Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 26 points, grabbed 18 rebounds, and made 10 assists to help the Milwaukee Bucks win the NBA Cup with a 97-81 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
This victory makes Milwaukee the second team to win the NBA Cup, following the Los Angeles Lakers, who won the first-ever tournament last season.
Damian Lillard also contributed 23 points for the Bucks.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 21 points but struggled with his shooting, making only 8 of 24 shots from the field, including just 2 of 9 from three-point range. Jalen Williams scored 18 points, shooting 8 of 20, while Isaiah Hartenstein added 16 points.
Lillard extended the Bucks’ lead to 11 points with one of his famous long-range three-pointers, making it 9:08 into the third quarter. This came right after back-to-back technical fouls were called on Thunder forward Luguentz Dort and head coach Mike Daigneault, leading to two free throws that Lillard made.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Milwaukee had a 77-64 lead.
Antetokounmpo scored 14 points in the first half, while Lillard added 12, giving the Bucks a 51-50 lead at halftime. Hartenstein led the Thunder with 14 points, making all five of his shots in the half, although he received a technical foul after a confrontation with Bucks guard Andre Jackson Jr.
Neither team could pull ahead by more than five points during the second quarter, and the Bucks outscored the Thunder 24-22.
The Thunder started the game strong with a 16-9 run, forcing the Bucks to take a timeout after 4 1/2 minutes. Lillard responded by scoring seven points during a 13-4 run that gave the Bucks their first lead with 3:26 left in the first quarter.
At the end of the first quarter, Oklahoma City led 28-27, partly because of a go-ahead three-pointer by Gilgeous-Alexander with 1:22 remaining.
The Bucks made 34 out of 81 shots (42 percent) from the field and hit 17 of 40 three-point attempts (42.5 percent). They also out-rebounded the Thunder 52-43 and led by as many as 20 points in the second half.
The Thunder made 29 of 86 shots (33.7 percent) from the field and only 5 of 32 three-point attempts (15.6 percent).
