Michael Penix Jr. is the new starting quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons and Kirk Cousins is heading to the bench, coach Raheem Morris announced Tuesday night.

"After review we have made the decision Michael Penix will be the Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback moving forward," Morris said in a statement released by the team. "This was a football decision and we are fully focused on preparing the team for Sunday's game against the New York Giants."

The Falcons beat the Las Vegas Raiders 15-9 on Monday night to snap a four-game losing streak. But Cousins was just 11-of-17 passing for 112 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He has nine interceptions and just one touchdown pass in his past five games.

Cousins didn't throw on first down in the first half Monday night, the first time that has occurred in his 13-year career. He threw on first down to open the second half and it resulted in an interception by Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane. Running backs Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier combined for 34 carries, which was the bulk of the team's offense.

After the game, Cousins said he had to play better. Morris indicated as much in his postgame news conference, stating the "obvious."

Cousins, 36, is completing 64.7% of his passes with 18 touchdowns and a league-high 16 interceptions. He also has 12 fumbles, tied for most in the NFL with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield.

The Falcons signed Cousins, who was coming off a torn right Achilles that ended his 2023 season in Week 8, to a four-year, $180 million contract in the offseason. About $100 million of that is guaranteed, though most of that money comes off the books by 2026. The Falcons will pay Cousins $62.5 million this season.

Penix, 24, led the Washington Huskies to the national championship game last season before the Falcons selected him at No. 8 in April's NFL draft. He completed 65.4% of his passes with 36 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in his final year with the Huskies, and his 4,903 passing yards were the most in the nation.

When it comes to playing Penix, Morris said earlier Tuesday before the switch, that the Falcons are "being really smart and cautious in how we go about our business," but he doesn't believe there is a downside to playing him now.

"You could never say there's a [downside] to turn it over to somebody that you put a lot of investment into, somebody that you brought in here, somebody you've done some things with, somebody that [has] said nothing but the right things since they've been here," Morris said of Penix.

The Falcons host the 2-12 Giants on Sunday. At 7-7, Atlanta is still in the playoff hunt, though the four-game losing streak sent the team plummeting from its first-place perch in the NFC South.

When the Falcons drafted Penix, Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot made it clear that Cousins was the quarterback of the present and Penix would be their quarterback of the future. Cousins was caught off guard by the selection of Penix after he was informed of it just a few minutes prior to the move. He texted Penix later that night, and the two forged a relationship this season.

Cousins and Penix live on the same street in suburban Georgia and sometimes carpool to the team plane for road games.

Earlier this month, Penix said he was supporting Cousins and believed he would turn things around. But he said he would be ready if the Falcons needed him.

"I have to be [ready] because you never know when the opportunity [comes]," Penix said earlier this month. "So, I always stay ready, but at the end of the day, like I said, it's not up to me. I just got to continue to be ready, continue to stay ready for that moment, whenever that is."

LAS VEGAS -- With the Boston Celtics on pace to shatter the NBA's record for 3-pointers attempted by a team, and with 3s being up across the league this season, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday night the league is studying the trend.

He also said criticisms of offenses becoming "cookie cutter" and that teams are copying each other is something he thinks the league should take seriously.

"The answer is yes, [we are having] many discussions about the style of basketball [being played]," Silver told a small group of reporters Tuesday night before the championship game of the league's second-annual NBA Cup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Milwaukee Bucks. "I would not reduce it to a so-called 3-point shooting issue. I think we look more holistically at the skill level on the floor, the diversity of offense, the fan reception to the game, all of the above.

"I think the game is in a great place. I love watching the games, and I think we have some of the most skilled athletes in the world competing -- and it's unfair, I think, to the players to lump them into categories as 3-point shooters or a midrange shooter or big man playing under the basket. It's an amazing game."

"Having said that," he continued, "we're constantly having discussions about whether there are ways to improve stylistically the game on the floor."

