Like most Milwaukee Bucks fans, I’m still living my life in a bit of a haze. I still can’t believe we live in the world where the Bucks are the defending champs. I would say I fire up a House of Highlights package from one of last year’s playoff games almost daily, and I still can’t wrap my mind around it. The Bucks, my Milwaukee Bucks, a poverty franchise for most of my life, are the defending champions.
And then the dream sequence goes a step further with that quote from LeBron last night after the Bucks dog-walked the Lakers for their 3rd straight win on the current West Coast swing. I realize LeBron is 38 years old, I also realize that the Lakers are an Aldi version of their (fake) title team in the bubble in 2020, but given what I’ve watched for most of my life when it comes to Bucks basketball, those words leaving LeBron’s lips in that order is still hard to fathom. We are living in a world/simulation where the Bucks have a second title banner, AND they have the best player on the planet who is just entering his prime. And now LeBron James can’t envision a scenario where a team he is currently playing on can, ‘reach the level of Milwaukee.’ Sweet sassy molassy.
Related: The Bucks so far on this West Coast trip look like the 2020 Bucks who were on pace for 70 wins. They are COOKING. Giannis put up 44 points and 14 rebounds on 17/20 shooting in just 35 minutes last night. He’s shooting 53% from beyond the arc in the month of February. Bobby Portis looks like Steph Curry from distance. Middleton has been steady, Jrue continues to evolve in just his 2nd season with Bud. Certainly you’d love to get more out of your bench, but if Brook comes back, and it sounds like he will be back before the playoffs, this team is without question the team to beat in the East.
Coming off of last season, and given Giannis’ age, there were plenty of Bucks fans entertaining the thought of, ‘multiple titles,’ at the beginning of the year. But as we learned last year, winning a title is hard. Everything had to fall into place. Kevin Durant had to have his toe on the line, Giannis had to have superhuman healing capabilities, etc. And because of the emotional scar tissue of being a Bucks fan, even with the key components there for the current season, there’s always the expectation of something, ‘Bucks,’ happening. But, man, do they look good right now. I’m not sure what they would do in terms of a significant move at the deadline tomorrow, but I’m getting to a point where anything less than another NBA Finals appearance feels like it will be a letdown. If you would have sat me down in 2013 and told me to write my most outrageous fan-fiction of what I want out of the Bucks the next 10 years, I don’t think I could have come up with what we’re watching right now. What a ride.
PS: Badgers with a YUGE win at Michigan State last night as well. Johnny Davis looked like National POY candidate Johnny Davis again. The Badgers now have the most quad-1 wins in the country. Not bad for a head coach who can’t win a big game.
