LORDY! What a win last night for your Milwaukee Bucks. For my Milwaukee Bucks. For OUR Milwaukee Bucks!
Now like I said on the podcast on Monday, with Dame still out indefinitely, and with the way this season has gone in general, I’m no longer looking at things long term. Does this win mean something, does that loss mean something, can they beat this team in a playoff series, will they lose to that team in the second round, am I getting excited, am I not getting excited, ouch ouch you’re on my hair, etc. Here’s where I’m at with the 2024-25 Milwaukee Bucks: Do the Bucks play today? Yes? Cool, I hope they win their game today. If they win, great! If they lose, bummer. On to tomorrow.
With that said, last night was probably the most fun I’ve had watching a single game this season. First of all, Bobby Portis being back is BIG for fan and team morale. Say what you want about his defense (it’s not good), but Bobby being out for 25 games was a killer. He’s still a big body who can score 20 a night and brings energy. With him out, they’ve been leaning WAY too hard on Giannis and Brook out of necessity. So that was nice to see.
Second of all: Incredible adjustment by Doc* last night to go with Giannis and the bench in the 4th quarter, and switch to a zone defense. They looked deader than dead when they were down 95-71 with 10 minutes left. But then they went with that lineup and that switch up on defense and the whole mood changed. AJ Green started knocking down 3’s, Giannis was getting to the rim, and Kevin Porter was a man of MAYHEM in that quarter. He looked like Nightcrawler from X-Men. He was everywhere. Stealing passes (5 steals in the 4th quarter!), making shots, grabbing rebounds, alley-oop tosses to Giannis, he was spectacular. They rip off a 23-0 run to get back into it, grab the lead, and don’t look back.
Third things third: The crowd during that comeback was electric! Sounded like a Bradley Center playoff game on TV. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved the Fiserv Forum Era for many reasons, not the least of which is that the arena guaranteed this franchise was staying long term. It’s also been connected to the winningest era of the team, a title, etc. But one thing about the Fiserv Era: Because the team has been good, and the arena is still relatively new, the ticket prices have been a little ritzy. And that means the type of fans going to the games have been a tad more, shall we say, ‘tame.’ A tea and crumpet crowd, if you will. Back in the day, when you could get BOGO tickets to playoff games at the BC, those crowds were ROWDY. $15 to sit in the upper tank and slam $6 Miller Lites?? In! Fiserv crowds have kind of lacked that type of ‘character.’ But not last night. That was a big part of the energy during the comeback.
Anyway, my favorite NBA team played last night and put together a memorable 4th quarter comeback win. I am happy because of it!
*I’ll take, “things you didn’t expect to type today for $500, Alex.”
PS: Again, NOT looking to the offseason and taking things one day at a time, but if I were to look to the offseason, I think Kevin Porter has worked his way into a conversation for some kind of extension. I’m not sure what the cap space is going to look like, but giving him the mid-level exception feels like it wouldn’t be a bad move at the moment. He just gives them the kind of youth and athleticism that they’ve been devoid of at the guard position for a few years. I know off the court issues are the reason why he was playing in Greece last season, but let’s not forget, before that he was averaging almost 20 points per game for the Rockets at age 22. They liked him so much they gave him a 4 year, $63 million dollar extension before those off the court issues. He’s getting a second chance and he’s taking advantage of it.
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