The Celtics are averaging 51.1 attempted 3s per game, which easily would shatter the record for treys attempted in a season. Teams across the league are shooting more than ever due to the math of shooting more 3s, as opposed to midrange 2-point jumpers, bending the sport in that direction.

But Silver made it clear any attempt to change things on the fly, such as moving the 3-point line, is not likely to happen soon. He went through some of the complications with making that kind of decision as well as some of the things the league has done to try to address the notion of too many teams playing the same way.

"Historically, at times, we've moved the 3-point line," Silver said. "I don't think that's a solution here because then, I think when we look at both the game and the data, I think that may not necessarily do more midrange jumpers, if that's what people want, but more clogging under the basket.

"Whether there's some tweaks we should make, and my sense is I do think we should take seriously this notion of more diversity in offense. I watch as many games as all of you do, and to the extent that it's not so much a 3-point issue, but that some of the audience, some of the offenses start to look sort of cookie cutter and teams are copying each other. I think that's something we should pay attention to."

Silver touched on several other topics during his half hour with reporters, including the following:

- The NBA Cup might not stay in Las Vegas, according to Silver. The semifinals and championship game of the tournament have been held in Las Vegas in each of the first two years of the in-season tournament's existence.

ESPN reported Tuesday there were discussions about potentially moving at least the semifinal games away from Las Vegas, something Silver confirmed, but that the challenges of trying to play the games in home markets involve conflicts with arena dates.

"Not sure," Silver said when asked if the tournament would be in Las Vegas again next year. "Part of it is we have a new television partner in Amazon who will be covering the knockout rounds. There has been some interest expressed by teams in playing the home markets. It's complicated enough scheduling on a neutral site. I think I'm not against [it, but] I think the question is, if we want to seriously consider that, how would that work from a scheduling standpoint?

"And also here, when you build a tradition, you have a lot of fans here who can circle these dates on their calendar and plan to come to Las Vegas, plan a holiday around it. I think that the teams are on both sides."

- Silver said the new collective bargaining agreement is working as intended when it comes to limiting the way the highest-spending teams can operate in going over the "second apron" and that the CBA was intended to make life much more difficult on teams that do so. But after saying "maybe some of the teams didn't quite understand how inflexible the system becomes" once they arrive in the highest-spending tiers, Silver said it was too early to tell whether there could be a chilled trade market this season because of the new rules.

"It's my job to be concerned, but we'll see," Silver said with a smile, when asked if he thought the trade market could be negatively impacted. "I think there was a prediction there wouldn't be any significant movement this summer, and then it turned out there was. I think also teams have to feel their way through a new system. I think that I hear some of the criticism that it's overly complex. We have really smart basketball people at our teams. I don't think that's the issue. They understand the system. I think that there's a large group of agents who need to understand it, as well."

Silver acknowledged that for teams over the second apron, there will be less movement and an ability to trade or sign a free agent, noting that was the intent of the new CBA.

"So I think the right way for the league to look at it over time is where do those players go? Are we creating more competitive teams?" Silver said. "I mean, I think ultimately the goal is to have a system where every team is in a position, if well-managed, to compete for championships.

"I think, again, it's not a perfect system and maybe over time there'll be more tweaks to it, but I think we've gone a long way in getting to that."

- Silver also discussed the dip in the league's TV ratings early in the season. And though he said the NBA is doing "intense" research on the topic, he focused on the league's pivot to streaming in its upcoming television deal as well as social media and other aspects of its reach to indicate he doesn't believe the league has an overall interest issue.

"I would just say, to say it directly, ratings are down a bit at the beginning of the season, but cable television viewership is down double digits so far this year versus last year," Silver said. "We're almost at the inflection point where people are watching more programming on streaming than they are in traditional television. And it's a reason why for our new television deals, which we're entering into next year, every game is going to be available on a streaming service.

"And as we move to streaming services, putting aside how the actual game is played on the floor, it's going to allow us from a production standpoint to do all kinds of things that you can't do through traditional television. All kinds of new functionality, all kinds of new options and screens that are available."

