Antetokounmpo is having an MVP season
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s NBA Cup last opponent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Nikola Jokić have deservedly been garnering plenty of MVP buzz 1 / 4 of the way in which by way of the common season. However over three days in Las Vegas, Antetokounmpo added to what’s already a fairly convincing case of his personal to take residence his third NBA MVP trophy. He’s been placing up super numbers all season, averaging a preposterous 32.7 factors, 11.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists whereas logging a 19-rebound triple-double in Tuesday’s last, a 97-81 win over Oklahoma Metropolis. However his stat line isn’t present in a vacuum; he’s trying as dominant, if not moreso, than he ever has. And he’s been lethal from the mid-range this yr (as Kevin Garnett gave him props for over the weekend), which is a big complement to his near-unstoppable inside recreation. In Tuesday’s showdown between MVP frontrunners, Giannis seemed decidedly like the very best participant on the ground.
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The elephant within the room
When flying out of Las Vegas from Harry Reid Worldwide Airport, one finds themselves looking for magazines and water bottles amid a sea of zombies with clean stares, and it at all times appears like there’s this unusual unstated elephant within the room: it is a place the place nearly everyone seems to be hungover, however nobody verbally acknowledges it. It was arduous to not discover the NBA’s personal elephant within the room in Vegas this weekend: {that a} clear succession plan for a basketball world after LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant doesn’t actually exist. The collective holding of breath from the NBA media machine after Curry’s Warriors had been eradicated on the quarter-final stage, thus guaranteeing that no bona fide, tried-and-true needle-mover could be becoming a member of the social gathering in Vegas, was palpable. Final yr’s inaugural match featured James and the Los Angeles Lakers: each of whom have sat atop the NBA’s recognition rankings for many years. This yr had no such luck. Whereas the 4 groups (Milwaukee, Oklahoma Metropolis, the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks) definitely made for entertaining basketball for hardcore followers, the brutal reality is that no next-gen star, not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, not Antetokounpo, has even come near reaching the favored heights of James or Curry. For causes maybe unknowable, they only don’t have the juice. The NBA has a younger star advertising drawback that doesn’t appear any nearer to being solved than it was a few years in the past, and as James, Curry and Durant inch ever nearer to retirement, the problem solely grows extra pressing.
The worth of Isaiah Hartenstein
I’m sufficiently old to recollect when, only some quick months in the past, pundits had been hand-wringing over Isaiah Hartenstein’s three-year, $87m contract. If something has crystallized over the previous few days in Vegas, it’s that the 26-year-old middle (whom the Thunder pried from the New York Knicks’ clutches in free company) was value each penny. He’s a top-tier instance of a jack of all trades, grasp of none: the precise sort of hard-playing Swiss military knife middle that the Thunder had been so desperately missing final season. Regardless of Oklahoma Metropolis’s blowout loss in Tuesday’s last, Hartenstein posted 16 factors and 12 boards, and checked out occasions nearly as good because the Thunder’s second greatest participant. There’s hypothesis that he’ll find yourself coming off the bench when Chet Holmgren, who’s at the moment sidelined with a hip harm, is again within the lineup. However the Thunder could be sensible to assume twice about that, because it’s turn into clear that Hartenstein will play a pivotal function in any success Oklahoma Metropolis discover this postseason.
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Amen to Amen Thompson
The Rockets had a little bit of a disappointing displaying of their first journey to Vegas for the Cup: they had been crushed decisively by an Oklahoma Metropolis group that, at occasions, seemed rather a lot like a one-step-further-evolved model of Houston’s personal younger, athletic, defensive-minded template. However a transparent shiny spot was sophomore small ahead Amen Thompson, who isn’t solely an unbelievable defender and super athlete (which was well-understood as early as draft night time), however a participant who’s beginning to actually come round as an offensive power as nicely. Thompson was the speak of the city after Saturday’s video games regardless of the loss. Houston ought to completely be contemplating him a basic piece of any core with championship aspirations shifting ahead.
You want A Man™️
There’s nothing like a high-stakes surroundings to light up roster flaws, and the Rockets, a feisty and formidable younger firecracker of a group, had theirs uncovered this weekend. When the sport will get tense, because the minutes dwindle, it’s of dire significance to know you’ve got A Man™️: the one particular person in your group who, when the ball leads to their arms, can discover a method. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is that participant for Oklahoma Metropolis. The Hawks have Trae Younger and the Bucks have Giannis (and Damian Lillard, too). Houston, regardless of a humiliation of riches of thrilling younger expertise, simply don’t have on, and that truth was by no means extra obvious than on Saturday of their semi-final loss to the Thunder. With commerce season formally commenced, and names like Jimmy Butler and Zach LaVine supposedly on the block, the Rockets could be well-served to go discover a Man™️ of their very own.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the Nice
Loads of nuance goes into NBA awards voting, and it’s not unusual for MVP frontrunners to be extra consultant of compelling narratives (cough, cough, Russell Westbrook) than an precise time capsule of who was the very best participant within the league that yr. However one such adjoining measuring stick, moreover simply the literal award, is the evergreen barber store dialogue of which gamers within the league might comfortably be anticipated to be the very best participant on a championship group. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, considerably disappointing displaying (by his immense requirements) within the Cup last apart, has proven himself to completely tick that field. It actually checked out occasions like he was enjoying the sport together with his personal proverbial sliders turned all the way in which up in opposition to Houston in Saturday’s semis, slicing and dicing their formidable protection and getting no matter shot he wished with outstanding ease, eliciting “oohs” and “ahhs” from the gang together with his ball-handling finesse. One factor has turn into abundantly clear: Alexander is a surefire, bona fide celebrity.
Attempting to make ‘The Cup’ occur
Traditions typically really feel as if they’ve at all times existed, floating in some timeless area while not having a transparent starting. However the actuality is that every part should begin someplace, and nothing can replicate the gravity that solely years of historical past can present. Even a prestigious NBA championship carries its gravitas solely as a result of we, collectively, determined it issues. Regardless of the NBA’s most convincing Rosario Dawson-backed, Emirates-funded endorsements on the contrary, the NBA Cup doesn’t actually matter but. The bogus pomp and circumstance, and copious quantities of sponsorship {dollars} and promoting round it, are proof that the league would actually, actually like for it to matter right-the-hell-now, however there’s no substitute for the passage of time. Sometime, it should organically start to have significance, however that point isn’t now. That’s why its legacy isn’t actually concerning the gamers on this yr’s Cup, and even subsequent yr’s. They’re in the end doing the soiled work by laying the muse, creating the historical past that may carry reverence to the occasion years from now.
