LAS VEGAS – There was no denying the joy on the faces of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard as the streamers emerged from the sky at T-Mobile Arena after the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Cup with a 97-81 victory over Oklahoma City had thunder.

They needed it, not as a dress rehearsal for June, not to complete their resurrection from the NBA’s early doldrums – but for each other and this step by step that they must follow through April.

But as much as the Bucks needed this, the NBA needed it even more, and probably in abundance.

It feels like a similar refrain was being voiced this time last year when the Los Angeles Lakers showed early in the season that they could focus on one-game sample sizes better than anyone, but we mostly already knew that .

This time, teams seemed to better understand the concept of an NBA Cup, and while Tuesday night’s finale won’t ultimately bring a dent in the standings, it felt different.

“It was something we wanted to win, and even in year two, I feel like teams cared a little more about it,” Lillard said. “I think teams played a little more proud of getting to Vegas and having a chance to win at the end.”

There was an authenticity in the air, perhaps interrupted by more physicality and a few harmless technical fouls.

It felt…confrontational, but not dangerous.

At least it didn’t feel as analytical. It didn’t feel as sterile.

And that’s the biggest victory NBA commissioner Adam Silver could have hoped for, regardless of who was at center stage in Las Vegas. Sure, the big American stars would have helped, but they didn’t make it here and it’s looking increasingly unlikely that the usual suspects will be there when the playoffs get into full swing in a few months.

It’s ironic considering that earlier in the day the NBA announced its latest plans to revamp All-Star Weekend or the Sunday afternoon showcase game, which have become much more of a joke than anyone would like.

Silver admitted this in a small session with reporters an hour before the cup final.

“I was wrong last year,” Silver said. “I thought that the guys in Indiana, you know, given that it was considered the heartland of basketball, so to speak, and the strong presence of some legends there, that the guys were going to turn back the clock a little bit and play a traditional game, and it wasn’t meant to be .”

What followed was the most embarrassing midseason show, where calling it “mid” would have been an extreme compliment. The whispers in the episode were about perhaps creating a bigger financial incentive – again, the premise that the league needs to beg players to play, rather than someone among the 24 stars stepping in and saying, “We have to do better.” .

Better was on display on Tuesday, and while it’s unfair to compare one type of exhibition to another, the point remains. The competition here was pure. Although Oklahoma City’s misfortune was largely due to erratic shooting (five of 32 from 3-point range), this team of long, physical contenders went after it and challenged the more experienced, determined Bucks.

The final spread was not a sign of effort, but of implementation. And again, these results are easier to digest when the game is driven by emotion rather than a mathematical equation.

Milwaukee clearly won the 3-point game, outscoring the Thunder by 35 points, but the tone was aggressive. Fans can identify with aggression, and the league can package and sell that – they’d probably be happy to bottle and distribute that magic potion, if only to change the narrative that players are indifferent and untrustworthy until Christmas at the earliest.

“I’ve even heard from some players, and you see, it’s not just in the NBA where the analytics are becoming too controlling,” Silver said. “And create situations where players do seemingly unnatural things because they are being told to do something that is more efficient.

“And we’re also focusing on what makes these players so incredible is the joy they bring to playing the game and also the freestyle spirit of the game.”

Silver again admitted that the league made a mistake by pushing itself too far on the offensive through the rules and trying to find a difficult balance where the scales gradually balance – fans want to know that , what they see is something truly remarkable and difficult, and at the same time something truly remarkable and difficult is amazed at the creativity of the players and the effort of a team coming together for a common goal.

The latter is what Oklahoma City has begun to master, as they sit atop the West standings for the second straight year and will be even more recognizable in the coming seasons – a franchise that’s built to last.

The latter is what Milwaukee has managed to do in recent weeks after a rocky start, and with their headlining duo finding chemistry through reps, we could see a showdown against the Boston Celtics in a high-stakes playoff series – one that …Hopefully it’s not all about math.

“One advantage we had and again we came here and heard from the old team and all the young guys (Oklahoma City),” Doc Rivers said. “And we kept talking about our size, and the slower the game gets, the bigger we get.”

That’s the advantage of having a supernova like Antetokounmpo and another giant in veteran Brook Lopez. Presumably they can play different styles, especially once Khris Middleton returns to some reasonable strength (due to illness).

But their great strength is the man who elbows his way to the front of the MVP race, the player who isn’t ashamed to say how much he wanted this seemingly meaningless award just because it was a competition he wanted to win.

“It’s the best feeling ever. Just win. “Winning feels good,” Antetokounmpo said. “In big games, it feels good when you can come to the game and execute your game plan and then the result is exactly what you want.”

Make no mistake, no championship was won, and if either team fails to impress when things get really tight, a night in Las Vegas in December will feel not like a memory but a mirage.

But for one evening, Silver and the rest of us were reminded that beauty doesn’t look and feel so homogeneous, and that it’s never too late to start getting it right.