Oklahoma and Miwaukee to Contest Emirates NBA Cup Championship
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 15 Dec 2024
The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Milwaukee Bucks will meet in a sudden death final round game Wednesday, December 18 in Las Vegas for the championship trophy of second NBA in-tournament competition now known as the Emirates NBA Cup.
OKC and Milwaukee emerged as victors in the knockout semifinal round early today beating Houston Rockets, 111-96 and Atlanta Hawks, 110-102 respectively to gain the right to battle for the title.
All four teams had emerged as top survivors of the single round group plays that involved all thirty teams from the Eastern and Western conference of the league that were divided into six groups of five teams each, and the knockout quarterfinal round that followed.
OKC defeated wildcard Dallas and Houston nipped Golden State Warriors while Milwaukee beat New York and Atlanta won over wildcard Orlando Magic in the knockout quarterfinals.
Only Bucks have progressed through the tournament without dropping a single game while OKC had advanced in the group play on the merit of the winner over the other rule This despite the two teams having to contend with injury issues involving key players especially OKC which missed their starting center Chet Holmgren.
But the way their respective campaign in the regular season is going, the Bucks seem to need the championship more than the Thunder because an automatic playoff for the 7th spot in this season's post season awaits the winner as incentive apart of course for some cash for the individual team members.
Milwaukee is in the lower middle pack of the Eastern Conference with a record of 14-11, some seven games off the leading Cleveland Cavaliers. On the other hand, the Thunder are currently towing the Western Conference with a 20-5 record.
The inaugural NBA in-tournament competition was won by the Los Angeles Lakers which beat the Eastern Conference best team, Indiana Pacers. Both LA and Indiana however were bested in the highly competitive group play this year.
The tournament seemed to have jumpstarted the Bucks as Milwaukee started the season with an awful two wins in ten games. However, the single most important factor in the Bucks stirring comeback has been the return to MVP form of star bigman Giannis Antetokoumpo who has been leading the league in points production apart from pulling double figures in rebound plus four blocks per game.
Former Knick center Isaah Hartenstein has been a source of strength for OKC in the absence of Holmgren but he will have his hands full containing Antetokoumpo and the Bucks bevy of bigs including Brooke Lopez and Bobby Portis.
Streak shooting Damien Lillard and Shai Gilgeous Alexander are expected to neutralize one another so it will be up to the others to make the difference.
I think Milwaukee wins it.
I also favor UP to beat La Salle in the third game tonight for the 87th UAAP men's basketball championship. The Maroons have something DLSU sorely needs--- a true court general in JD Cagulangan, ironically a former La Salle Greenie.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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