The Emirates NBA Cup Is A Brilliant Addition To The NBA Season

The bright lights of Las Vegas embody riches, success, and endeavour. It is acknowledged as a rich person's playground, a stage for the stars, and a space where people chase their wildest dreams. Its masterful architecture parades grand hotels, casinos, malls and the famed strip—all gifts to its grandiose. It would seem such a setting would be perfect for the final stages of the Emirates NBA Cup, a new prize to claim for all 30 teams in the NBA. History is being built with these games, steadily and surely, as they discover new feelings, approaches and memorable moments in these thrilling new fixtures.

Reaching here last year as semi-finalists, the Milwaukee Bucks have now become the most experienced team in the competition, lifting it for the first time after Lebron’s Lakers in its first. Despite a 2 wins 8 losses start to the season, the Bucks went on to win 13 out of 16 games, advancing to the final to meet the youthful Oklahoma City Thunder. An unbelievable display championed by Cup MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo proved too much for OKC, who boast the best defensive statistics in conference play and have been touted to go on and win the playoffs. Nevertheless, the duo of Giannis and Damian Lillard took the game by force—alongside a general team play that enamoured coach Doc Rivers.

“It’s the best feeling ever, just winning,” said Giannis, with a smile as shiny as the MVP trophy seated next to him.

The Competition

The introduction of the Emirates NBA Cup offers another Championship to play for—a cash incentive broken down from the Quarter Finals—and encourages teams through healthy, early-stage competition to play. With all 30 teams drawn into the competition, segregating the teams by conference and placing them in pots based on their prior season creates a fair group stage, which will eventually be approached differently by these teams who want to go far in the cup. For instance, Pot 1 has 3 of the best prior-season records in both respective conferences, including the Denver Nuggets in the East and the Houston Rockets in the West. This leads to the formation of 3 different groups in both. 5 teams, 3 groups—West A, B and C; East A, B and C. Up until the Championship game, each game contributes toward the regular season.

Cash incentives include $50,000 per player for reaching the Quarter Finals, $100,000 for reaching the Semi-Finals, $200,000 for reaching the Championship game and a $500,000 prize for the victor. Such an incentive thrilled the likes of Giannis, who wanted to win the money for teammates who don’t earn the same as the best paid on the roster. “We had this joke within the team about our two-way guy, Liam [Robbins], and what I promised him from the first Cup game,” Giannis said. “I told him, ‘We’re going to go all the way, and we're going to get you a house in Iowa.’ So after every game, I'm like, ‘Hey, we’re one step closer to your house in Iowa.’”

The Final

“Winning feels good. Playing big games feels good when you're able to come to the game and execute your game plan, and then the outcome is exactly what you want it to be,” answered Giannis, considering what made the Bucks almost flawless on the night. The sheer physicality of the Greek Freak is unplayable; a triple-double on the night saw him dominate all areas of the field, putting on another legendary performance that helped secure his MVP. “We had this goal, as a team, and we accomplished it,” he said. “I’m very proud of everybody. I’m so happy for Dame that we got our first trophy together. This is just the beginning. We have to keep on improving and getting better, and we will be better.”

A dogged second-half display shut out and nullified Oklahoma City, crowding out stars like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jaden Williams—both having a poor shooting night. “Yeah, I shot 24 shots,” acknowledged a disappointed Shai, not shying away from his responsibility. “I’ve shot less in wins, on other nights. The ball didn’t go in as much as I wanted it to tonight, but I felt like I got enough touches.” Shai had been Oklahoma City’s best player through the tournament, but faded on the night on shooting. In brief, their shortcoming was the height and physicality advantage. Keeping the Bucks’ score to 97, at 80, the OKC needed to “look at themselves in the mirror”, as critiqued by OKC coach Mark Daigneault and accepted by the players. “I think, defensively, we were pretty good,” stated Jalen. “How many points did they have, 97? So, defensively, I thought we were pretty good.”

He added: “Sometimes it just doesn't go in, and you have to have enough will to kind of keep doing the right thing and moving the ball, and the chips lay where they lay. But it’s just one of those things—[we] just didn’t shoot well. [We] probably could have got some better shots, myself included. That’s kind of it.” In contrast, Giannis and Dame had enough motion to get off theirs, stretching the points they’ve gained in the Emirates NBA Cup to 357 from Giannis as the most, 336 for Dame, with the second most, and Shai at third with 307. Despite being overwhelmed, the Bucks didn’t manage to score over 100 points, which shows the OKC did their defensive job while severely lacking in attack.

