24-1: Watching the Warriors' Mortality in Milwaukee

If you view sports through the prism that championships are the only thing that matter, the Bucks’ victory over the Warriors on Saturday night was inconsequential. Milwaukee will almost assuredly not go on to win the NBA title; Golden State remains the overwhelming favorite to do so. However, this was a wonderful evening to be in the building, and the Bradley Center reached levels of energy that I did not previously know was possible there. In no particular order, this is what stood out:

1) The Celtics deserve at least a hockey assist for pushing the Warriors into double-overtime on Friday night. With fresher legs, it’s hard to envision the Bucks pulling off an upset, or, at the very least one where they were in command and had a chance to take a victory lap in the game’s final minute. This is not to take anything away from the magnitude of Milwaukee’s victory, but it was apparent that the Warriors were gassed, not just from the night before, but from giving their all night in and night out in a league where it’s more prudent in the long run to preserve energy.

2) Even though Steph Curry’s shot was clearly off, he still managed to score 28 points. It was so bizarre to see him struggle from 3pt range, where he went 2-8. My NBA fanhood is weird. I like the Bucks, but I don’t really have unconditional allegiance to any team, so I pick players and franchises to root for in stretches without ever getting too up or too down about anything. As such, I wasn’t sure going into the night whether I’d rather see the Bucks win, or to see Curry go walnuts with his jumper.

It was profoundly strange to watch him struggle with his shot. We’re so used to seeing him ostensibly wave a magic wand, where no amount of range requires even a cursory amount of visible effort. I’m sure the Bucks’ defensive schematics had a little bit to do with it, but in a one-game sample it was confounding on a level akin to watching Aaron Rodgers fail to summon his wizardly ways over the past couple months.

3) Klay Thompson was 4-14 from the field, and 2-7 from 3pt, and his body language wasn’t the greatest. He was playing on a hobbled ankle, so I’m not quite ready to diagnose any long-term bad juju there or anything. But, by my eyes, he was the biggest reason for the outcome of the game. Draymond Green was the most impressive Warrior on Saturday—he scored 24 points on 9-14 shooting, and added 11 rebounds. I’m not sure if the casual observer quite realizes how good Green is yet, but he’s tremendous, and a lot of fun to watch.

4) It’s easy knock on Bucks fans for apathy. However, dating back to when they traded an in-prime Ray Allen for a past-prime Gary Payton, and threw in a first round pick, the team had over a decade of frustrating mismanagement and irrelevance prior to last season. Probably to the detriment of his wellbeing, my Dad (who grew up in Milwaukee) has watched about 75% of their games on League Pass in that stretch. Try as one might, it’s impossible to set up an impenetrable emotional wall against your teams’ misfortunes.

Jason Kidd’s first season was a shocking, dramatic improvement. Adding Greg Monroe to the mix and getting Jabari Parker back, the Bucks had fallen far short of expectations so far this year. They entered Saturday at 9-15. It was therefore surprising when the secondary market outside had zero available lower level seats—at any price—and it was over $100/ticket for my future father-in-law and I just to get in the building and sit up in the corner.

It then stood to reason that it would be a crowd that was there for the Warriors like they’d gone out on Saturday night to watch the movies, or even one that was cheering for Golden State. Except it wasn’t. A vast majority of the fans were wearing Bucks gear, the standard chanting section behind the basket was all draped in 24-1 t-shirts, and the Bradley Center got raucous as soon as it became apparent that the team actually had a legit shot to pull off the upset. This was a palpable sporting environment, and one that I wasn’t expecting given all that we just talked about.

5) Returning to the Warriors, I want to get this prediction down on paper: They will break the Bulls’ all-time regular season wins record, and then get knocked off in the playoffs. (Yes, this runs counter to the odds in the introduction.) While it’s to the team’s immense credit that they go all out every night, it also isn’t the most pragmatic strategy in the long run. The Spurs, who surgically manage their minutes throughout the regular season marathon, and added LaMarcus Aldridge, are sitting in the weeds at 20-5. You know they’re relishing receiving 1/20th the attention of Golden State.

Beyond that, the Warriors have the weight of expectations. Yes, they were the no. 1 seed last season, but they did not have the same bullseye on their backs that they’ve since earned. There are more distractions off the court as well. Klay Thompson gets called out by the Instagram model he allegedly cheated on. Stephen Curry signed a massive Under Armour extension, and it feels as though commercial breaks on ESPN do not go by without him. Though it’s not on a network schedule, his immaculate and very likable family is a wholesome reality show.

Can you recall the last time you saw that Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, or LaMarcus Aldridge say or do anything?

None of this is meant to bash the Warriors, whose ball movement and shooting and personalities are so much fun to watch—and perhaps it’s more than a little bit colored by getting a firsthand look at their mortality. But, with everything going on around them, they just feel ripe to get picked off.