The Bucks Are All The Way Back From The Dead After Blowing Out The Thunder To Win The NBA Cup

Juan Ocampo. Getty Images.

When the Final Four of the Thunder, Bucks, Mavs, and Hawks was officially locked in, the general consensus was that this was OKC's NBA Cup to lose. They were by far the best team of the bunch up until that point of the season, and then once they got past the Mavs and made it to the Final, most (including yours truly) figured it was a foregone conclusion. They were coming from the big bag West and had an MVP candidate and arguably the NBA's deepest roster. No matter who was coming out of the East, they weren't going to stand a chance against that caliber of basketball.

Sound familiar?

Well, just like we saw in the NBA Finals, another team from the East handled the supposed best team in the West to win another banner. Sure this one is made up and technically the game didn't actually count towards anything in terms of stats and record, but if the NBA wants me to believe in its validity then I will. 

I'm a firm believer that any and all competitive reps matter, and while I'm not sure players try "harder" because these are Cup games, I do think there's value in a situation like this Final with "something" on the line. A matchup like OKC vs MIL was a good litmus test for both sides. A fun test to see how either side handled their own issues/questions.

On the OKC side, it was their first chance as a supposed title contender to come through and "win" something. The lights are bright, the hype is there, the expectation is there, how do you respond? Can you answer the call? Based on how we played Tuesday, the lights looked a little too bright. Their biggest concern (a below average offense) was exposed by a team that can't even really defend. The lack of shooting (5-32 from deep) combined with an inefficient SGA showing (8-24, 2-9) reared its ugly head again, similar to what happened to the "others" for the Thunder in their loss to the Mavs last Spring. 

Given how they looked against the Rockets and Bucks, if you're someone who was maybe a little nervous about the Thunder's offensive issues and what that could mean come the postseason, you probably don't feel great. They're an awesome team with a legitimately historic defense, but in 2024 if your goal is to win the title, you have to be able to shoot. 

But the real story here is of course the Bucks. 

The Bucks began the season 2-8 and were largely considered dead. As of now, they sit at 14-11 (+1 win that doesn't count). The thing is, this entire turnaround was mostly comprised of beating the worst teams in the NBA. That's not the Bucks' fault, you never apologize for beating teams you should beat, but the question around them heading into this Final was could they be as successful against a legitimate opponent? Despite their turnaround, the Bucks were still 4-8 against teams .500 or better on the season, so when it came time to beat someone good, they hadn't really shown the ability to do that yet.

That's what a win like this can do for a team like the Bucks. They don't get credit for it in the standings, but it's impossible to just ignore what the hell they just did to the best team in the West. They whooped that ass. Giannis bullied everyone in sight, Dame gave you Dame stuff, the "others" hit their 3s and the team blew doors. At the very least they deserve credit for that. Everyone said they had to prove it against a good team, and they went out and proved it. You can't do much more than that. 

The question now becomes, was this just the Lakers 2.0? A mostly mid team who won the NBA Cup and then fizzled out in the postseason? That's what we're about to find out! There's a big difference between doing something once and then doing that same thing 4 out of 7 times, but you can't really answer playoff questions in December. For a team that started out like dogshit, to stack enough wins to recover in the standings and then have a high-profile win like this is a good thing. It doesn't answer all of their playoff questions, but it certainly shows you the Bucks are officially back from the dead. 

What their ceiling ends up being is what's still unknown, but at the very least we learned that you can't try and beat them by missing every shot you take. The Bucks only scored 97 points and this was largely a blowout. OKC should be embarrassed.

So congratulations to the Bucks, who very clearly respected the Cup. Undefeated the whole way through, enjoy the next 24 hours until the regular season returns and everyone immediately forgets about this.