THE RAFTERS IN the Paycom Center in downtown Oklahoma City are a little sparse. The hometown Thunder have collected a handful of division titles and there's that prized 2012 Western Conference finals win commemorated up there, but the old Seattle SuperSonics championship history was left behind during the relocation 16 years ago and the reborn franchise is still working on its own.
That made Tuesday night a special opportunity, a young Thunder team trying to establish itself had a chance at raising another one by winning the NBA Cup in Las Vegas. It didn't happen. The Thunder had their worst offensive night of the season at an inconvenient time and the Milwaukee Bucks got the hardware, the bonus money and the right to raise a pennant in their rafters with a 16-point win.