LAS VEGAS — Giannis Antetokounmpo tallied 30 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA Cup final with a 110-102 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.
Damian Lillard added 25 points for the Bucks, making 8 of 21 attempts from the field and 5 of his 14 attempts from three. Trae Young led the Hawks with 35 points and 10 assists on 9-of-18 shooting. Young fell three rebounds short of a triple-double with seven, all of which came in the first half.
Milwaukee will face either the Oklahoma Thunder or Houston Rockets in Tuesday’s title game.
The Bucks outscored the Hawks 28-19 in a highly defensive fourth quarter to secure their trip to the final after losing an eight-point lead in the third. Antetokoumpo scored 10 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter to push the Bucks over the hump.
Young scored 14 points in the third quarter, helping the Hawks erase Milwaukee’s lead. Onyeka Okungwu buried a 3-pointer to tie the game at 78 and the Hawks regained an 80-78 lead on a Jalen Johnson dunk with 32.6 seconds remaining in the quarter. However, Johnson was awarded a technical foul for his response to the basket and Lillard went to the line for a free throw that trimmed Atlanta’s lead to 80-79. Johnson, who was fouled, then made his free throw.
Lillard promptly put the Bucks back ahead 82-81 on their next possession, draining a 3-pointer with 15 seconds remaining in the third. Johnson made up for his transgression and put the Hawks ahead 83-82 with a tip-in in the quarter’s closing seconds.
The Hawks led 28-26 after the first quarter, but Milwaukee outscored them by eight points in the second quarter to take a 55-49 lead to halftime. Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 14 points in the first half, shooting 5-of-8 from the field while scoring seven points in each of the first two quarters. Young led the Hawks with 12 points in the first half and was already nearing a triple-double at halftime with seven rebounds and seven assists.
Milwaukee shot 39-of-86 (45.3 percent) from the field for the game, making 14 of its 45 attempts from 3-point range. They outscored the Hawks 22-15 in fast-break points and had a 47-44 outrebounding edge. Atlanta shot 42.7, making 10-of-24 attempts from beyond the arc.
Thunder pull away from Rockets, secure spot in NBA Cup final
LAS VEGAS — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Oklahoma City Thunder clinched a berth in the NBA Cup final with a 111-96 win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.
Oklahoma City will attempt to secure the in-season tournament crown against the Milwaukee Bucks in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Isaiah Hartenstein added 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting to go along with eight rebounds for the Thunder, while Jalen Williams supplied 20 points, five boards and five assists.
Houston was within two, 68-66, after Dillon Brooks converted a layup with 2:12 to go in the third quarter. Oklahoma City extended its lead to 75-69 by the end of the frame, though, then took over in the fourth.
The Thunder went on a 17-10 run over the first 5:59 of the final period, going up 92-79 when Williams pulled up for a jumper. Fred VanVleet eventually had the Rockets’ deficit down to 101-93 after drilling a 3-pointer with 2:13 to go, but Oklahoma City answered with the next eight points to put the game away.
Amen Thompson came off the bench to post a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds for Houston, which also got 14 points apiece from Brooks and Jabari Smith Jr. Alperen Sengun chipped in 13 points, but VanVleet was held to eight and went just 3-for-15 from the floor.
A sloppy first half in which neither team shot above 34 percent from the field ended with the Rockets ahead 42-41. Houston was up by six before Gilgeous-Alexander scored the final five points of the second quarter.
The first-half struggles started in the first quarter, when Oklahoma City made 7 of 23 shots (30.4 percent) and the Rockets made 6 of 24 (25 percent). Houston grabbed a 16-9 lead just over 8 1/2 minutes into the game and had a 20-18 edge after 12 minutes of action.
For the game, the Thunder outshot the Rockets 45 percent to 36.5 percent overall.