Antetokounmpo has an MVP season
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s NBA Cup Finals opponent, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Denver’s Nikola Jokić have deservedly generated a lot of MVP buzz a quarter of the way through the regular season. But over three days in Las Vegas, Antetokounmpo added to what is already a pretty compelling case to win his third NBA MVP trophy. He put up huge numbers all season, averaging an absurd 32.7 points, 11.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists while recording a triple-double of 19 rebounds. in Tuesday’s finala 97-81 victory over Oklahoma City. But his stat line doesn’t exist in a vacuum; he looks as dominant, if not more, than he ever has. And he’s been lethal from mid-range this year (like Kevin Garnett gave him props for this weekend), which is a significant complement to his near-unstoppable interior game. In Tuesday’s showdown between the MVP favorites, Giannis definitely looked like the best player on the court.
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The elephant in the room
Leaving Las Vegas from Harry Reid International Airport, we find ourselves buying magazines and bottles of water in the middle of a sea of zombies with blank stares, and it still feels like there’s this strange unspoken elephant in the room: it’s a place where almost everyone it’s a hangover, but no one acknowledges it verbally. It was hard not to notice the NBA own There was an elephant in the room in Vegas this weekend: There really isn’t a clear succession plan for the basketball world after LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. The collective gasp from the NBA media machine after Curry’s Warriors were eliminated in the quarterfinals, ensuring that no bona fide, proven needle movers would join the party in Vegas, was palpable. Last year’s inaugural tournament featured James and the Los Angeles Lakers: both have topped the NBA’s popularity rankings for decades. This year I wasn’t so lucky. While all four teams (Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, the Houston Rockets and the Atlanta Hawks) have certainly made for entertaining basketball for die-hard fans, the brutal truth is that no new generation stars, nor Shai Gilgeous-Alexander , nor Antetokounpo, even came close. to reach the popular heights of James or Curry. For reasons perhaps unknown, they just don’t have the juice. The NBA has a problem marketing young stars that seems no closer to being solved than it did a few years ago, and as James, Curry and Durant inch closer and closer to retirement, the problem becomes more and more urgent.
The value of Isaiah Hartenstein
I’m old enough to remember when, just a few months ago, pundits were wringing their hands over Isaiah Hartenstein’s three-year, $87 million contract. If anything has crystallized in recent days in Vegas, it’s that the 26-year-old center (who the Thunder snatched from the clutches of the New York Knicks in free agency) was worth every penny. He’s a prime example of a jack-of-all-trades, master of none: the exact type of hard-playing Swiss Army knife center that the Thunder desperately lacked last season. Despite Oklahoma City’s blowout loss in Tuesday’s finale, Hartenstein had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and looked as good as the Thunder’s second-best player. There is speculation that he will eventually come off the bench when Chet Holmgren, currently sidelined with a hip injury, returns to the lineup. But the Thunder would be wise to think twice, as it has become clear that Hartenstein will play a central role in any success Oklahoma City has in the postseason.
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Amen to Amen Thompson
The Rockets had a bit of a disappointing performance in their first trip to Vegas for the Cup: They were decisively beaten by an Oklahoma City team that, at times, looked a lot like a more evolved version of the young team in Houston. , athletic and defensive model. But one bright spot is clearly second-year small forward Amen Thompson, who is not only an incredible defender and a tremendous athlete (which was well understood from draft night), but also a player who is really starting to become a offensive force as Good. Thompson was talked about after Saturday’s games, despite the loss. Houston should absolutely view him as a fundamental part of any core whose championship aspirations move forward.
You need a guy™️
There’s nothing like a high-stakes environment to highlight team flaws, and the Rockets, a fiery and formidable young firecracker of a team, saw theirs exposed this weekend . When the game gets tense, as the minutes tick away, it’s extremely important to know that you have a Guy™️: the one person on your team who, when the ball falls into his hands, can find a way. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is that Oklahoma City player. The Hawks have Trae Young and the Bucks have Giannis (and Damian Lillard too). Houston, despite an embarrassment of riches in exciting young talent, simply hasn’t gotten it done, and that fact was never more evident than Saturday in its semifinal loss to the Thunder. With the trade season officially beginning and names like Jimmy Butler and Zach LaVine rumored to be on the block, the Rockets would be well served to go find their own Guy™️.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the Great
There are many nuances that go into NBA awards voting, and it’s not uncommon for MVP favorites to be more representative of compelling narratives (cough, cough, Russell Westbrook) than a veritable time capsule of who the best player in the league was. league that year. But one of those adjacent measuring sticks, besides the literal reward, is the evergreen barbershop discussion about which players in the league could comfortably be expected to be the best players on a championship team. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a somewhat disappointing (by his immense standards) performance in the Cup final aside, showed himself to absolutely tick that box. It really did feel at times like he was playing the game with his own proverbial sliders flipped against Houston in Saturday’s semifinals, slicing and dicing their formidable defense and getting all the shots he wanted with remarkable ease , eliciting “oohs” and “ahhs”. » from the crowd with his finesse in his handling of the ball. One thing has become abundantly clear: Alexander is a sure-fire, bonafide superstar.
Trying to make “The Cup” a reality
Traditions often feel like they’ve always existed, floating in a timeless space without needing a clear beginning. But the reality is that everything has to start somewhere, and nothing can replicate the gravitas that only years of history can provide. Even a prestigious NBA championship only has its gravitas because we, collectively, decided it counts. Despite the NBA’s most compelling endorsements, backed by Rosario Dawson and financed by Emirates, the NBA Cup still doesn’t really matter. The artificial pomp and circumstance, and the copious amounts of sponsorship and advertising dollars surrounding it, are proof that the league would really, really like to make it count, now, but there’s no substitute for the passage of time. One day it will naturally begin to have meaning, but that time has not yet come. That’s why his legacy isn’t really about the players in this year’s Cup, or even next year’s. Ultimately, they do the dirty work of laying the groundwork, creating the history that will bring respect to the event years from now.
