Today I want to give the Milwaukee Bucks their proper flowers. I know it has been a minute since they won their series over the Nets, but the East Finals do not start until tonight, so it is still pretty fresh in my mind.

I watched every second of that game on Saturday night. I was entranced by the performances of Giannis and KD. The game was ugly at times too, especially in overtime. But overall this is what I want to see when I watch game 7 in the NBA playoffs. Tons of lead changes, tons of ties, coming down to the wire, it was all perfect game 7 stuff. KD was the absolute man for the Nets too. He literally did it all, and did not have much help be it due to injuries or players not showing up when they were on the floor. Harden was a ghost in the fourth quarter. Yes he was hurt, but he also did what he does in the playoffs and just crumbled. He didn't attack or draw fouls or shoot like he did in the first three quarters. Kyrie Irving was hurt. That ankle sprain was bad and he was not even available. If he were playing I do think the Nets would have won. Blake Griffin was fine on offense, but he got abused defensively. That was a slap in Giannis' face to put Griffin on him. Bruce Brown did all the little things he does so well, but he made some mental mistakes in game 7 that really hurt. Taking Giannis down for a technical foul in that game was rough. Deandre Jordan didn't even play. Joe Harris was missing shot after shot after shot. He was a humongous minus. Nic Claxton barely saw the floor. Everyone besides KD was a minus for the Nets. But man did KD show out. It was so great to see him look like himself. He was making incredible jumpers, attacking when the defense collapsed on him outside, played solid defense and ran that offense. This looked like the KD from OKC and Golden State. He looked healthy and loose and free and was an absolute force. He almost single handedly won that series for the Nets.

Yet KD did not, and the Nets could not buy and trade their way to a title this season. I have to admit I was very happy to see Milwaukee win. My dad is a fan, I love Giannis, I like that a small market team is in the conference finals, I think this takes some pressure off Mike Budenholzer and Giannis, it is all good to me. The Bucks did miss some golden opportunities, but when they needed other guys besides Giannis to step up, they did. Jrue Holiday had an awful offensive game, until late in the fourth. When the Bucks needed him he made big shots, got stops and made free throws. Khris Middleton had a rough shooting night, but he kept at it, he kept shooting and he finally got some big shots to fall, again when the Bucks needed it most. Brook Lopez stopped shooting threes and got closer to the rim. This helped to open things up for Giannis and the rest of the Bucks offense. He also, finally, grabbed some rebounds when the Bucks needed him to. Pat Connaughton and Brynn Forbes did exactly what was asked of them. They took and made some threes and stayed out of the way. And Giannis matched KD. Giannis had a great game. He put up 40 points, had double figures in rebounds, contested and made the Nets take harder shots at the rim, and biggest of all, he made 9 of his 13 free throws. That is big time for him. He was tremendous. He looked gassed at times, but hey, he had to carry that team for almost four full quarters. But he did, and the Bucks came away with the win.

In my eyes the Bucks are the best team, on paper, left in the playoffs. I hope this propels them to the finals, but you never know with the way the Hawks are playing right now. The Bucks passed a big time test though. Now lets see if it helps them the rest of these playoffs.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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