NBA Playoffs, Recap 5 — It’s finally time to #FeartheDeer
Milwaukee may have just made the leap
The Milwaukee Bucks have always had amazing style. The uniforms look fine, but the court in their (soon-to-be-obsolete) arena looks fantastic. It’s not just me that thinks this too though, since Zach Lowe wrote about it back in his days at Grantland.
The cool outweighs the cheese, and the Bucks painted the logo in a powerful spot without extending the lettering too far in either direction. It’s central but not overwhelming, and the slogan has come to represent more than just that single season.
Personally, I think Lowe is being a little too conservative. I think the court looks great, and watching the Bucks is an aesthetically pleasing experience because of it.
But now, the team is on the brink of eliminating the Toronto Raptors, and the Bucks have much more than just a cool floor design.
Last night, I was away from a television, and couldn’t watch any of the game. I checked my phone at halftime, and saw that the Bucks led by nearly 30 points. That score held, and Milwaukee absolutely flattened the Raptors in their first home game of the playoffs. Now, the series gets even more interesting than it already was — if the Bucks win this next game, Toronto is all but finished.
As with any blowout, there are a lot of things that probably won’t happen again. DeMar DeRozan’s 0-fer is one of those things — he isn’t going to go scoreless in the next game. The margin of victory was so large though, that this might not even matter. Giannis is so long, and the entire team so athletic, and this next game so in Milwaukee, that the Bucks might already have too much momentum. Toronto is far from dead, but last night wasn’t a fluke.
The Raptors are no stranger to postseason disappointment, and there has to be a sizable segment of their fanbase that expects the next few games to continue on this trajectory. Even last year, the best in franchise history, saw several slow starts to playoff series. Toronto did the same thing this year, and gave away too much momentum to a team that didn’t need any additional help. I’ll fully concede that this is a terrible matchup for the Raps. However, for a team that wants to challenge Cleveland, that’s not a good excuse.
Elsewhere, the playoff drama continues with game three of Chicago/Boston tonight. Rajon Rondo’s injury hurts, and could be significant, but how the Bulls play at home will be fascinating to watch. I’m slightly more interested in the LAC/UTA game three this evening, but both are worth a watch. Gordon Hayward and Isaiah Thomas both have massive loads to shoulder.
