Milwaukee Bucks, the triumph of inconsistency against all odds

For the first since 1969, the Milwaukee Bucks have reached an NBA final since Tuesday against the majority forecast, despite its inconsistency and without the presence of its main star, Giannis Antetokounmpo, in the last two games of the final of the Eastern Conference.

Although on paper, from the beginning of the season the Bucks were one of the candidates to reach the final, the truth is that the Milwaukee team was not among the favorites of many experts.

The arrival of Jrue Holiday to the Bucks at the beginning of the season improved the prospects for the team that sacrificed Eric Bledsoe, George HIll, RJ Hampton (first round of the draft) and two players from future first rounds of the draft to take over. base.

Holiday arrived not only to improve the Bucks’ chances to win the championship but also to convince their main figure, the Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo, to keep his bet on the team.

And Antetokounmpo, who had the option to become a free agent at the end of this season, understood the Bucks’ blow and within weeks of Holiday’s arrival signed a $ 228 million five-year contract extension.

ARMED FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP

With Holiday, Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton as the backbone, the Bucks armed themselves for another assault on the NBA championship title. But still they weren’t the favorites.

The Bucks finished the regular season in third place in the Eastern Conference, behind Joel Embid’s Philadelphia 76ers and the season’s super-team, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden’s Brooklyn Nets.

The Milwaukee team easily got rid of the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. The Heat, who eliminated the Bucks 4-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals last year, this time failed to win a single game.

After the 4-0 game against the Heat, the real challenge for the Bucks came in the second round when the team faced the Nets. For many, that series should have been the end of the Bucks’ journey. Those of Brooklyn were the big favorites, like it or not, to take the rings of champions this season.

However, the Nets couldn’t get rid of the Bucks. The semifinal of the Eastern Conference reached the seventh game. And the last game came to extra time. And only 4 points separated one team from the other (111-115). Antetokounmpo had 40 points and 13 rebounds in that game. Durant 48 points and 9 rebounds. But the Bucks prevailed.

TRIUMPH WITHOUT ANTETOKOUNMPO

Even after beating the super team of the season and reaching the Eastern Conference finals, the Bucks were still not the clear favorites. In the other semifinal, Trae Young’s Atlanta Hawks defeated the 76ers and became the preferred underdog to reach the final against the Phoenix Suns.

When Atlanta’s team won Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final and defeated Milwaukee again in Game 4, with Young out due to injury, to tie the series 2-2, many believed their prediction that the Bucks couldn’t beat the Hawks.

Paradoxically, the Bucks rose to the challenge without Giannis on the floor. The hyperextension of the left knee condemned the Greek star to the bench in the last two games. And when they were at their weakest, the Milwaukee made history.

And they did it forcefully. In the last two games, the Bucks were never behind on the scoreboard and won both games with a final difference of 11 points. In the fifth game the star was center Brook Lopez. In the sixth it was Middleton.

Thus, almost unexpectedly, the Bucks have reached their first end of the 21st century. As Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer noted after the win over the Hawks, “Every team has a different journey. And each team has to go through different problems ”.