Tag: Khris Middleton

Madden: “Still Pinching Myself” After Bucks’ Title Feat. Jewell Graham

July 25, 2021 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton share an emotional embrace after the Bucks win their first championship in 50 years (Bucks/Instagram).

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In honor of the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2020-21 NBA championship, the franchise’s first in 50 years, two longtime Bucks fans share their joyous feelings and thrilling experiences from the past week. First, Frank Madden, host of Locked on Bucks, details his long journey as a fan, including what it meant to witness his very first title alongside the man who introduced him to the Bucks 29 years earlier, his father. Then, Jewell Graham of Gimme a Buck podcast goes through his unforgettable time at the Bucks’ championship parade.

Frank Madden at 4:41-5:03: “For me, having a chance to be in the building and watch the Bucks clinch an NBA title with an historic performance by Giannis, it was pretty much the absolute fantasy of what I’ve always dreamed could be possible. I mean, basically if you had had me write up a script, I wouldn’t even have had the guts to be so bold as to write out what happened in this series and in that last game.”

11:11-12:04: “The day before, my mom had actually texted me, ‘Hey, I don’t know if he’s gonna be able to go ‘cuz big crowds, his balance and going up stairs in a stadium may not be ideal.’ But then on Tuesday, I talked to him. I was just like, ‘Hey, whatever we have to do – if you need to take me by the arm to feel comfortable, whatever we need to – let’s do it. We’ve gotta see this game together.’ Continue reading

Frank Madden: Bucks Should “Use Their Size” in NBA Finals

July 11, 2021 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Despite suffering a knee injury in the Eastern Conference Finals, Giannis Antetokounmpo delivered a historic performance, albeit in a losing effort in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. (Keith Allison/Wikimedia Commons)

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Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Greek Freak, led his Milwaukee Bucks to the franchise’s first NBA Finals in 47 years. Along the way, he received critical help from talented teammates Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez, among others. But through the first two Finals games, the supporting cast hasn’t done enough. With the Bucks trailing the Phoenix Suns 2-0 and the series shifting to Milwaukee, Frank Madden of Locked on Bucks explores what must change as the team hopes to win four of its next five in pursuit of the 2020-21 title.

7:05-8:03: “You’re tied in the Eastern Conference finals, you have the more talented team, you really should be advancing to the Finals, and then to see your superstar, two-time MVP, a guy who’s been remarkably durable, just suffer this horrible-looking injury. You know, I kind of half-jokingly referred to it as like from a fan perspective, it was like a near-death experience. Basically, those 24 hours thinking that ‘Geez, I have to be prepared that he’s blown out everything in his knee and next year is gone too’ to then, the next day hearing no structural damage and we’ll see what happens here over the next couple weeks. … To win those two games the way they did to close out the Hawks series was incredible to know that Giannis still had a chance to come back at some point in the playoffs. It just felt like a new lease on life, I think for Bucks fans, just that we had a chance at that. And then for him to come back and actually play at a high level has just been incredible.”

15:27-16:07: “Now you’ve got to win four out of five, so they [Middleton and Holiday] can’t afford to have three off games out of five. They’ve gotta pretty much be good to great more or less every game from here on out. Certainly, they can’t both be bad, as we saw in Game 2, shooting the ball. It’s just really tough. And again, I mean, I think we’ve seen those guys when they have their game, they’re really valuable two-way guys. They can both create for others as well as themselves. But you know, that’s the difference between a top 5-10 player and a top 30-35 player. I think those two guys are both in that latter category, and they’re just not going to be able to give you 25-30 points every night in the playoffs.”

Pratik Patel: “This Is the Loosest the Bucks Have Been”

June 7, 2021 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

Defensive specialist P.J. Tucker’s ability to contain Kevin Durant, to the extent that he can, will be something to look for in the Bucks-Nets second-round series (@Bucks/Instagram).