"So, at the end of the day, we are an entertainment product, and the vast majority of people consume us through media, not in person," he added. "So, we have to pay a lot of attention to that. But if you look at other data points in terms of our business, for example, we've just come off the last two years of the highest attendance in the history of this league. We're at a point where our social media audience is at the highest of any league and continuing to grow exponentially. So, there's not a lack of interest in this game."

- Silver reiterated that the NBA is "not quite there yet" when it comes to expansion and that there remains no timeline to begin that process.

LAS VEGAS -- The only good thing about the Oklahoma City Thunder's offensive performance in Tuesday's NBA Cup final is that it doesn't count toward regular-season statistics.

The Thunder had their worst offensive outing of the season in a 97-81 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, hitting what would be season lows in points, field goal percentage (33.7%) and 3-point percentage (15.6%).

"I never look at it as like, we just missed shots," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "I could have done a better job shaking us free at different times in that game, but we can learn from it."

Oklahoma City superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had an uncharacteristically inefficient 21-point performance. He was 8-of-24 from the field, including 3-of-12 when Milwaukee's Andre Jackson Jr. was the primary defender, according to ESPN Research tracking.

"He did a good job tonight, but I don't think he was the reason for my type of night," said Gilgeous-Alexander, who is averaging 30.3 points on 51.0% shooting this season. "The way I felt tonight, I still got to my spots. I just didn't make anything. Things like that happen. Nights like that happen. Yeah, he played hard, was aggressive. Nothing I haven't seen before. I felt like it was me missing more so."

Gilgeous-Alexander went 2-of-9 from 3-point range. He was the only Oklahoma City player to make multiple 3s, as the Thunder shot 5-of-32 from long distance.

"It's hard to win that way," said Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein, who scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half. "You just sometimes have those nights."

According to Second Spectrum tracking, the Thunder had an expected 3-point percentage of 34.9% based on the quality of their looks against the Bucks. The 19.3% drop-off to Oklahoma City's actual 3-point percentage was the Thunder's most drastic of the season.

"I think for the most part we got good looks," said Thunder forward Jalen Williams, who finished with 18 points on 8-of-20 shooting. "When you're playing a good team, you've got to continually generate good looks and also make shots. I feel like that was just one of those nights. Defensively, I thought we were pretty good. Sometimes, it just doesn't go in and you have to have enough will to keep doing the right thing and moving the ball and let the chips lay where they lay."

Oklahoma City made only one of 17 3-point attempts in the first half, but the Thunder stayed in the game primarily by attacking the paint against the bigger Bucks. The Thunder scored 26 points in the paint and were 13-of-16 from the free throw line in the first half.

Those numbers plummeted in the second half, when the Bucks held the Thunder to only 31 points as Milwaukee turned a one-point halftime margin into a lopsided final. Oklahoma City scored only eight points in the paint and attempted only six free throws in the second half.

"We missed some shots that we normally make," Thunder guard Alex Caruso said. "They do a good job of crashing down in the paint and we got some easy ones early and then just missed some open [3s] that could have spread them out, bring them out of the paint a little bit. ... At the end of the day, you need a couple to go in if you're going to win at a high level."

LAS VEGAS -- After finishing his postgame news conference, his NBA Cup MVP award to his left and a smile across his face, Giannis Antetokounmpo continued to soak in the moment.

"Oh man, what a feeling," he said. "What a great feeling. I'll see you guys again, I promise."

As he walked down the hallway toward the locker room, he continued. "What a great feeling. What a great feeling."

The Milwaukee Bucks had just won the 2024 NBA Cup on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena with a dominant 97-81 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder and Antetokounmpo was selected MVP, adding to an already lengthy résumé of accolades, including Finals MVP, two-time league MVP and NBA champion.

But the Bucks left the boxes of champagne provided by the NBA untouched after the game. They skipped the traditional postgame locker room celebration for a more subdued scene, with players bopping along to music and sipping drinks at their locker.

