Joe Wolfond

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The Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Houston Rockets are in Las Vegas ready to duke it out for the second annual NBA Cup.

When Brook Lopez arrived in the summer of 2018, he helped transform the Milwaukee Bucks and proved to be the perfect frontcourt companion for Giannis Antetokounmpo. At one end of the floor, the two formed the bedrock of the best defenses in basketball, a pair of gigantic watchdogs prowling the paint and safeguarding the rim in their own unique ways. At the other end, Lopez's newfound role as a stretch-five opened up the court for Antetokounmpo's devastating rim runs.The Bucks strayed from their longstanding defensive identity last season following their offseason trade of Jrue Holiday for Damian Lillard, slipping to 19th after several years of top-five finishes. They looked old, slow, and disorganized. And the first three weeks of this season brought more of the same; the Bucks lost eight of their first 10 games while running the league's eighth-worst defense.That start feels like a distant memory now that the Bucks have won 13 of their last 16 games and leapt up to 13th in defensive efficiency. The most recent of those wins didn't even register in the standings, but it was easily the most impressive of the bunch - a 97-81 beatdown of the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Cup final, with Khris Middleton in street clothes. And while contributions came from all over the roster - Lillard was awesome, Andre Jackson Jr. hounded Shai Gilgeous-Alexander up and down the floor, Gary Trent Jr. and AJ Green made timely shots and battled on defense - the standout performances came from the frontcourt tandem that's been bludgeoning opponents for the last seven seasons.With Chet Holmgren on the shelf, the Thunder didn't have the size to match up with Lopez and Antetokounmpo. They stuck center Isaiah Hartenstein on Lopez and used a rotating cast of wings - mostly Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, and Alex Caruso - to check Giannis. The Bucks responded by initiating a lot of their offense through him in the post. He went right through those smaller defenders for layups or free throws, and when the Thunder doubled him, he took advantage with some very sharp passing.Antetokounmpo finished with 10 assists, and that doesn't account for the hockey assists he picked up with post skips to the weak side, like the one that got Lillard a dagger three off a Trent swing in the fourth quarter. OKC built a wall against him in transition, but he did a great job countering that, too, including tossing a slick live-dribble feed to Bobby Portis for a trail three in the first. The Thunder basically had no answer for Giannis at either end, and watching them struggle to come up with one was a strange sensation because they usually have an answer for everything. You could see how the threat of his interior scoring sowed panic and threw OKC's defense out of its usually crisp help-and-rotate patterns. Here, for example, Gilgeous-Alexander and Hartenstein saw the post mismatch and decided to help at the same time, leading to an accidental triple-team that gifted Lopez an easy score: Your browser does not support the video tag. ESPNThat was one of two layups Lopez got by throwing the post entry to Giannis and cutting from the top, and Giannis got a lob finish of his own when the two ran a similar action with roles reversed on the other side of the floor. Whether it was Blind Pig, 4-5 pick-and-roll, or basic high-low passing, their big-to-big synergy was on point. Lopez also shot 3-for-6 from long range and buried a pair of deep triples in quick succession to effectively put the game out of reach with Antetokounmpo on the bench to start the fourth.It was at the defensive end, though, that the two of them truly took over. The Thunder being completely unable to hit a three was the biggest hindrance to their offense, but they were also forced to rely on jump-shooting because they couldn't get anything at the rim with Antetokounmpo and Lopez patrolling the back line. They attempted just 18 shots in the restricted area (compared to 34 non-rim 2-pointers) and made just 10 of them.They also only got up 32 threes (compared to their season average of 40) because Milwaukee's perimeter defenders could press up and guide OKC's ball-handlers into the bear trap waiting for them inside. On a mid-range-heavy diet, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with just 21 points and two assists on 29 total used possessions. Williams finished with 18 and three on 23 possessions. The Thunder scored 31 points in the second half.At 36 years old, playing alongside an all-time great defender, and playing against one of the best defensive teams in NBA history, Lopez still managed to be the most impactful defender on the floor. When he wasn't swallowing up drivers in his typical deep-drop coverage, he was mixing things up with hard shows and even the occasional switch, proving plenty capable of hanging with OKC's guards: Milwaukee having Brook Lopez switch pick and roll in the second half. One of my favorite subplots of this season is Brook switching, seeing the drive and immediately spinning to get to the rim. pic.twitter/9vIUDCCEyB— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) December 18, 2024 This play was subtler, but it was an incredible on-the-fly read from Lopez. He anticipated Gilgeous-Alexander's back cut against the top lock and swooped down to cut him off, forcing a mid-range miss on a play that probably creates a layup attempt nine times out of 10: Your browser does not support the video tag. ESPNMost of the Thunder's pick-and-rolls were guard-guard actions designed to attack Trent or Lillard, but the Bucks survived those because of the help they got from their bigs on the back side.Giannis spent the game guarding Caruso and Dort, and that allowed him to roam to his heart's content, mucking up drives and rim-rolls at every turn: ESPN ESPNHe also spent the game making second-effort plays like this. And this: Giannis SWAT. ❌He's doing it all right now as the Bucks take a 13-point lead into the 4th...🏆 #EmiratesNBACup Championship📺 MIL/OKC on ABC pic.twitter/2uAOfN0sd6— NBA (@NBA) December 18, 2024 Sheesh. He tacked on a couple more emphatic blocks for fun late in the fourth, as Milwaukee comfortably closed things out and won the second annual Cup. Giannis finished with a 26-point, 19-rebound triple-double that included five stocks. And he served notice (if his play over the last month hadn't already) that Nikola Jokic has company in the early MVP race.The victory, eye-opening as it might've been, doesn't erase the many genuine concerns about the Bucks' ability to meaningfully contend for the real prize this season. But when you see what their starting frontcourt is still capable of, and what they just did to a team that has a strong claim to being the best in the NBA, it's hard not to feel a tinge of optimism. If the two of them can keep playing (and especially defending) at this level, anything feels possible. Even for this aging, oft-shambolic team that's liable to leak oil on the perimeter.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.