“We didn’t score nearly enough points—especially in the second half—to give ourselves a chance to win,” said a disappointed Mark Daigneault. “But we can learn from it; we’ll move forward from here.” Over the course of the finals, Mark had recognised that they were only a short way into the season, with approximately 70% left and these tough fixtures on the bounce. By no means does this final reflect the standings of Oklahoma City in the conference, but the dominance was surprising. “We played three relatively high stakes games this week with Dallas, Houston and tonight, which is a valuable experience for us as we have a lot of the season left,” Mark added. “We’ve got to take some of the lessons from this, good and bad, and apply it forward. But, obviously, we weren’t good enough on that end tonight.”

The Bucks needed to fix their early season shortcomings by becoming much more of a team. “Playing together, going in at night, not drinking,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers laughed, but it was quite serious when considering what they had gained from this tournament. During the post-game conference, a bucket of champagne and beer was rolled away from the Bucks’ locker room. The media conducted interviews as the players were on a reasonable comedown from their victorious high. Not one bottle was opened, and the team looked primed to go again. There is a large remainder of the season left, and more glory to be had. As well as highlighting Giannis’ 10/10 performance, Doc was more complimentary of the all-around performance where there was a lot to learn about his players’ attitudes.

“You know, a great lesson for our team is a guy named Pat Connaughton,” Doc said. “Pat Connaughton had not played in a month, and today we chose him to play in this game and he played great. The best part of it, he never stopped working.” In football (soccer), a Cup competition offers players in the wider roster a chance to compete, play into form, and exercise new tactical approaches. As this competition is still fresh, we wonder what future approaches might entail when contrasting it with the footballing world.

The Future Of The Emirates NBA Cup?

The Emirates NBA Cup is still a new concept finding its feet in the minds and hearts of NBA personnel and fans alike. The group stages evolving into knock-out style games reflect a feeling European sports fans know too well. Unlike the playoffs, where teams have several chances to play each other at home or away and exercising their advantages over time, the finals from the semis are played on neutral grounds with knock-out rules—in a similar fashion to the FA Cup in England. Wembley is taken over every season for the finals, and the legacy of the FA Cup has been a thing since its formation in 1871. But it has evolved from its cementation in Wembley in 1923. Almost 102 years on, the prestige of the FA Cup is immovable—it is legacy, history, and a pillar of English football. Everyone doesn’t realise it yet, but the Emirates NBA Cup’s beginnings are historical moments in the making.

In Europe, Cup competitions offer chances to teams who will most likely not go on to win the league a chance at a trophy. The victors not only receive money but are then eligible to advance to play in the second tier of European Competition—something that is already accomplished by the competition between states. In the Carabao Cup in England, the competition is not only played between the top leagues in the Premier League but it includes the English Football Leagues below. The FA Cup is played between all 57 leagues and 84 divisions in Football Association qualifying football, which means the team in the lowest bracket has a chance to win it. Though rare, the beauty of the FA Cup is the underdogs' journey advancing from lesser stages to the advanced stages, where the top-level teams lay. The beauty of these cup competitions is seeing lesser teams progress and be compensated with prize money, TV rights, and giant-killing performances—much like South Sudan’s near-victory against Team USA. Another aspect of those games is seeing lesser-known talent come through. Personally, I would love to see the Emirates NBA Cup expand one day to include teams beyond the NBA, much like the FA Cup.

The Emirates NBA Cup games have presented some incredible matchups, such as Magic against the Bucks, Oklahoma City taking on the Mavericks, the Knicks facing the Hawks, the Rockets battling with Golden State, the Semi-Finals between the Atlanta Hawks, Bucks, Houston Rockets and the OKC. Tuesday night’s final was another phenomenal entry in its building legacy. Many have called into question factors of the games, such as the placement being so early in the season. “It’s closer to, like, an elevated regular season than it is to the Playoffs, in my opinion,” said Mark. “The time of year has to do with that—the nature of a series versus a one-and-done situation has to do with that. But playing elevated opponents—good opponents with some elevated stakes, elevated distraction—is a good experience in December for our team.”

Contrasting football with basketball can be baffling as much as it can be lucrative. Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta has been highlighted as an ingenious coach who analyses other sports to implement such into his team’s game, as seen with Arsenal’s relentless ability to screen and provide space for others. The aspect of playing to the last second in each half, with a drive similar to basketball, injected Arsenal with such ferocity that served them well. One thing NBA teams may eventually do is analyse Cup competition approaches from other sports, like football, to stake a chance at truly winning it all.

During the game, Kevin Garnett’s cameraman spotted my top: a Liverpool 2003 Reebok top with the sharp green Carlsberg logo plastered across the chest. Marvelling at my top, 15-time all-star Kevin Garnett broke into admiration of Steven Gerrard, telling me: “I think that, over time, this is going to become something very special. You’d usually have teams with no incentive for games in November to December; it’s just games. But now you have incentives—not just to go to Vegas, but what comes with winning, and then the momentum that comes with it too. I understand the Champions League, and I understand the in-season cup and what it’s doing. The momentum the Emirates NBA Cup can create could be just as epic.”