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Despite a dominant performance by reigning, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nets star James Harden going down with a hamstring injury in the first minute of Game 1, the Milwaukee Bucks were not able to take advantage and secure the first victory in this highly anticipated second-round series. Pratik Patel of ESPN Wisconsin helps us digest that first game, the implications of the injury and what adjustments need to be made for the Bucks to advance. Specifically, he delves into how the Bucks can hope to slow down the supremely gifted Brooklyn offense, the leadership new addition Jrue Holiday provides and how Milwaukee’s supporting cast must step up to support its stars. Finally, we discuss the possible consequences of another disappointing Bucks postseason, coming on the heels of early playoff exits in the prior two seasons as well.

6:04-6:27: “If that truly is a re-aggravation of that hamstring injury, I’d be shocked if he even played in this series, let alone in Game 2. And if that’s the case, obviously it makes things a little bit easier for the Bucks defensively to hone in on two stars rather than three. But if the others for the Nets are going to play as well as they did in Game 1, then it might not matter.”

8:30-8:52: “This is also kinda the loosest the Bucks have been the last couple postseasons. The last two years, they were really pressed. There was a lot looming, a lot of talk about championship window. There was all of the conversation surrounding Giannis’ future and this year just felt different. The entire attitude of the team, the aura around them, the feeling in the locker room, was just different this year.”

Eric Nehm: With Bucks, “Is There Anything That Really Needs Fixing?”

June 4, 2019 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is primed to handily win the 2018-19 MVP race, according to guest Eric Nehm (Keith Allison/Creative Commons).

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On the heels of a disappointing Eastern Conference finals exit at the hands of the Raptors, The Athletic’s Eric Nehm is here to talk all things Milwaukee Bucks, including Giannis Antetokounmpo’s MVP campaign, the Bucks’ spectacular season, Mike Budenholzer’s inaugural year at the helm and the significant offseason looming ahead.

Some noteworthy clips (Particular time stamps may vary due to dynamic advertising.):

9:02-9:15: “I guess a less mature 24-year-old would just be angry and not really thinking about exactly how he gets better, but here’s Giannis, two days later, saying, ‘You know, I gotta find a way to be more comfortable in the midrange.’”

14:58-17:04: “I think Khris [Middleton] just really understands Giannis, and Giannis really appreciates guys that play hard, show up every night and can go out and actually take care of business … Giannis can help out with some of the rim protection, Khris can switch a bunch of different things; he also can defend other team’s No. 1s. And because he can defend the league’s best wings, guys like Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Giannis can stay on the back side and just be the free safety and attempt to just wreak havoc essentially. So it all just kind of works, and then on top of it, there’s just no frills. Khris doesn’t really have an ego. He doesn’t really go out there and demand more shots or anything like that.” Continue reading

Tom Westerholm: Giannis Will “Have to Work for Every Bucket” (Celtics-Bucks)

May 2, 2019 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

OTNB guest Tom Westerholm chats with Jayson Tatum prior to Boston’s Game 4 in Indiana (Keith Sliney/Boston Celtics).

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The Boston Celtics stole Game 1 in Milwaukee before the mighty Bucks answered Tuesday with a comfortable victory of their own. With the series all squared up and storylines aplenty, Tom Westerholm of MassLive delves into this fun matchup, which pits Milwaukee and Boston against each other for the second straight postseason. Only, this time, Milwaukee is coming off a 60-win season and the Celtics are able to suit up Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. The Celtics severely limited MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo in Game 1, but he responded with a strong performance in Game 2. How can Boston hope to corral the Greek Freak, and so many more questions answered inside.

Some noteworthy excerpts (*Particular time stamps may vary due to dynamic advertising):
3:54-4:57: “This is a strategy that they’ve employed against Giannis, basically all through last year’s playoffs – let Al Horford guard him one-on-one and then everybody else can get out to shooters. It really hammers home how good Horford is at defending that he was able to do that and that he is able to do that, because every once in a while in this series you see Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, guys who are not small necessarily, get switched onto Giannis and he just blows by them and gets a dunk. It’s replicable just because the Celtics have a guy like Horford, who is as good at defending as he is and who is strong and able to move his feet and able to stay in front…Giannis is going to have a difficult series. He’s gonna have to work for every bucket, every free throw he gets. As much as the Celtics can hope for a win in this series, that’s gonna be what it rests on.”

