En all equipment NBA champion There is a common denominator: the star (s) on duty are surrounded by a certain number of players capable of taking the helm when the boss is not there. On Milwaukee the great leader is out, it is not yet known how long, and others have to start showing their stripes.
Brook Lopez took a step forward. Or two or three. In the crucial fifth game of the series (usually the game that decides them), he finished with 33 points giving a version of leading scorer that he had not shown all season. Without Anteto’s points, the team could have problems and he showed up to solve them.
Lopez he set his best scoring mark in a Playoffs on the best day possible, to launch his team with a 30-10 run and not be in trouble. In a tie in which the two teams have lost, for the moment, their stars, the secondary ones are the ones who will decide. And there, Lopez, has a lot to say.
On and off the court, Giannis Antetokounmpo is the leader of the Bucks. And, of course, now it helps a lot more from the outside. The low time is not yet known but, it seems that even if it is a lot, the Bucks do not want to tell him. After all, the hope of him playing the next game can be beneficial to the rest of the squad.
But while he does not play, you will have to get used to seeing him haranguing his teammates, encouraging them in each action or time-out. Bucks may be without Anteto on the track, but not without his spirit, the one that Barkley classified as the greatest fighter in history.
Bobby Portis It was Mike Budenholzer’s bet on the Bucks’ starter five and he hit the mark. Players like Lopez, Middleton y Holiday They were required to become protagonists but if Portis also joins the party, the result is a starting five with 115 of the 123 points of his team. So what P.J. Tucker contributed only 5.
Double-double of Khris Middleton, 26 points and 13 rebounds, shows his star status, now more than ever. Middleton has reached this point of the season in an extraordinary way and we must not forget that for him, there is an afterlife after the NBA Playoffs, because he is targeted in the Dream Team the EEUU for the Tokyo Games.
The Bucks are now chasing their third NBA Finals. Curiously, the Suns also recently reached that figure with which they are going to play this season.
Milwaukee it has not reached the last step since 1974. In 1971 they won the only title that gives luster to their record. It was the time of Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and some Bucks framed in the Western conference. Since then, no trips to the Finals. They are one game away from ending a 47-year absence.
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