the NBA’s best? For the Thunder, the last time they saw the Bucks (in March) was a wake-up call.
“We played them late in the year last year on the road and they really took it to us, and it was a great game for us,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of the night where Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points and 19 boards. “Because we had been having a great season to that point, and we ran up against a team that was really ready to take it to us, and they did. Physically mauled us. Played with more edge that night. It was good — it was like water in the face for us.”
Have the Thunder learned their lesson from that game? Will Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continue to make his MVP case, this time on a bigger stage?
Now throw in the motivation of winning the NBA Cup — and the half-million each that goes to players on the victorious team — and you get one of the best games of the regular season.
The NBA Cup Championship Game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Oklahoma City Thunder takes place in Las Vegas on Tuesday night (8:30 ET on ABC).
Here are three things to watch for that will decide the NBA Cup.
Pace
Whichever team controls the pace, whichever team gets to play on its terms, will win this game.
The teams play very different defensive styles. The Thunder are an aggressive ball-pressure defensive team that leads the league in steals, averaging 12.2 per game. They also lead the league in deflections (they can be more aggressive with Isaiah Hartenstein as a backstop to clean things up in the paint). The strategy is simple: Be aggressive, be physical, force turnovers, and then get out and run.
The Thunder are fourth in the league in percentage of possessions that start in transition, the Bucks are 24th.
Milwaukee plays a deep drop defense, with Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo protecting the rim — and that works.
Milwaukee wants to slow this game down and play it…
..
