Oh Deer!

July 20, 2021  /  0 Comments
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(Photo from Bucks IG)

For the first time in over a decade, there is an NBA Finals with no LeBron and no Curry, Oh Deer! The Phoenix Suns vs Milwaukee Bucks series has been great. Both arenas are packed with celebrities and crazy fans who have created an atmosphere that is finally giving the NBA something to cheer for.

The Milwaukee Bucks won their only championship in 1971, back when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still known as Lew Alcindor. (Fun fact: The Bucks drafted Kareem in 1969 after winning a coin flip against the Suns.) The Bucks returned to the finals only once more in 1974, but they lost to the Boston Celtics. The Phoenix Suns have never won an NBA Championship. They haven’t been back to finals since 1993 when MJ and the Bulls won Game 6 in Phoenix. That loss still breaks my heart for Barkley.

Both franchises have adult fan bases who have no idea how it feels to see your team play in an NBA Finals. Actually, only ONE player in the NBA Finals has ever played in an NBA Finals; the Sun’s Jae Crowder who was on the Miami Heat last year when they lost to the Lakers.

The Phoenix Suns have Devin Booker and Chris Paul and the Milwaukee Bucks have Giannis Antetokounmpo. And Giannis has stolen the show.

The Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo (pronounced ah-dedo-KOON-bo) is 6 foot 11, a first round (15th overall pick) draft pick. He was born in Athens, Greece and adopted by the city of Milwaukee in 2013.

Watch one of his press conferences and then try to tell me how can you not root for the 26-year old. This one, about being in the moment is a speech we all need to hear.

Giannis grew up in poverty with his parents and four brothers. They struggled to put food on the table. He didn’t pick up a basketball until he was 13-years old. Thirteen! Spiros Velliniatis, the local basketball coach who recruited Giannis, told him basketball could change his life forever. At the age of 16, Giannis and his older brother, Thanasis were both playing for the Greek semi-pro team.

Giannis was drafted in the 2013 NBA Draft with after only five years of playing basketball. Milwaukee was patient while he continued to develop. The Bucks reached the playoffs in three of his first five seasons. In the 2018-19 season, Giannis became the first Bucks player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to win the league MVP. Giannis is also one of only two players in NBA history to win both the league MVP and the Defensive Player of the Year award by the age of 25. A list that only he and Michael Jordan are on.

In December, Giannis chose to stay in Milwaukee and signed a five-year deal worth $228 million dollars. (Thanks to the supermax contract for small market teams to pay they big bucks- see what I did there?) The best players in the league almost never stay with the small-market team that drafted them. A jog down memory lane: LeBron James left Cleveland-twice, Kevin Durant bailed out of Oklahoma City, Anthony Davis demanded out of New Orleans, and James Harden got out of Houston fast. And they all went on to join other big-name players. Giannis stayed and made his teammates play bigger. Loyalty to small-market teams is so rare and well, so is Giannis.

With the best of seven series, the Sun’s took a quick 2-0 lead at home. In game one, Chris Paul became the first player since MJ to record 30 points and eight assists in a finals debut. But by game three, Giannis had joined Shaq and LeBron on the short list of NBA players who had 40+ points and 10+ rebounds in back-to-back finals games. The three-game win streak has the Bucks up 3-2 in series with a chance to win it all in Milwaukee tonight! (Teams are 10-1 with a chance to lock in the championship on their home floor in Game 6 of the NBA Finals since the NBA-ABA merger. But if the Sun’s pull off the win and Game 7 goes back to Phoenix; home teams have about an 80% chance of winning.)

The Milwaukee Brewers tweeted that their Tuesday night game against the Royals would be moved up to 3:10p.m. because they too wanted to watch the Bucks game. It’s amazing how sports can teach us the importance of supporting your community.

Ten years later from playing together for the Greek Semi-pro league, Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo are now playing on the same team in Game Six of the NBA Finals. They are one win away from holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy and truly defining the American dream.

Game 6 is tonight at 9:00pm on ABC. Go Bucks!

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