MILWAUKEE – Thanks for nothing, Adam Silver.
In the end, the only thing the Knicks got out of the commissioner’s beloved NBA Cup was a harder schedule.
Tom Thibodeau’s squad succumbed to an offensive juggernaut Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the In-Season Tournament, watching helplessly as the Bucks rained 3s and Giannis Antetokounmpo pounded out a 146-122 blowout.
Milwaukee (15-6) advanced to face the Pacers in the semifinals in Vegas on Thursday.
The Knicks fly home before their next game Friday in Boston, a matchup in the loser’s bracket that will also count for the regular season.
Because of the In-Season Tournament, the Knicks (12-8) will face the Celtics and Bucks five times apiece.
Their two added games were in the toughest places to win in the Eastern Conference — at Milwaukee, at Boston.
And, as Tuesday reiterated, the Knicks are not in that talent bracket.
The Bucks knocked down an outrageous 23 3-pointers on 38 attempts, with Damian Lillard and Malik Beasley combining for 11.
The home team’s 61 percent on treys might’ve been enough to topple the Knicks by itself, but the Bucks also have Antetokounmpo, the NBA’s most physically dominant inside force, who finished with 35 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes.
Until further notice, the Knicks, who beat up on the bottom dwellers in November, are not ready for the cream of the NBA.
Julius Randle put up a fight with 41 points, getting to the paint and bullying his way to an efficient 14 for 19 shooting.
Jalen Brunson added 24 points.
But offensively, they still had problems.
The 3-point shooting was bad (7-for-23), especially compared to Milwaukee’s lights-out performance. Quentin Grimes continued his disappearing act, scoring zero points and taking just one shot in 18 minutes as the starting two-guard.
The first half was close — largely because Randle didn’t miss a shot — but the Bucks quickly took over in the third quarter.
The game felt over with about five minutes into the second half, when Khris Middleton threw an alley-oop off an inbounds pass to a soaring Antetokounmpo for a jam.
The Bucks took a 13-point lead and led by double-digits for all but 24 seconds of the remaining game.
Before the game, the opposing coaches had very different views on the specialness of the evening.
Adrian Griffin, the rookie Bucks head coach, called it “a playoff game,” feeding into Silver’s vision of the In-Season Tournament knockout round.
“You can feel the electricity in the air,” Griffin declared.
Tom Thibodeau was disinterested.
“It’s the next game,” he said. “Get ready to play.”
Of course, Thibodeau isn’t always truthful in press conferences.
He certainly acted like this was important.
After two days of practice to prepare for the Bucks, he held a morning Tuesday shootaround before a 6:30 tipoff – a rarity for such an early start time.
It didn’t help. The Bucks’ offense was unstoppable.