On behalf of Milwaukee, we hereby and heartily thank one Joshua Smith, Atlanta’s talented power forward and not-so-talented spokesmodel.
No kidding, folks. I mean it. Serious as Henry Kissinger at an eyebrow-waxing convention.
Because by insulting the entire city with his “nothing to do” in Milwaukee petulance, Smith did something amazing. He united this city behind an Andrew Bogut-less NBA team.
For all the success the Bucks enjoyed in this pivotal season, the city at large remained slow to embrace them. Then Smith gave this good story a worthy villain, and you saw the results. Two straight Bradley Center sellouts. Energy levels off the charts. One minute, Smith was touching the ball and boos cascaded from courtside to the rafters. A moment later, it was Bucks ball, and all that negative energy became a positive charge for the home team. The Bucks clearly fed off it while evening this playoff series at two games apiece.
Can it last? Can the Bucks do the unthinkable and win this series? Well, it’s getting a lot harder to doubt them. Yes, Atlanta is still a more talented team than the Bogut-less Bucks. The Hawks could easily reassert themselves in Game 5 on Wednesday and finish off the Bucks back here on Friday.
Or not. Because the surprisingly immature Hawks could just as easily go into full meltdown mode in the face of these savvy and steadfast Bucks.
But whatever the result, here’s what’s important in the big picture. Win or lose, with a big assist from Smith, the Bucks gave Milwaukee something to remember.
Before Saturday, there was a distinct danger that Milwaukee’s renaissance season would end not with a Bango, but a whimper.
Set the Wayback Machine for April 12. It was shortly after Milwaukee’s final regular-season home game, a 104-96 loss to the Hawks, and the press drifted into the Bucks’ locker room. Swarms surrounded the usual targets – Brandon Jennings, John Salmons – while Primoz Brezec blissfully texted away with nary an interruption. Ersan Ilyasova’s feet were firmly planted in a bucket of ice, bringing new meaning to the term cold Turkey. But the most notable scene was the one in front of Andrew Bogut’s locker.
Because it remained empty, and conspicuously so.
It’s felt like a metaphor for Milwaukee’s pending playoffs. Yes, a lot of nice things had happened this season. The Bucks had proven legions of doubters wrong. They finally gave fans something to anticipate besides the next Draft Lottery. But they were going to that playoff promised land without their Australian Moses. That vacant, silent locker spoke volumes.
With Bogut, the Bucks had become everyone’s playoff darkhorse. Experts who once laughed at them wrote how dangerous they’d become. But without Bogut? Sorry. Party’s over. They’d be lucky to win a game.
Well, now they’ve won two. Feel free to keep doubting them, but do so at your own peril.
“I feel like all year we’ve been proving everybody wrong,” Jennings said after Monday’s game.
And Milwaukee finally seems to have taken notice.
“Just a buzz around the city,” said Charlie Bell, noting he can’t leave a grocery store without hearing well-wishes from folks in the checkout line. “It just seems like everything is, I don’t know, brand new or something. Everything is better right now.”
A couple lockers over, Jennings was getting dressed. Would all this newfound love spoil the kid, who hadn’t experienced the doldrums of previous years?
Bell smiled. “He doesn’t need to think about what it used to be like. This is what it is now.”
Mr. Smith should be thrilled. Sounds like there’s something new to do in Milwaukee.
Feeling the Draft
The consensus is that the Green Bay Packers caught a huge break when Iowa offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga fell to them at pick No. 23 in the NFL Draft. Truth is, we’ll have to wait a few years for the verdict. Bulaga could be the answer to Green Bay’s pass protection prayers. Or he could prove why so many other teams passed on him.
What we do know is the Packers got what they wanted out of this draft. Potential O-line help in Bulaga. Potential defensive line depth in Michael Neal. Potential defensive secondary help in safety Morgan Burnett. Maybe a diamond in the rough in the later rounds.
What we also know is GM Ted Thompson can usually be trusted when it comes to evaluating talent. So at the very least, Green Bay fans should feel some warm fuzzies.
As for the Draft’s new three-day format, well, the NFL got what it wanted. Namely, more buzz and more viewers. Just when you think the NFL can’t get any bigger, it does.
Case in point: I watched the first round not on a TV, but on a phone. Had the chance to try out Verizon’s new NFL Mobile app. The league is doing an all out blitz with this NFL Mobile thing, giving it away for free and banking on the fact that football junkies will get even junkier if only given the chance. It includes a live feed of the NFL Network (music to the ears of deprived Time Warner customers), which is how I watched the draft. My wife loved having the TV all to herself. So it’s a boon for football widows, right? Well…
Used to be they could drag husbands away from football by dragging them off the couch. But how, pray tell, do you drag them away from their cell phones?
No ballgame to watch? No problem. Check out our new TV Guru columnto get the lowdown on your remote control options.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter, where I tweet as howiemag.And tune in every Tuesday morning at 6:30 when I join Doug Russell and Mike Wickett on SportsRadio 1250 AMfor Tuesdays with Howie. You can also find the segments in their Audio Vault. And I’ll join 540 ESPN for Soccer Saturday at 8 a.m. on, you guessed it, Saturday.