11:43-12:26: “One of the things to keep in mind with this Celtics team is they do sort of have these stretches, and then sometimes during the regular season that would lead toward finger-pointing, that would lead to guys kind of getting upset with one another, and then that would really snowball, and then you’re talking about a few losses in a row and things can go badly at that point for them. I will say, though, in the locker room everybody was pretty accountable. There wasn’t a lot of, ‘Oh, the young guys needed to do this,’…It was more like Marcus Morris said they need to be setting better screens for Kyrie, and Kyrie said, ‘I need to be better at X, Y and Z.’” Continue reading

The Bucks Are Scoring 122 Points Per Game! (An ’18-19 Quarterly Review)

November 26, 2018 / Aaron Fischman / 0 Comments

Khris Middleton is the most prolific 3-point shooter on a Bucks team suddenly quite 3-happy, and new head coach Mike Budenholzer approves (Keith Allison/Creative Commons).

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Aaron reviews the first quarter of the 2018-19 season, focusing on overall offensive production compared to last year and the Milwaukee Bucks’ considerable improvement spurred by their new style of play. While scoring is way up, offensive efficiency remains about the same as last season. Aaron explains how. He, too, explores Denver’s defensive progression under Mike Malone, as well as the unexpected offensive declines of the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics, and the Rockets’ regression on defense. There’s much more included, but we won’t give it all away. Oh, and next week, we’ll be back with a brand new interview.

Eric Nehm: “Giannis Is a Kobe-Level Lunatic”

November 21, 2017 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Giannis Antetokounmpo, 22, ranks second in the NBA in points per game (29.7), notching nearly two-thirds of those from inside the paint (Keith Allison/Creative Commons).

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Since the Milwaukee Bucks took Giannis Antetokounmpo with the 15th pick of the 2013 NBA Draft, he’s shown tremendous growth as a basketball player, both literally and figuratively. This season, he has planted his name firmly within the MVP conversation, even if casual fans still have trouble pronouncing it. To guide us through this episode wholly devoted to the Grecian phenom, we’ve brought on Eric Nehm, Bucks beat writer for ESPN Milwaukee and cohost of the Locked on Bucks podcast. Eric explains how Giannis’ humble upbringing, laser-like focus and basketball obsession have all contributed to his nearly unprecedented development from a lanky, unknown draftee into the all but unstoppable force he is today. Get a sneak peek of our conversation about the Greek Freak this week with these excerpts (time stamps approximate because of tailored advertisements):

10:10-11:20: “There was a part of me that kind of didn’t love it [Giannis’ nickname] at the start, just because I think ‘freak,’ the connotation of freak, there’s something wrong with you, there’s something to be ashamed about. Because I guess at some point I thought he was going to fit into a prototypical kind of archetype of an NBA player. That hasn’t happened. He is a total anomaly, so calling him something not normal? Yeah, that works out…There’s not anyone else really out there like him, so I think ‘Greek Freak’ works and it fits, and it’s ended up being kind of perfect.”

Clippers Sail into Third, Hawks Rise Eight Spots (Power Rankings: April 12, 2017 Edition)

April 12, 2017 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Seemingly recovered from injury, Chris Paul is playing at a high level as he chases his first championship ring (Verse Photography/Creative Commons).

We’ve reached the final day in a historic NBA season packed with nearly unprecedented statistical seasons by some players, monstrous single-game outbursts by others and a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs for almost all of the teams in the league. On Wednesday’s final 14-game slate, six playoff seeds are still yet to be determined: 1, 2, 7 and 8 in the East and 4 and 5 in the West. Thirteen teams have already been eliminated from further contention, and the rest hope that their fortunes will be on the rise. This will be the final edition of our power rankings this season, but as a reminder, you can chart how every team has fared in our rankings over the course of the season with the interactive graph atop the Power Rankings landing page.

Biggest Jumps: Atlanta Hawks (+8), Minnesota Timberwolves (+6), Los Angeles Lakers (+6)

Biggest Falls: Philadelphia 76ers (-7), Denver Nuggets (-6), Dallas Mavericks (-5) Continue reading

Miami Is Seriously Heating Up (Power Rankings: Feb. 6, 2017 Edition)

February 6, 2017 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

In his first season in Miami, Dion Waiters is playing an outsized role in the Heat’s active 10-game winning streak (Keith Allison/Creative Commons).

