The Milwaukee Bucks will resume their regular season schedule after defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Cup Final earlier this week. Unlike other NBA Cup games, the Final did not count towards their regular season record, nor did the stats recorded in that game count towards the players’ regular season stats.
These facts have led many fans to conclude that the NBA Cup is meaningless, and the fact that Damian Lillard will not play tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers has generated more discussion around this belief (Lillard is out with a right calf strain).
The players, however, do not feel like the NBA Cup was meaningless. Giannis Antetokounmpo and the other highly-paid veterans stated they wanted to win the Cup so that the lesser-paid players, like center Liam Robbins, could use the $500,000 prize money awarded to each player on the winning team to buy a house.
Still, the Bucks need to avoid the NBA Cup hangover suffered by last year’s champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, something that Bobby Portis is confident they will be able to do.
Milwaukee Bucks Forward Bobby Portis Blasts the Los Angeles Lakers
After the Lakers won the inaugural NBA Cup last season, they proceeded to lose 10 of their next 13 games. At the time of their NBA Cup Championship, they were 14-9. 13 games later, they were 17-19.
As fans may recall, the Lakers had to fight to get into the play-in round of the NBA Playoffs and were handily defeated by the Denver Nuggets in just five games. Darvin Ham was fired as head coach and replaced by former Bucks shooting guard JJ Reddick.
Ham has since joined the coaching staff in Milwaukee and, ironically, remains undefeated in NBA Cup play (as does former Lakers forward Taurean Prince).
After the Bucks won the NBA Cup, perennial Sixth Man of the Year candidate Bobby Portis told reporters why his team will not fall into the same trap that the Lakers did.
“We’re not Hollywood,” Potis said, per Sam Amick of The Athletic. “We have hard-working guys (who are) selfless and who give themselves up for the betterment of the team. It’s not about the points you score. It’s all about winning, being connected.
“Our group is different from their group. We’re just different in that regard of selfless guys that give themselves up. You can’t really compare the two teams — not at all.
“The NBA puts a big tournament in front of you, and you go win that mother f—–. It’s as simple as that. They put something in front of you. You set a goal. You chop wood every day. Carry water. And eventually, you get here and you get a medal around your neck. … And then you get back to work on Thursday, which is what we signed up for. It’s part of the gig.”
There is something to be said about what Portis proclaimed about the Bucks. Despite ESPN purposefully misquoting Giannis after the game, Milwaukee does not view their job as “done.” While winning the in-season tournament was a goal of theirs, it was not the goal.
As such, the Bucks (upon the advice of Ham) did not have a champaign celebration after winning the Cup. Sure, they enjoyed the moment, but it was just that: a moment.
Milwaukee has work left to do. After defeating the Western Conference’s top team in the Thunder in the NBA Cup Finals, they now prepare to face the Eastern Conference’s top seed, the Cavaliers in the first game of a back-to-back, and the first of three games in four days.
Hopefully, Portis is not wrong in his assessment of his team and they do not suffer the post-NBA Cup Finals hangover that the Lakers did.
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