Bucks Family Welcomes New Additions as Historic Season Hits the All-Star Break

×

Expand

Photo Credit: Erik Drost

While the end of one decade saw the beginning of a new golden age of Milwaukee Bucks basketball with their first trip to the Eastern Conference Finals since 2001, a new decade begins with the Deer continuing to build off their recent success towards the ultimate goal of bringing Milwaukee its first Larry O’Brien Trophy since 1971.

It is now February 17th and the Bucks have just eight losses to 46 wins through the All-Star break while being on pace to be the third team in NBA history to reach 70 wins in the regular season. Compared to last season—their best in almost two decades—the Bucks lost their eighth game on December 7 and were 43-14 at the All-Star break.

All is well and good in Milwaukee this season. The Bucks have without a doubt been the best team in basketball and not just record-wise. They have dominated both ends of the floor ranking at or near the top in many categories, including offensive and defensive efficiency, net rating and pace. They have an insane league-best +12.1 point differential while the second-best, the Los Angeles Lakers, have a just a +7.4 point differential.

That being said, one can’t ignore the fact that this decade also begins with the basketball world still mourning the tragic loss of all-time great Kobe Bryant along with his 13-year old daughter Gianna and seven others from a helicopter crash in Calabasas on January 26. It has been a rough few weeks to say the least, as this loss has hit harder than most thought it would. At 41 years of age, Kobe was just three years removed from an illustrious 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers that saw him win five championships. He was a global icon that was just beginning his second life, which included spending more time with wife Vanessa and his four daughters.

Kobe’s approach to basketball and life resonated with so many, and his death has certainly made everyone come together. There have been countless tributes on the influence Kobe had. His impact has made everyone want to be the best version of themselves through his hard work, dedication and the idea that we must always hold ourselves accountable for where we want to go in life.

Without question, his “Mamba Mentality” will live on forever. That is evident with Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had developed a relationship with the Lakers legend the past few years and even worked out with him starting in the summer of 2018.

Kobe’s impact on Giannis’ career speaks for itself, as his first challenge for him was to win MVP.

After winning the award last year, Kobe didn’t waste any time issuing his next challenge for the Greek Freak.

Here we are at this year’s All-Star break and Giannis’ Bucks are indeed title favorites just ahead of LeBron James’ Lakers. But that’s not even been the focus this week, as Giannis and girlfriend Mariah Riddlesprigger welcomed a new baby boy into the world on Monday, Feb. 10.

The birth of Liam Charles forced Giannis to miss Milwaukee’s last two games, of which the Bucks won against the kings followed by a road loss to the Pacers last Wednesday night. With the All-Star game being played in Chicago this past weekend, the Greek Freak got a break from father duties as he led Team Giannis against Team LeBron on Sunday night for the second year in a row.

This year’s All-Star game, however, would be different than years past. We saw a new format that had both teams playing for local charities along with multiple Kobe tributes that started in the pregame with a singing performance by Jennifer Hudson and continued with rapper Common paying homage to the city of Chicago while honoring the late legend himself. It even included Team Giannis wearing number 24 jerseys in honor of Kobe while Team LeBron would wear number 2 jerseys in honor of Bryant’s daughter Gianna.

There was of course a lot of flash and flare early on with both teams showing off their athleticism and scoring prowess with a plethora of dunks and alley-oops. The second half is where things tightened up a bit and the players got more serious as the game came down to the wire in the fourth quarter.

With a coveted Kobe Bryant MVP trophy on the line and a chance to win money for their respective local charities, it wasn’t hard to notice a change in the atmosphere as both benches and most of the crowd was on its feet watching the best players in the world go hard at each other on both ends of the floor in the annual glorified exhibition. It came down to a game-winning free throw from Anthony Davis to seal a 157-155 win for Team LeBron with Kawhi Leonard capturing the MVP behind a 30-point performance.

Giannis brought plenty of energy as team captain and concluded with a 25-point, 11 rebound performance while Khris Middleton, who made his second consecutive appearance in the game while also competing in the skills competition, scored five points while catching an alley-oop dunk off the backboard from Toronto’s Kyle Lowry. Pat Connaughton brought his 44-inch vertical to All-Star Saturday night by competing in his first dunk contest alongside former dunk contest winners and veterans Dwight Howard of the Lakers, Aaron Gordon of Magic, and Derrick Jones Jr. of the Heat. After a questionable score from the judges on his first dunk over 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich, Pat scored a 50 on his second dunk when he jumped over Giannis and tapped the ball on the backboard before throwing it down.

Pat did his thing, but it was Jones and Gordon who stole the show with incredible athleticism and creativity that led to a dunk-off. Jones was finally declared the winner, but it wouldn’t be without controversy with more questionable scores from the celebrity judges. All in all, All-Star weekend didn’t disappoint. It’s safe to say the new format for the game made things more interesting and watchable.

While baby Liam Charles stole the headlines last week, he wasn’t the only newest addition to the Bucks family. The team added 15-year veteran Marvin Williams to the roster after the 6’8” forward was bought out from the Charlotte Hornets.

If you flashback to 2005 when the Bucks had the first overall pick, Marvin’s name may sound a little familiar. Milwaukee flirted with the idea of taking the North Carolina product and even courted him during the draft process. The Bucks ultimately went with Andrew Bogut while Williams went second overall to the Atlanta Hawks.

This may seem like a minor move right now but not one to sleep on. The 33-year-old Williams is a career 10.3 points per game scorer with a career percentage of 37% from downtown. Milwaukee already has one the deepest teams in the NBA but Williams, who scored nine points in 20 minutes during his debut, might just vault them to the top of the list. His veteran presence will surely come in handy as he still competes extremely hard for his age and has a high basketball IQ on both ends of the floor.

Bottom Line

The All-Star break comes at an opportune time for the Bucks with most of the team getting a chance to decompress and step away from the game for a few days as they prepare for the home-stretch of what has become the most historic regular season in franchise history to this point. As for Giannis, Khris Middleton and Pat Connaugton, it was a chance for them to represent the organization on one of the game’s biggest stages and they proved to be great ambassadors for the best team in the association this year.

Kobe’s death is still fresh and not one that will ever be forgotten. It will take time to get over the fact that he’s gone along with the other seven victims. But it has given people a chance to really appreciate the Mamba Mentality and the impact he had as a global icon. Now that Giannis enters fatherhood himself, he will be sure to take the life lessons Kobe had on him his family and instill them toward baby Liam as he grows up in the Bucks family.

There are still 28 games left and a lot of work for the Bucks to do before the playoffs begin. Reaching 70 wins would be quite an accomplishment, but it is not one that matters when it comes to the big picture of winning a championship. However, it would be something incredible for this team to accomplish considering how far they’ve come in the last couple decades as a franchise. For now, let's just appreciate this new golden age of Bucks basketball while we can.