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Gregg Popovich’s encouraging statement about his health and imminent return to the sidelines made my day yesterday. Check it out.
Bucks and Thunder square off for supremacy
Once upon a Nov. 10, the Bucks were 2-8 and looked completely rudderless. It didn’t matter if Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard were playing well. This team couldn’t win. Then, NBA Cup group play began. Since then, the Bucks have won 12 of their last 15 games and are now 14-11, good for fifth in the East. Meanwhile, the Thunder (20-5), whom the Bucks will meet in the NBA Cup final tonight, have been dominating all season long. Tonight will hint at which of these two trajectories is the most sustainable. (And let’s not forget about that $500,000 prize for each player on the winning team!)
How’d the Bucks get here? Milwaukee went 4-0 in East Group B, securing the victory on the final night of group play by taking down the then-3-0 Pistons. From there, they survived a close call with the Magic to get to Las Vegas. In the semifinal, they beat the Hawks 110-102 to earn a spot in tonight’s game.
How’d the Thunder get here? OKC needed a little help to win West Group B. It went 3-1 but lost to San Antonio in group play. On the final night of it, the Thunder beat Utah, but they needed Phoenix to take down the Spurs in order to advance. Then, they used the best defense in the league to stifle the Mavericks to earn their trip to Vegas, and did it again in the semifinal to beat Houston 111-96.
The Cup work continues 💪 pic.twitter.com/drPyet7nQe
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 17, 2024
Any significant injuries? Looks like Milwaukee is healthy. OKC is still without Chet Holmgren, who is still at least a few weeks away.
What’s the key for Milwaukee? It has become sort of cliche in today’s NBA to paint it this way, but 3-point shooting will be the key. The Bucks make 42 percent of their 3-pointers in wins, but that figure drops to 34.7 percent in losses. Giannis dominating the paint and forcing the Thunder’s defense to leave shooters open will be vital to setting up enough offense to crack this OKC opposition. In their few losses so far, the Thunder have been lit up from 3.
What’s the key for OKC? Transition game. The Thunder score nearly 23 points per game off opponent turnovers. That’s a pretty ridiculous number. On the flip side, they can’t let Giannis get out in transition for easy scores. If the Thunder can get back on defense to stop momentum, and force turnovers to get quick, easy points, they’ll likely blow the Bucks out.
Who is the favorite? The Thunder are -200 to win the game and 4.5-point favorites. The Bucks are +165 to win the game. All odds courtesy of BetMGM.
What are the Cup MVP odds? Also per BetMGM, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the favorite to win NBA Cup MVP at -175. Then, there’s Giannis (+200), Dame (+700) and Jalen Williams (+3500). If you ask anyone on the Thunder, though, don’t be surprised if Williams wins it.
Who benefits the most from winning? The Bucks. I think they need some kind of unifying symbol to show just how good they can be at their peak. It’s essential to them staying on track and bringing the role players up to speed to try to get to a contending level. If the Thunder lose, they won’t have any focus shaken.
Prediction: Thunder by 10. I do think the Bucks have it in them to be much better, even with this turnaround. But OKC has the best defense in the league and is maybe the best overall team.
How to watch: 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC or Fubo (try for free).
How weird is a mid-December trip to Vegas?
🏀 LeBron feeling good. The Lakers (14-12) star’s brief time away seems to have done the job for him. Always use your PTO.
🎤 Amazon delivers. Taylor Rooks will be the lead host of NBA coverage for the streamer. Richard Deitsch with the details.
🎰 Vegas, anyone? Joe Vardon talked to the NBA Cup final teams about the newly coveted random Vegas trip in December. It’s still something for players to adjust to.
Top three, middle three, bottom three
It’s Tuesday! You know what that means: We’re back to sorting through the best and worst teams in the NBA with some good, old-fashioned ranking! But we wouldn’t just leave you with the top-three and bottom-three teams in the NBA. We also give you the controversial middle three — team Nos. 14, 15 and 16. (Here are this week’s NBA Power Rankings from Law Murray, if you want to do a deep dive.)
