Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the Bucks to a win over the Thunder in the NBA Cup final

With a 97-81 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA Cup championship with 26 points, 19 rebounds, and 10 assists.

After the Los Angeles Lakers won the Cup in the first round last season, Milwaukee is now the second Cup winner.
For the Bucks, Damian Lillard contributed 23 points.

Despite shooting just 8 for 24 from the field, including 2 of 9 from 3-point range, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 21 points. Isaiah Hartenstein contributed 16 points, and Jalen Williams contributed 18 points on 8 of 20 shots.

With 9:08 left in the third quarter, Lillard made one of his trademark long-range 3-pointers to give the Bucks an 11-point advantage. Lillard made the basket right after Thunder player Luguentz Dort and coach Mike Daigneault were both given consecutive technical fouls, which resulted in two free throws.

Milwaukee entered the fourth session with a 77-64 advantage.

Milwaukee led 51-50 at the half thanks to 14 points from Antetokounmpo and 12 from Lillard. In spite of receiving a technical foul following a confrontation with Bucks guard Andre Jackson Jr., Hartenstein led the Thunder with 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the half. In the second quarter, the Bucks outscored the Thunder 24–22, and neither team was able to increase their lead to more than five points.

The Bucks were forced to call a timeout after 4 1/2 minutes of play after the Thunder went on a 16-9 run to start the game. With 3:26 left in the first quarter, the Bucks seized their first lead thanks to a quick response from Lillard, who scored seven points during a 13–4 run.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s game-winning 3-pointer with 1:22 remaining in the quarter helped Oklahoma City maintain a 28-27 lead going into the second quarter.

Milwaukee shot 17 of 40 (32.5 percent) from 3-point range and made 34 of its 81 field goals (42 percent) for the game. The Bucks led by 20 points in the second half and outscored Oklahoma City 52–43.

The Thunder only made 5 of 32 long-range attempts (15.6 percent), but they shot 29 of 86 (33.7 percent) from the field.