The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Milwaukee Bucks will meet next Tuesday in the final of the second edition of the NBA. They will do it in Las Vegas and both will compete to see who succeeds the Los Angeles Lakers as the first winners of this tournament.
For their part, the Thunder were able to beat the Houston Rockets this Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and beat them 111-96 to fly to the NBA Cup final. They were led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, protagonist with 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals.
For the Thunder, who are still without an injured Chet Holmgren, Luguentz Dort shined with 19 points, nine rebounds and five key three-pointers for OKC to step on the accelerator in the second half.
Gilgeous-Alexander was the protagonist of the Thunder with 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals
The Rockets said goodbye to the NBA Cup on a night in which they did not exceed 36.5% shooting from the field. Amen Thompson was their leading scorer with 19 points off the bench. Six Texans players, coached by Ime Udoka, finished in double figures, but that was not enough to contain the Thunder’s talent.
The Turkish center Alperen Sengun, despite his double double of thirteen points and eleven rebounds, failed to be dominant as he had shown in his recent performances. Nine of his thirteen points came in the fourth quarter. Dillon Brooks scored fourteen points, grabbed five rebounds and hit four three-pointers.
It was a clash between two brilliant defenses and the percentages reflected it in style from the beginning. The scoreboard was 42-41 for the Rockets at halftime. The Texans shot 31% from the field and the Thunder shot 33%. From the arc, the numbers were even lower: 21% for Houston and just 11% for OKC.
The Rockets’ wall, aggressive and focused to deactivate the Thunder, began to break in the third period. OKC scored fifteen points in less than five minutes and Gilgeous-Alexander, with twelve points, and Dort, forceful with three triples, were picking up pace.
The Rockets held on to the game, but the Thunder, with Gilgeous-Alexander directing the operations and Isaiah Hartenstein imposing his power in the paint (10 points in the fourth quarter) accelerated towards the final.
As for the Bucks, the Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo, with a double-double of 32 points and thirteen rebounds, led his team this Saturday to a hard-fought 110-102 victory against the Atlanta Hawks at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to reach the NBA Cup final.
The Bucks needed to work until the end to knock down the in-form Hawks, who gave up despite Trae Young’s 35 points and ten assists. Doc Rivers’ team, which last year had lost against the Indiana Pacers at this point in the tournament, could also count on 25 points, six rebounds and seven assists from Damian Lillard.
Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo stood out for the Bucks, with a double-double of 32 points and thirteen rebounds
Antetokounmpo almost hit the triple double, adding nine assists to his 32 points and thirteen rebounds, with ten of fifteen field goals. The Greek also managed four blocks in his great game.
The Hawks, who had eliminated the New York Knicks in the quarterfinals, fell with honor to the Bucks. Young finished the game with 35 points, seven rebounds and ten assists. His great performance, together with Jalen Johnson’s fifteen points and ten rebounds, excited the Hawks and allowed them to take advantage into the final period.
It was a victory that certified the great moment of Quinn Snyder’s men, who arrived in Las Vegas with six victories in the last seven games played. And the Bucks ran into a confident rival, who did not pay the initial blows despite suffering an initial 0-7 and a 0-12 partial at the opening of the second quarter.
Giannis didn’t take long to enter the game and was already close to a double-double at halftime with fourteen points and eight rebounds. It did cost Lillard a little more. He missed his first five shots and scored his first points with 10:45 left in the second period. But since then, he scored ten and gave four assists to sustain the Bucks’ push.
The initial 12-0 in the second period gave the Bucks a ten-point margin, but the Hawks, with Trae Young already looking at a triple double at halftime (12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists) and with a forceful Bogdan Bogdanovic coming out from the bench, they remained attached to the clash. The score of 49-55 at halftime, considered their 34% accuracy rate in field goals, was satisfactory for Snyder’s men.
And those percentages skyrocketed in the third period, reaching almost 70%, again with Young at the helm. The Hawks leader connected on six of his seven shots and scored fourteen points. An amazing dunk by Jalen Johnson, including a foul, completed Atlanta’s comeback, which entered the final period up 83-82.
Everything was decided in the last twelve minutes and at that moment the Bucks’ superior experience emerged. Even though Young continued to score at a high pace, Antetokounmpo scored ten points and grabbed five key rebounds for Milwaukee to step on the accelerator.
A wonderful jumper with three minutes left made it 103-96 and brought the Bucks closer to victory. Dame Lillard, with another great personal play with 23 seconds left, put the virtual sentence and sent the Bucks to the final.
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