"Last time I drank a little bit of champagne, when we won the championship [in 2021], I had like a full body cramp," Antetokounmpo, who finished with a 26-point, 19-rebound, 10-assist triple double, said with a laugh.

Two members of the Bucks organization, assistant coach Darvin Ham and forward Taurean Prince, were members of the Los Angeles Lakers last season when they won the inaugural NBA Cup. The Lakers celebrated with a champagne shower after their victory but struggled after the tournament, dropping 10 of their next 13 games.

"It's tough," Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. "You come out of this and you're back to the grind."

So the Bucks elected to skip the full celebration, but that does not mean they didn't savor the moment. In fact, Antetokounmpo, who said he does not drink, implored the team to celebrate the accomplishment.

"There has to be," he said. "This has been a great trip. This has been a trip for six days everybody has been locked in, on time for the film sessions, so focused on the walkthroughs. At practice we were able to be so sharp."

That focus showed up throughout the NBA Cup as Milwaukee won all seven of its games. And it was on further display during a dominant defensive effort Tuesday night, as the Bucks held the Thunder to a season-low 81 points, including 31 points in the second half.

Milwaukee's defense produced team season bests in points allowed (81), field goal percentage (33.7%) and 3-point percentage (15.6%).

"We've shown the team we started the season as, is not the team that we are now. And it was never who we truly were. Just got off to a tough start."

Bucks guard Damian Lillard

"I definitely think we made a statement defensively," Prince said.

After beginning the season with a 2-8 record, the Bucks have bounced back, beating the team with the best record in the Western Conference in the process. Rivers said it was the kind of win that "reminds us we can beat anybody."

"We've shown the team we started the season as, is not the team that we are now," said Bucks guard Damian Lillard, who finished with 23 points. "And it was never who we truly were. Just got off to a tough start."

Since winning only two of their first 10 games, the Bucks have the best record in the NBA at 12-3 (Tuesday's game does not count in the official standings). Antetokounmpo encouraged his teammates to enjoy the win, but he also wanted them to stay focused on how they have been playing over the past 15 games and carry that forward.

"We have just got to stay humble, keep on improving," Antetokounmpo said. "We have a lot of basketball in front of us. We play Cleveland on Friday. Very, very good team. They are going to be waiting for us. Right now, the emotion is at an all-time high. We have to bring it down, be humble. Once we leave here tomorrow, go back to the gym, lock in and hopefully we can go and get a win against the Cavs."

The second annual NBA Cup is in the books, with the Milwaukee Bucks dominating a poor-shooting Oklahoma City Thunder team 97-81 in Tuesday's anticlimactic final in Las Vegas.

As compared to last year's inaugural edition, briefly called the less memorable In-Season Tournament, this NBA Cup felt more mature as a concept. Teams understood how to navigate the point differential tiebreaker from day one and bought into the significance of the NBA Cup despite (largely unfounded) concerns about how it might hurt them down the line.

The result was a tantalizing final matchup pitting the favorite to win the Western Conference against a championship hopeful from the East and featuring two of the top contenders for MVP in Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo -- who won NBA Cup MVP honors -- and Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Let's relive how we got there by looking at some superlatives from the NBA Cup group and knockout stages, including my picks for the awards handed out by the league -- MVP and All-NBA Cup Team -- as well as unofficial picks for top rookie, best coach, best game and more.

MVP: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

One of my lasting memories from last year's semifinals was Antetokounmpo coming to terms with his team's loss to the Indiana Pacers in the postgame news conference. He ensured only his opponents would feel that frustration this time around.

Antetokounmpo averaged 31.7 points per game in this year's knockout rounds, coming within an assist of a triple-double in the semifinal win over the Atlanta Hawks before recording a triple-double against the Thunder.

More than even those outstanding stats, Antetokounmpo set the tone for his team with playoff-caliber defensive intensity. His block on Trae Young in the fourth quarter against Atlanta was the most memorable play of the knockout round. Against OKC, Antetokounmpo had three blocks and two steals. There was never a doubt about who was the MVP during the final.

