Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 factors and grabbed 14 rebounds on Saturday to spark the Milwaukee Bucks into the NBA Cup ultimate with a 110-102 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. The Greek huge man additionally added 9 assists, 4 blocks and a steal whereas capturing 10-of-15 from the ground and 12-of-18 from the free throw line. Milwaukee will play for the title on Tuesday in Las Vegas in opposition to the winner of Saturday’s later Vegas semi-final between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets.
“We got stops. That was the most important thing,” Antetokounmpo mentioned. “They were feeling comfortable, getting to their spots. We were able to disrupt their offense.
“We had been shifting the ball, enjoying group basketball, attending to our spots, pulling down a couple of pictures down the stretch. That’s why we had been capable of get the win.”
The Bucks also had 25 points from Damian Lillard and 16 more from Brook Lopez while Trae Young led Atlanta with 35 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.
The Bucks, who made an unbeaten run to last year’s inaugural semi-finals of the in-season tournament before losing to Indiana, were the only team to make a return trip to this year’s last four.
They were inspired by NBA scoring leader Antetokounmpo and his hunger after last year’s Cup near miss.
“Enjoy the sport, take it a possession at a time and win the sport. That’s it,” Antetokounmpo said on what he told his teammates. “If we compete, we’ll win the sport.”
After a 2-8 start to the campaign, the Bucks have gone 12-3 since.
“We belief each other. We play collectively. There’s no extra hero ball,” Antetokounmpo said. “In the start of the season we tried to do it by ourselves. It had a nasty impact on the group. We discovered we’ve to compete as a group, transfer the ball as a group, compete collectively.
“We’ve changed our season around but we’ve got to keep going. The job is not done so far. We’ve got to keep playing together and hope we get better.”
Two Jalen Johnson dunks late within the third quarter gave the Hawks an 83-82 lead getting into the fourth. Young scored 14 factors within the third quarter and Lillard netted 11.
The recreation stayed on a knife’s edge into the ultimate minutes however Antetokounmpo had six factors in a 7-1 Bucks run for a 103-96 lead with 3:13 to play.
Young answered with two free throws and a jumper however Brook Lopez scored to present Milwaukee a 105-100 edge and Lillard sank a driving floater from the free throw line for a 107-100 lead with 23 seconds remaining.
The Bucks drained free throws down the stretch to safe the victory.
– Big runs early –
Antetokounmpo scored two fast-break layups in a 7-0 Bucks run to begin the competition however the Hawks answered with the following seven as a part of a 21-9 run to grab the lead.
The Bucks started the second quarter with a 12-0 run for a 38-28 edge and led 55-49 at half-time.
Lillard scored 10 factors within the second quarter whereas Antetokounmpo had 14 factors, eight rebounds and 5 assists within the first half and Young had 12 factors, seven rebounds and 7 assists for the Hawks within the first half.
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