A few weeks ago the Milwaukee Bucks looked like a team still scratching out an identity. Yet through the rough start they found ways to win all four of their NBA Cup group stage games. That earned them an automatic berth in this week’s quarterfinals and, more importantly, an opportunity to play artificially high-leverage basketball months prior to the actual NBA playoffs.
In some sense this is a success for Adam Silver and the league. While 22 other teams will go through the motions of “regular” regular season games, this lucky group of eight get to participate in win-or-go-home battles for the right to head to Vegas.