Hi, hello! Now that the Bucks are heading into yet another long season with the goal of winning it all (however realistic you may think that is), I found myself watching old YouTube videos of Milwaukee’s title run, reminiscing on the good ol’ times. Watching those videos reminded me of many highly influential plays or performances along the way to the title that often get forgotten. Therefore, I wanted to chronologically compile a grab bag of my favourite plays from the title run. Enjoy!
Round 1, Game 1: Middleton’s anxiety-relieving game-winner
In many ways, this may have been the most crucial shot of the entire run. Having just finished the previous season with the East’s top seed, making it to the second round, and getting blatantly embarrassed by the Heat in five games, the Bucks found themselves lined up against this team once more. The anxiety, at least for me, was palpable. The Miami brand, Jimmy, Heat Culture, it was all there, ready to consume me. And of course, in a game where Butler goes a putrid 4/22 from the field, he manages to drive around Giannis and hit the game-tying floater to send it to OT after the Bucks missed free throws that could have put the game away; my anxiety turned up another 10 notches. These freaking guys. This freaking team. I say this with respect, but the Heat were the ultimate cockroach of the NBA; they weren’t going to die unless the opponent killed them. Enter: Khris Middleton, stomping all over the Heat’s impenetrable exterior and breaking their will. The next three games were a walkover, but I can’t say they would have been if this shot hadn’t gone down:
Round 2, Game 3: Holiday’s spinning layup at the death
In the rock fight of all rock fights, Jrue Holiday’s heads-up play to catch the Nets off-guard and drive to the hoop—as they may have expected him to call a timeout with less than 20 seconds on the clock—was massive. “I think in my head, I was thinking maybe I should run some clock,” Holiday said. “But I saw Bruce Brown one-on-one, so I made a move. It was a good one and I ended up getting a layup.” After giving up a combined 240 points in Games 1 and 2, the Bucks got this game in the mud, where they’d have preferred it. And although Holiday was having another of his bad shooting games in the playoffs (4/14 on the night), his confidence to see an opportunity and take it was the reason the Bucks’ championship hopes remained alive:
Round 2, Game 7: Middleton and Holiday come up clutch
For whatever reason, if I were to be asked about the play I recall most vividly from the ’21 playoffs, it’s not any of the common ones. Instead, the play I always think of is Khris Middleton’s shot to bring the deficit back to two points with 3:30 left of the fourth quarter in Game 7 vs. the Nets. Why? Well, James Harden (who was playing on one leg) banked in the dumbest three-pointer in all of history on the prior possession, and I thought that was a sign that it just wasn’t meant to be. At that point, it felt like the weight of the world was on the team, and they would eventually fold. And then, as the shot clock dwindled and Jrue drove into the lane, jumping up with seemingly no plan and releasing the ball to Middleton at the final second, he calmly erased the previous Harden three, and I breathed again:
There was also this step-back triple from Jrue that I wanted to include from that game, which he hit a few plays after the Middleton shot. Again, Jrue shot truly horrendously in this game at 5/23 overall and 2/9 from three, but he had no fear taking this shot, which I love. The best part, though, is the reactions. Jrue’s response is one of a steely resolve that he didn’t lose confidence in himself. The best reactions to me, though, come from Darvin Ham and Charles Lee, because I think they show the relationship Jrue had with the team and how well-liked he was:
And then, after KD hit the infamous toe-on-the-line two-pointer to send the game to OT, the Bucks went to a Giannis-Khris pick-and-roll for Middleton to get into his patented turnaround, which was one of three baskets scored by either team in the OT period, hilariously:
Round 3, Game 2: Antetokounmpo’s ridiculous Gervin-esque finger roll
We can be honest that the true Eastern Conference Finals occurred against the Nets, with this series featuring fewer nail-biters. Regardless, Giannis pulling out this mind-bending layup in Game 2 was pure cinema:
Round 3, Game 3: Middleton downs the Hawks with 38 points
In a game where the Bucks got down 13 early, it was Khris Middleton who made play after play in the second half to will the visitors to a 2-1 series lead:
Round 3, Game 5: Lopez’s legacy game
After Giannis’ gruesome knee injury in Game 4 against Atlanta, the Bucks fanbase was in shambles, not knowing at that point that he would make a miraculous return just over a week later. Nevertheless, Brook Lopez put his Superman cape on and spurred the Bucks to a Game 5 victory, with 33 points on an uber-efficient 14/18 from the field:
Round 3, Game 6: Holiday and Middleton combine for 59 in the sealer
Needing to win one more game without Giannis, it was Middleton and Holiday who stepped up, dropping a combined 59 points in enemy territory to stave off a Hawks team that continued to surge all game long:
NBA Finals, Game 3: Bucks save season in drubbing of Suns
Onto the NBA Finals, where we forget about Games 1 and 2 for obvious reasons, and move directly to the Game 3 drubbing, with this teamwork on the fastbreak being my favourite highlight of the game:
NBA Finals, Game 4: Connaughton and Antetokounmpo come up huge
PC had come up big on more than a few instances throughout that playoff run, but this moment was his biggest. The stones, man:
And then, from the same game, Giannis records the second-greatest block in NBA Finals history:
NBA Finals, Game 5: Knocked away and stolen by Holiday (a few times)
Before we get to the big one, I just had to chuck this steal from Jrue on Booker on this list. There’s just something so badass about it:
And then, of course, the “valley-oop”:
NBA Finals, Game 6: The guys who started it, finish it
This shot from Khris doesn’t seem to get talked about much, but I think it might be one of the most critical shots in franchise history. The Bucks were up 100-92 with 2:35 left in the fourth quarter, but were rapidly running out of gas, playing way too slow and coming up empty on the next two possessions. The Suns had whittled the lead down to four with one minute on the clock, and looked to have more in them. Milwaukee then went to a staple horns-like set with Holiday setting the first pick for Middleton, and Gianis handing it off. Middleton wasn’t really “open” at all but knew it had to be him to take the responsibility, rising over Booker to give the team the two-possession cushion it needed to win. Had Khris missed that shot and the Suns scored again, they’d have needed to get one stop and then could have won the game. That alternate reality was imminently possible; thank goodness it’s not actual reality!
What do you think? Did I miss any plays? Make your thoughts known in the comment section!