The Milwaukee Bucks celebrated an NBA Cup title Tuesday in Las Vegas. While they decided against popping champagne bottles, the Bucks stood on a stage as a team as NBA commissioner Adam Silver called them champions, and they lifted a trophy.
Three nights after beating the best team in the Western Conference in the Oklahoma City Thunder, they found themselves in Cleveland on Friday to play the Cavaliers, who currently own the best record in the NBA.
“It’s definitely weird,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “Usually when you hold up a trophy, that’s it. You have your offseason, time to rest, time to be with your family. It’s just weird lifting up a trophy and coming back two days later.
“You cannot really celebrate because in two days, you’re playing the best team in the NBA. It’s definitely weird. But, OK. It is what it is. The season continues. We have 50-something games in front of us. Just gotta keep on improving, keep on being healthy.”
Not only did the Bucks come back to reality with a game against the Cavaliers, but it was the first game of a back-to-back and part of three games in four nights.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers told reporters on Saturday that if anybody reviewed the video of the Bucks’ celebration and saw him talking to Silver, that was footage of him telling the commissioner that if the league is planning on making changes to the NBA Cup, one alteration should be more rest days for the whole league after the finals. That complaint wasn’t in hindsight either, as Rivers and Thunder coach Mark Daigneault complained about their respective schedules before their matchup.
On Friday, the Bucks fell to the Cavaliers in a 124-101 drubbing, where little went right as they fell to 0-3 against the Cavs this season. Saturday night, the Bucks bounced back behind a spectacular effort from Bobby Portis in a 112-101 win over the Washington Wizards. Portis put up 34 points, his highest single-game total as a Buck, and added 10 rebounds and a career-high eight assists.
Aside from Portis’ big performance, these three things stood out during the Bucks’ weekend.
Cavaliers present real problems
The Bucks were not whole for any of their three matchups against the Cavaliers. Khris Middleton missed the first two in November. Antetokounmpo did not play in the second matchup on Nov. 4, and Damian Lillard missed Friday’s matchup. But that does not make the Cavaliers any less impressive.
With the Cavaliers owning a 25-4 record, it’s evident they are good. Yet, it bears repeating there is nothing fluky about their season, and those winning traits will make them a tough team come playoff time.
“They’re definitely one of the best teams in the NBA, and you can see why,” Antetokounmpo said following Friday’s game. “They’re playing together, and they’re playing hard. And they shoot the ball very, very, very, very well.”
In three matchups against the Bucks, the Cavaliers shot 42.6 percent from behind the 3-point line, and they made at least 15 3-pointers in each game. This isn’t just a Bucks-specific problem. The Cavaliers lead the NBA in 3-point percentage at 40.5 percent, and they’re taking 39.4 3s per game, the league’s eighth-highest per game average.
in their first season under coach Kenny Atkinson, the Cavaliers have improved their shot profile and pace, and they now search out high-efficiency looks early in the shot clock.
“They play very, very fast,” Antetokounmpo said. “They space the floor, throw a lot of throw-aheads for 3s. But not only that, they’re making them. There was a play that we scored and they took the ball out and threw the ball ahead, and they scored the 3 in, like, two seconds.”
On top of ruthlessly hunting good looks from behind the arc, the Cavaliers also are a strong defensive team. Cleveland is seventh in defensive rating, holding teams to 109.5 points per 100 possessions. Their defense is built upon their overwhelming size in the frontcourt.
With Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez, the Bucks are going to have the size advantage on most nights, but the Cavaliers can match that size and add length with Jarrett Allen (6-foot-11, 243 pounds) and Evan Mobley (6-11, 215 pounds) as their bigs and Dean Wade (6-9, 228 pounds) at small forward. With so much size on the floor, it is going to be rare for Antetokounmpo to see that many possessions without a stout wall of defenders in front of him, no matter which of the Cavaliers’ three bigs pick him up in transition.
“It’s definitely harder,” Antetokounmpo said of going against the Cavaliers’ defense. “It’s harder for you to get offensive rebounds, second possessions. It’s harder for you to get in the paint and finish. … It is hard for you to drive and kick. So yeah, they definitely make it harder for a lot of teams.”
Life without Damian Lillard
Before their game against the Cavs, the Bucks listed Lillard as out with a right calf strain. Lillard told reporters about irritation he felt in his calf before the NBA Cup final, but he believed he would be able to play through the discomfort Tuesday against Oklahoma City.