All-NBA Cup Team

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder

Damian Lillard, Milwaukee Bucks

Alperen Sengun, Houston Rockets

Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks

Antetokounmpo and Gilgeous-Alexander were locks, and so too was Lillard.

The Bucks had the strongest one-two punch of the teams to reach the knockout stages, with Antetokounmpo and Lillard combining to average nearly 60 points and more than 16 assists per game in the tournament.

Young led Atlanta's run to the semifinals with 24.2 PPG and 10.8 APG, more than any other player in NBA Cup play.

Choosing a representative from the semifinalist Houston Rockets was the most difficult. No Houston player averaged more than 20 PPG, and Sengun wasn't particularly efficient in NBA Cup games overall. But his 26 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals versus the Golden State Warriors in the quarterfinals were enough to give him the final spot.

Coach of the NBA Cup: Doc Rivers, Milwaukee Bucks

Milwaukee didn't run a challenging gauntlet toward the final, and it benefited from the Thunder's off-shooting night once there, but it's impossible to deny Rivers' work over the course of the Bucks' undefeated run. Milwaukee's defense was a mess at this time a year ago, dropping to 22nd on a per-possession basis after the Pacers torched them for 128 points in the semifinals.

This time around, the Bucks were well-prepared despite playing the final without wing Khris Middleton due to illness. Milwaukee's game plan of packing the paint and forcing Oklahoma City to win the game with jumpers was the correct one, and the Bucks get plenty of credit for the Thunder's 44% shooting inside the arc.

Shoutout also to Milwaukee assistant Darvin Ham, who led the Los Angeles Lakers to last year's tournament victory and has yet to lose an NBA Cup game.

Biggest coaching miscue: Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat

Spoelstra is rightly regarded as one of the NBA's top coaches, and perhaps even the best, but he wasn't at his sharpest during overtime of the Heat's NBA Cup opener against the Detroit Pistons. Up two points with under two seconds remaining in overtime after a Tyler Herro score, Miami saw Cade Cunningham lob the ball to Jalen Duren for a dunk off an out-of-bounds situation.

Frustrated by the team's poor execution, Spoelstra called a timeout Miami didn't have remaining, allowing the Pistons to win on Malik Beasley's technical free throw.

A victory would have started Miami's cup campaign on the right foot and given the Heat a chance of advancing as either the group winner or the Eastern Conference wild card heading into the final night of group play.

Rookie of the NBA Cup: Jared McCain, Philadelphia 76ers

A truly amazing stat: Entering Tuesday's final, all first-year players had combined to score 14 total points in six knockout stage games. No. 1 draft pick Zaccharie Risacher started all six games as the Hawks advanced to the semifinals but shot 2-of-19 from 3-point range and averaged 6.3 PPG. So, the Rookie of the Cup race looked a lot like the real one did prior to McCain's untimely knee injury.

McCain averaged 24.8 points in four NBA Cup group games, making 18 3-pointers at a 51% clip. That edged the Lakers' Dalton Knecht, who also made 18 3s (shooting 54.5%) but wasn't quite as prolific inside the arc, averaging 19.5 PPG.

Most improved team: Atlanta Hawks

Oklahoma City made the biggest jump in terms of results after going 1-3 in last year's edition, but the Thunder actually had a plus-24 differential by virtue of a blowout win and three close losses.

The Hawks were easily the most unlikely team to reach the semifinals after starting the season 4-7 before the beginning of NBA Cup play. Even over the last month, Atlanta went 5-1 in NBA Cup games (highlighted by a Trae Young-led upset over the Knicks in the quarterfinals) and 6-4 in all others, including a 30-point home loss to Denver.

Atlanta works on a couple of levels, both for its in-season improvement and year over year. In the 2023 tournament, the Hawks went 1-3 with their only win over the lowly Pistons and were outscored by 32 points -- the worst point differential of any team that reached this season's knockout stages, let alone the semifinals.

