A dominating performance by Giannis Antetokounmpo on Saturday led the Milwaukee Bucks into the NBA Cup final, where they are to face Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder for the title.
Greek star Antetokounmpo scored 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to spark the Bucks over the Atlanta Hawks 110-102 while Canadian guard Gilgeous-Alexander netted a game-high 32 points to lead the Thunder over Houston 111-96 in the semi-finals at Las Vegas.
The Bucks and Thunder are to meet for the crown in Las Vegas early Wednesday morning Taipei time.
Photo: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images/USA Today
“I just wanted to be aggressive through all the ups and downs, highs and lows, and it paid off,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Hopefully we can do the same thing on Tuesday.”
“If we play defense, we give ourselves a chance every night. We just have to play hard, play together and have fun,” he said.
NBA scoring leader Antetokounmpo also added nine assists, four blocks and a steal while shooting 10-of-15 from the floor and 12-of-18 from the free-throw line.
Photo: AFP
“We got stops. That was the most important thing,” Antetokounmpo said. “They were feeling comfortable, getting to their spots. We were able to disrupt their offense.”
“We were moving the ball, playing team basketball, getting to our spots, knocking down a few shots down the stretch. That’s why we were able to get the win,” he said.
The Bucks also had 25 points from Damian Lillard and 16 more from Brook Lopez while Trae Young led Atlanta with 35 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.
Photo: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images/USA Today
“I didn’t force it, because Giannis was getting downhill early,” Lillard said. “I was moving the ball, they were giving me a lot of attention and guys were getting open looks. I knew eventually I’d get opportunities and they would go in, and they did.”
The Bucks, who made an unbeaten run to last year’s inaugural semi-finals of the in-season tournament before losing to Indiana, were the only team to make a return trip to this year’s last four.
“This was a big game. Redeem ourselves for last year against this great Atlanta team,” Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton said. “It was great. It was a back-and-forth game, but to get a win after a tough tournament and close it out the way we did was great.”
They were inspired by Antetokounmpo and his hunger after last year’s Cup near-miss.
“Enjoy the game, take it a possession at a time and win the game. That’s it,” Antetokounmpo said on what he told his teammates. “If we compete, we’ll win the game.”
After a 2-8 start to the campaign, the Bucks have gone 12-3 since.
“We trust one another. We play together. There’s no more hero ball,” Antetokounmpo said. “In the beginning of the season we tried to do it by ourselves. It had a bad effect on the team. We figured out we have to compete as a team, move the ball as a team, compete together.”
“We’ve changed our season around, but we’ve got to keep going,” he said. “The job is not done so far. We’ve got to keep playing together and hope we get better.”
Two Jalen Johnson dunks late in the third quarter gave the Hawks an 83-82 lead entering the fourth.
The game stayed on a knife’s edge until Antetokounmpo had six points in a 7-1 Bucks run for a 103-96 lead with 3:13 to play.
Young answered with two free throws and a jumper, but Lopez scored to give Milwaukee a 105-100 edge and Lillard’s floater from the free-throw line sealed Atlanta’s fate.
Gilgeous-Alexander shot eight-of-21 from the floor, two-of-six from three-point range, sank 14-of-15 free throws and added eight rebounds, six assists and five steals to spark NBA Western Conference leader Oklahoma City over Houston.
“We stayed with our principles,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We knew we would be able to get enough shots and kick it. We focused on that the whole night to give ourselves a chance and that’s what happened.”
The Rockets led 42-41 at half time, Houston’s defense holding Oklahoma City to its lowest first-half total so far this season.
However, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 12 points in the third quarter and the Thunder matched their largest lead to that point at 75-69 entering the fourth quarter and pulled away at the finish.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS