When the Milwaukee Bucks won the second-annual Emirates NBA Cup on Tuesday night, they sent a message to the league: Don’t look past us.
And they doubled down on that warning with one simple act. Opting not to pop bottles of champagne and douse each other in the bubbly stuff to celebrate the in-season tournament title.
After a 97-81 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Las Vegas to cap off the festivities, the scene was perfectly set for a celebration.
Thanks to the heroics of its two stars, Milwaukee was primed to let loose in Sin City for a night of debauchery well earned. Giannis Antetokounmpo, named Cup MVP after a 26-point, 19-rebound, 10-assist triple-double, and Damian Lillard, who scored 23 points with five-of-10 threes, had every reason to celebrate silencing the doubters of their tandem.
Yet, instead, the Bucks opted for a more reserved approach as they immediately shifted their focus forward. Milwaukee left the goggles untouched and the bottles of booze on ice as they decided to leave the celebrations for if they hoist a Larry O’Brien trophy come the end of the season.
Rivers even consulted assistant coach Darvin Ham, who was at the helm of the Los Angeles Lakers when they won the inaugural in-season tournament last year, on what the experience was like.
It appears Ham, who remains undefeated in the NBA Cup through two seasons, offered Rivers a word of caution should they celebrate too brazenly for a trophy that isn’t the ultimate price.
Ham and the Lakers went for the traditional approach when they won, letting corks pop and champagne fly all throughout the night. LeBron James, a person who knows a thing or two about championship celebrations given his four NBA titles, was one of the most enthusiastic Lakers and was even seen spraying media members with bubbly.
And while some observers had fun with it, others didn’t seem to think it was fitting for a team of any stature, let alone one as prestigious as the Lakers, to be celebrating the NBA Cup to that degree.
One of the loudest voices of those critical was Hall of Famer and TNT analyst Charles Barkley. The NBA legend turned TV personality spoke on the matter while on the Dan Patrick Show last December and didn’t mince words.
“You don’t do champagne for the in-season tournament,” Barkley said. “The Lakers better not put up an in-season tournament banner … if (the Lakers) put that in-season tournament banner up, I’m going to roast their (expletive) on television.”
Spoiler alert: The Lakers did put up an in-season tournament banner.
Barkley wasn’t the only one to feel some type of way about the celebrations as Udonis Haslem, long-time NBA veteran and former teammate of James in Miami, shared the sentiment.
“I’m all for people getting their money … but what we ain’t going to do is pop champagne and put up banners,” Haslem said on his podcast The OGs Show last year.
And it appears the Bucks have taken notice of the backlash the Lakers received, or at least listened to Ham after his first-hand experience, and went for the safer, albeit less Las Vegas-esque, approach to celebrating.
Nonetheless, the Bucks accomplished their goal in The City of Lights. Milwaukee avenged last year’s NBA Cup semifinal loss to the Pacers and reminded folks they remain a threat in the Eastern Conference.
Since the in-season tournament began, the Bucks are 12-3 and boast a top-10 rating on both ends of the floor. Completely shutting down skeptics who were ready to close Milwaukee’s championship window after a 2-8 start.
Now, with some new hardware on the mantle and zero champagne stains on their jerseys, the Bucks look to keep the momentum going all the way to the NBA Playoffs. And if they do win it all, no one will come in the way of those celebrations.
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