Top three: Thunder (20-5), Celtics (21-5), Cavaliers (22-4)
While I think the Celtics have the highest ceiling and acknowledge the Cavs have the best record, the Thunder have been the best team in the NBA this season. They have the third-best record among these teams, but their net rating (plus-12.1 per 100 possessions) is more dominant than last season’s Celtics (plus-11.7) and any of those Kevin Durant Warriors teams. Only the 1971 Bucks, 1972 Lakers and 1996 Bulls have been more dominant than this version of the Thunder.
Middle three: Warriors (14-11), Clippers (15-12), Heat (13-11)
It wasn’t that long ago we were using this space to discuss the Warriors as title contenders. Now, we’re wondering how quickly Dennis Schröder can help steady their offense when Steph Curry isn’t out there. Golden State is just 2-8 since its 12-3 start. The Clippers have hit a tough stretch of their schedule and just used the Jazz to end a three-game losing streak. But eight of their next 10 are tough and on the road. The Heat are somewhere in the middle of the league and trying to figure out if the Jimmy Butler era should end before the trade deadline.
Bottom three: Pelicans (5-22), Jazz (5-20), Wizards (3-21)
There is no turnaround for any of these teams. We already knew that about the Wizards and Jazz. (At least Utah has some bright spots, though). Maybe people held out hope New Orleans could get back into this, but it’s not happening. The Pelicans have just missed too many players and are in too deep of a hole to escape. Now, we’re looking at these teams and wondering if they’ll jettison some veteran players to squads with realistic hopes of winning. We might need to change this to top three, middle three and second-to-last trio just to get some new blood in here.
The Kings and Nuggets had a wild game
If you gave up on this game early last night, you messed up. Yes, Sacramento coach Mike Brown called multiple timeouts in the first five minutes of the game because of how badly the Kings (13-14) were getting demolished by the Nuggets (14-10). Yes, Denver was up 41-21 after the first quarter, but the Kings came roaring back. They outscored the Nuggets 82-55 over the next two periods to take a seven-point lead into the fourth quarter. That’s when things ratcheted up to an 11.
Add it to the “Jamal Murray Clutch Buckets” file 🗂 pic.twitter.com/DRNL1eLnVk
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 17, 2024
With the Kings up 117-109 as 4:25 remained in the game, Russell Westbrook missed a 3-point shot. Denver didn’t miss a shot the rest of the game, and the Kings barely missed. This was the action of the final 75 seconds of the contest:
That’s seven lead changes in the final eight possessions, and DeRozan should have made that shot to put Sacramento up by one. It was absurd shot-making by both teams in the clutch – maybe the most fun game of the season. Go find the final five minutes and dive in.
Here’s what else happened last night:
Pistons 125 (11-16), Heat 124 (13-11), (OT): With 5:39 left in regulation, the Pistons led 112-96 and were cruising to a home win. The Heat closed out the quarter on an 18-2 run capped off by a wild Tyler Herro 3-pointer to tie it with 5.1 seconds left. We went to OT, and the Heat were leading 122-114 with 2:14 left. Cade Cunningham then found Tim Hardaway Jr. for three straight 3-pointers to go up 123-122 with 1:10 left. THJ had a horrendous inbound turnover as the Pistons were up by one with 16 seconds left, but the Heat couldn’t score on multiple shots. Cunningham finished with 20 points, 18 assists and 11 rebounds to overcome Jimmy Butler’s 35 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists and four steals.
76ers 121 (8-16), Hornets 108 (7-19): No Joel Embiid (what else is new?) in this one, but Tyrese Maxey lit up the Hornets for 40 points. Paul George had 33 points as the Sixers cruised to an easy win. Philly could use some easy wins.
Bulls 122 (12-15), Raptors 121 (7-20): Chicago weathered a late comeback by Toronto to grab the road win. Nikola Vučević led the way with 24 points. RJ Barrett had 32 points and nine assists for the Raptors.
Cavs 130 (23-4), Nets 101 (10-16): Seven different Cavs scored in double figures, and this one was over early. Cleveland led 72-40 at halftime and never really looked back. Brooklyn might have a lot of these games soon. Hey, Ben Simmons played 31 minutes!
Clippers 144 (15-12), Jazz 107 (5-20): James Harden had 41 points on 11-of-17 shooting in 31 minutes. At one point, with the Clippers up 40 in the fourth quarter, I wondered if they could insert three fans into the game for three minutes and remain up 20.
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(Top photo: David Dow / Getty Images )