Biggest disappointment: Cleveland Cavaliers

Group C in the East featured the conference's top two teams this season, Cleveland and the Boston Celtics, yet the Hawks emerged as unlikely winners. The Celtics at least finished second and would have advanced as the East's wild card had the Orlando Magic defeated the New York Knicks on the last night of group play.

The Cavaliers were long eliminated by then, having lost both to Atlanta and in a showdown in Boston to finish at 2-2. The NBA Cup looked like a golden opportunity for Cleveland to hang a rare banner. Instead, the Cavs will have to hope their strong start translates into a deep playoff run in the spring.

Best game: Golden State 120, Dallas 117

The first night of NBA Cup play produced the most memorable matchup: Klay Thompson returning to the San Francisco Bay Area to face the Warriors for the first time since leaving for the Mavericks via a sign-and-trade deal over the summer.

Both player and team handled the emotional reunion (complete with sailboat captain hats) perfectly, with Thompson making six 3-pointers and scoring 22 points. The finish lived up to the hype too, with Stephen Curry scoring the final 12 points for Golden State, which rallied from a 114-108 deficit with 3:10 to play to win a contest that wasn't decided until Luka Doncic missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds.

Both teams advanced to the knockout stages, but the outcome gave Dallas a tougher matchup at Oklahoma City in a quarterfinals loss.

Most disappointing injury: Franz Wagner, Orlando Magic

The Magic were one of the best stories of group play, overcoming the absence of All-Star Paolo Banchero to win their first three games in convincing fashion and claiming the East wild card after losing at Madison Square Garden.

Wagner was arguably the MVP of the group stage, having averaged 30.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.5 steals while stepping into Banchero's role as go-to guy on offense. Alas, by the time Orlando got to Milwaukee for the quarterfinals, Wagner had joined Banchero on the sidelines after suffering an identical injury (oblique tear) the previous weekend.

Without Wagner, the Magic put up a good fight but lost 114-109, ending the hopes of one of eight active franchises without an NBA championship laying claim to the NBA Cup.

Scotland's Ewen Lumsden and English 17-year-old Mia Wainwright emerged victorious at the first Tennis Scotland Open Tour finals to be broadcast live by BBC Scotland.

Lumsden, ranked 601 in the world, avenged last year's defeat in the final by Stewart (520) 7-5 3-6 7-5 to complete a double after having already teamed up with former world number 44 Jonny O'Mara to take the men's doubles title.

Top-seeded reigning champion Stewart had earlier defeated English third seed and fellow 25-year-old Liam Hignett 6-3 6-4 in the semi-finals, while second seed Lumsden swept aside fellow 24-year-old James MacKinlay 6-0 6-1.

Nottingham's Wainwright eventually overpowered top-seeded Newcastle 27-year-old Emma Wilson 7-6 6-2 in the women's final.

Both had swept to easy victories in the semi-finals.

Wainwright, 595th in the world junior rankings, beat fellow 17-year-old Aimee Knowles, also from Northumberland, 6-2 6-0.

Wilson, ranked 983 on the senior tour and who had entered the tournament as a wild card, won 6-0 6-1 against Northumberland 16-year-old Teodora Prisadnikova, who was runner-up last year.

Steward's high-ball ability was preferred by Borthwick for November's 29-20 defeat by South Africa and the Leicester man is the likeliest candidate to fill in for Furbank once more at Test level.

Furbank's absence will be keenly felt by Saints who hope that the win in Pretoria can kick-start their form amid a faltering Premiership title defence.

They lie eighth with three wins from seven matches before their away match against Saracens on Sunday.

"It is a big loss, he is a fantastic rugby player," added Vesty of Furbank.

"He is our club captain and has really grown into that leadership role over the last couple of years. He will be a loss.

"His counter-attacking ability, his ability to make other people look very good, his calmness are all real strong traits of George's and have got him a long way."