Lillard finished Tuesday’s win with 23 points (5-of-10 3-point shooting), four rebounds and four assists and did not mention any discomfort after the game. Rivers, however, told reporters on Friday that the Bucks’ medical team informed him the next day that he would need to sit to get healthier.
The Bucks have not given any sort of timeline on Lillard’s return, as they so often do with their injured players, but Lillard has gotten back on the floor and started working toward a return.
“He could play as early as Chicago on Monday or right after that, so he’s close,” Rivers said before the Wizards’ game. “He worked out (Saturday) and felt pretty good.”
Without Lillard on Friday, Rivers opted against putting a traditional point guard in the starting lineup as the Bucks went the entire first half without playing one.
When asked about Lillard’s absence following the Cavs’ loss, Antetokounmpo shared nearly two consecutive minutes of thoughts. First, Antetokounmpo broke down how the Bucks should approach the minutes at point guard differently than they did Friday night.
“I think we have great guys that can step up in Ryan (Rollins), (Delon Wright), guys that can come in and handle the ball,” Antetokounmpo said. “We definitely need somebody that can handle the ball and make plays and put us in position. Khris is definitely going to help, but he’s not a point guard. At times, he’s going to get the ball and make plays and call sets.
“But you gotta have a point guard that can put us in positions, slow the game down for us sometimes, have the ball down the stretch for us at times. And when we need to play fast, he can speed up the pace for us, just make good decisions overall for us. That’s what Dame does. Not only does he know (how to) score the ball, he puts everybody in position to be successful. We definitely need guys to step up. We have the guys that can step up. I really believe in Ryan; I believe in D-Wright.”
The two-time MVP then explained the importance of Lillard treating his return with patience and serious care.
“The No. 1 thing is for Dame to be healthy,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think when we are a healthy team, we are a totally different team. We are a team to be scared of, but there’s no thought in my head of, “Oh, Dame’s gotta get back quick.” I don’t care if we lose five in a row. I really believe in our abilities. I believe that no matter where we end up in the East, we have a chance to compete while we’re healthy.
“Right now, that’s the opponent I’m fighting, we’re fighting: health. Calf strains are tricky, but time heals every injury, so he’s gotta take his time. We definitely have the talent that can step up and hold it down until he comes back.”
As back spasms forced Antetokounmpo to miss his third game of the season, Rivers changed course and went with a traditional point guard in the starting lineup. Rollins picked up his second career NBA start and put up 14 points, three rebounds and two assists in 31 minutes, while Wright played the other 17 minutes off the bench.
Rollins committed three turnovers Saturday night, but overall, the 22-year-old was solid. He put an exclamation point on the win with a big-time slam in the final minute.
Holy Toledo, Ryan Rollins! pic.twitter.com/FuyvzNnMw6
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 22, 2024
“He’s a very confident player,” Rivers said of Rollins. “(He) can make shots, can really shoot the ball. More athletic — as you saw at the end — than you think, and he’s a terrific defensive player.”
Khris Middleton on a back-to-back
For the first time this season, Middleton started for the Bucks on Saturday. He played a little less than 24 minutes (23:39), the most he’s played in a game this season. He scored 18 points, a season high. He knocked down four 3-pointers, also a season high. He also dished out eight assists, tying his season’s best.
“The best rhythm from Khris,” Rivers added after the game. “Still kept him under 25 (minutes), which was a miracle tonight. At halftime, I think we had used 13 minutes, and I went to (assistant coach) Dave (Joerger) and said, ‘We got a minutes crisis here.’
“But this was the most like Khris that we’ve seen. And on the defensive end, I thought this was the best that he moved. So, I’m sure for Khris’ confidence, a back-to-back — to be able to do that — was pretty big for him.”
Khris is cookin’. pic.twitter.com/RgpdMPz1Dn
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 22, 2024
As he has worked his way back through a variety of injuries over the past couple of seasons, the Bucks have often avoided playing Middleton in both games of back-to-backs. It was a bit of a surprise to see Middleton active for Saturday’s game.
“Going through the course of rehab, coming back and playing and the way that I’ve been responding after games,”Middleton said, “I thought (Saturday) would be a great shot to see what a back-to-back felt like and hopefully move past that stage where I can’t play in back-to-backs anymore.
“I want to be out there as much as I can, and I thought tonight was a great step forward for that.”
(Photo of Khris Middleton: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
