The Athletic NBA Daily
Bucks & Thunder square up for the NBA Cup | Shai or Giannis for MVP?
17 Dec 2024
The Oklahoma City Thunder and Milwaukee Bucks will face off in the NBA Cup Championship game. Dave DuFour, Es Baraheni, and Eric Nehm discuss the Bucks recent success, their approach to the Cup, and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s MVP caliber season to this point. Then, Dave, Zena Keita, and Andrew Schlecht flip to the Thunder’s side of the matchup, their claim to the “best defense ever”, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP presence.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Zena Keita, Es Baraheni, Eric Nehm, Andrew SchlechtExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson MoodySubmit your questions to The Athletic NBA Daily mailbag: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5939460/2024/11/25/nba-podcast-mailbag-athletic-daily/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Full Episode
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for December 17th, 2024. Coming up, it's NBA Cup Championship Day, so we're doing a big preview show. We got Eric Name on to talk about the Bucs and his big piece on Giannis Antetokounmpo and his MVP push. And then in the B Block, we've got Andrew Select to talk about the Thunder and what's happening with that team after the Cup. Good morning, everybody.
Good morning, S. Good morning, Eric. Although, full disclosure, this is afternoon the day before because it's how podcasting works. I've got Vegas voice, guys. I haven't been out particularly late. It's just the air is very dry. It's been cold for the first time. S, I'm used to sweating when I'm walking around outside. I forgot a coat the other day.
big mistake huge mistake eric um how is the weather here treating you compared to milwaukee uh it was five degrees when i left milwaukee so um it's it's nice it's it's very nice here um but also i i've lived groundhog day enough days i somehow just keep waking up in vegas and i'm i'm not gonna leave for another couple days so i would love to be done with that
Yeah, well, look, man, the cup means more, and the Bucs, they look like they want to win it. I mean, the game the other night, it started out, Giannis had so much energy, so much. I mean, he really was almost too fired up. I was worried he was going to run out of gas, and we saw that a little bit in the third quarter when the Hawks made that run. But looking ahead to the game tonight,
It's a freebie. You know, this is a championship game, but it doesn't count toward either team's record. And for the Bucs, it's a measuring stick game. The Oklahoma City Thunder have been the best team in the West all year long. They look like the finals favorite from the West.
And potentially, you know, if you were going to name two or three teams that might beat the Celtics, they're on that list. So if you're the Bucs, I'm assuming, you know, this game matters probably a great deal to your own internal perspective.
Yeah, it was funny. I had asked Doc Rivers earlier today, just like, do you feel like you guys need a signature win? And I know that's kind of like a made-up idea, but it's interesting because they've won 12-15, they're playing great basketball, they're top 10 on both sides of the floor during that time, and... they just haven't had one of those wins.
Like they, they haven't been able to, and that's probably unfair to the Houston Rockets who are a great team. The Bucks beat the Houston Rockets and did that. They beat the Hawks as well. But if we're talking like signature win, like they've lost to the Celtics, they've lost to the Cavs. Like the moments that they could have had those, they haven't.
And I think that's one of the things that's kind of exciting about this for them is that, you know, this is an unscheduled game that they had no idea. And they, Maybe they can do it. And if they can do it, then they go to Cleveland on Friday. And maybe all of a sudden it is the Bucs are back contender edition. Like not just like, oh, they're back over 500. Like they are real contenders.
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