Up is down and down is up in this tumultuous edition of the power rankings, which features the most movement of any edition so far, with mighty teams struggling and lowly teams rising up. The Cleveland Cavaliers, still the consensus pick to come out of the Eastern Conference, went just 7-8 in January, giving LeBron James his first losing month since his rookie year. The Toronto Raptors and the Houston Rockets, both in last edition‘s top five, have lost eight of 11 and eight of their last 14, respectively. Even the seemingly unstoppable Golden State Warriors, who have occupied the No. 1 spot in our rankings every single edition except for our first, have dropped games since last edition to the Miami Heat and the Sacramento Kings.

On the other side, the Washington Wizards were just 13-16 before Christmas and have since gone 17-4, steadily climbing up the Eastern Conference standings to the third seed, and up our rankings to fourth. The Dallas Mavericks, at one point dead last in our rankings, have won six of their last seven games, their one loss coming to the Miami Heat. And finally, the twice-aforementioned Heat, unquestionably the NBA’s biggest story right now, were 11-30 and 29th in our previous power rankings, before rattling off 10 straight wins, a streak that is still active. These are some exciting times in the NBA.

Biggest Jumps: Miami Heat (+15), Washington Wizards (+8), Dallas Mavericks (+8)

Biggest Falls: Philadelphia 76ers (-8), Milwaukee Bucks (-8), Toronto Raptors (-8) Continue reading

Frank Madden: Bucks’ Jabari Parker Is a “Savant Offensively”

March 30, 2016 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

After missing most of his rookie season with a foot injury, Jabari Parker is establishing himself in his second season as a core part of Milwaukee's future. (Keith Allison/Flickr)

After missing much of his rookie season with a foot injury, Jabari Parker is establishing himself in his second season as a core part of Milwaukee’s future. (Keith Allison/Flickr)

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Although the Milwaukee Bucks fell well short of expectations this season, Frank Madden, founder and managing editor of SB Nation’s Brew Hoop, explains why the team essentially got what it was looking for with the development of young bucks/Bucks Jabari Parker and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Frank provides more insight into the Greek Freak’s “weird athleticism,” Parker’s post-All-Star-break emergence and Greg Monroe’s tenuous fit on the roster. Head coach Jason Kidd’s second season at the helm is also discussed, among other topics. Highlights can be found below:

4:27-4:57 on Antetokounmpo’s recent dominance:

“In spite of the fact that the last month in many ways has been one of his worst shooting months, it hasn’t mattered. He’s playing at a (high) level and with so much confidence in his ability to get to the rim and make plays for other people and get out in transition and use his size and length and weird athleticism. It’s just so overwhelming to most NBA defenders that it doesn’t matter if you play off him a little bit.”

12:55-13:22 on his overall assessment of the season:

“With the turnaround of Jabari and Giannis,you probably have gotten more or less what you wanted from a development standpoint, which I would argue is the most important thing from this season. But with the expectations coming from last year, there was a lot of hope that this team could certainly at least be a playoff team and maybe be better than that. And obviously for a lot of reasons – I think a lot of it dating to youth and maybe some of the pieces not fitting as well as you’d like.”
Continue reading

Tag: Khris Middleton

Madden: “Still Pinching Myself” After Bucks’ Title Feat. Jewell Graham

Frank Madden: Bucks Should “Use Their Size” in NBA Finals

Pratik Patel: “This Is the Loosest the Bucks Have Been”

Eric Nehm: With Bucks, “Is There Anything That Really Needs Fixing?”

Tom Westerholm: Giannis Will “Have to Work for Every Bucket” (Celtics-Bucks)

The Bucks Are Scoring 122 Points Per Game! (An ’18-19 Quarterly Review)

Eric Nehm: “Giannis Is a Kobe-Level Lunatic”

Clippers Sail into Third, Hawks Rise Eight Spots (Power Rankings: April 12, 2017 Edition)

Miami Is Seriously Heating Up (Power Rankings: Feb. 6, 2017 Edition)

Frank Madden: Bucks’ Jabari Parker Is a “Savant Offensively”

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