bring on red friday!

(aww. that's tough. aww ... photo: jsonline.com)

"More and more, I will believe!
Like a child, I must believe!
Come on, y'all! Make it perfect ...

This town! This night, this crowd,
Come on put them up, let me hear it loud!
This town! This city, this crowd,
Stand up on your feet, put your worry down!
And everyone of you, all around --
Come on y'all, let's take it!
Everyone of you, in this crowd --
Come on y'all, let's take this town!

This town! This night, this crowd,
Come on put them up, let's take this town!
This town! This city, this crowd,
We're taking on the world today!
Come on put them up, and everyone of you all around --
We can be anything, take this town!
Come on put them up, we're taking on the world today --
Take this town!

Let's take this town!"

-- "This Town" by OAR. Coming to Starlight on Friday, July 16th, if anyone's up for a summer concert experience ...

Well that was fun, wasn't it? After four relatively lop-sided games, game five was everything you could ask for in an epic contest. Back and forth first half. Home team pulls away in the third, gets up 13. Road team claws back, claws back, rallies, then home team hits a huge jumper to seal the deal and halt the comeback in its tracks.

Only ... it didn't quite unfold according to the David Stern / Dick Bavetta authored script.

Because after Josh Smith hit his 16 footer that 99 times out of 100 seals the deal, the Bucks scored 14 unanswered points, the last three of which came via THE play of the series so far.

Bucks 91, Hawks 87.

Series. F*cking. On!

As most of you all know, I love the NBA. I love it more than I love college hoops, which puts me in a very small minority here in KC. (Population: 3). Prior to our adopting the Bucks as our team a couple years ago, I was a huge Knicks fan.

I remember living and dying with those 1990s Knicks teams. The 1991 squad that somehow pushed Jordan's first title team to seven games. The 1992 squad that also pushed Chicago to seven. And the ultimate heartbreak, the 1993 Knicks. Opening up 2-0 in the Eastern Finals, highlighted by my favorite dunk to this day, John Starks going baseline and tomahawking it over Jordan and Ho Grant. I nearly poked a hole in the floor in my folks' main room after that play, I was jumping so hard:



But that team collapsed, dropping the next two in Chicago, then Charles Smith happened in game five, and the Bulls closed it out in game six.

(Hang in there, I'm going somewhere with this. Two somewheres, actually).

Still, the Knicks didn't give up. They won the East in 1994, in the second of five "I Hate Reggie Miller" playoff series in eight years that were epic classics (and were the basis for "Winning Time", the outstanding 30 for 30 documentary that aired last month). Only to lose in the Finals to Houston, a Finals best known for the split screen in game five, as NBC couldn't decide between airing game five of the NBA Finals ... or Al Cowlings and OJ Simpson taking a leisurely drive in a white Ford Bronco.

The next few years, the Knicks were perfectly mediocre. They fell in the Eastern semis to Indiana in 1995, when Ewing missed a layup as time expired in game seven. Pat Riley decided he'd had enough, and classily faxed in his resignation from a cruise ship off the coast of Greece (after he'd already accepted the Miami Heat job). The 1996 squad went through three coaches (Don Nelson, Don Cheney, and finally, Jeff Van Gundy), before bowing out to the Bulls in five. The 1997 squad was set up for one final showdown with the Bulls, leading Miami three to one ... and then, bench-ket-ball happened, as the Knicks stormed the court after Alonzo Mourning cheap-shotted Patrick Ewing. (Everyone remembers the famous photo of Jeff Van Gundy literally clinging on Mourning's leg).

Then came 1999, the last gasp. An aging, veteran squad that snuck into the playoffs as the eight seed. Then defeated Miami in five, Atlanta in four, and Indiana in six, the series that gave rise to the "Ewing Theory". But the Knicks didn't have enough, and fell to the Spurs in the Finals in five.

2000, another solid season. But the Pacers beat the Knicks in the Eastern Finals. 2001 was the end, although nobody knew it until it ended, with a game five first round defeat to the Toronto Raptors. The Knicks have never recovered from that night -- Van Gundy quit, Dave Checketts resigned, Ewing was traded, and into the void stepped ... (steve still shaking his head in disgust at the mention of this guy's name ...) Isiah Thomas.

Here's my point today, Bucks fans:

1. Reread everything I wrote above. I remember so much detail, so many moments, in those series, a lot of which I didn't type. And every one of those series occurred at least a decade ago.

I loved the NBA ... because I had a team to care about. Its been since 2001 -- 9 freaking years -- since the team that I love has mattered in this league.

Last night, the Milwaukee Bucks mattered. If you re-read the live blog (basically an ongoing, free-flowing conversation between me and "the voice of reason" that occasionally touched on mature subjects), you'll pick up on just how epic the final four minutes were. The Bucks trailed by 9 after Josh Smith hit the top-of-the-key jumper.

They led by 1 a mere 118 seconds later. Somehow, this team just kept fighting, kept fighting.

Last night was fun. For the first time since those Knicks teams of decades gone by, I have a rooting interest in the NBA playoffs. Sure, I get on board the Mavericks Express every spring, but it's not the same. Because I really don't care about the Mavs the rest of the year. Yeah, they're the "hometown team", but they were awful when I lived there. I never developed a connection with them like I did with the Stars.

This spring, for the first time in a long time, the playoffs are personal. I have a vested rooting interest. Live and die each night with the same team, and not just for gambling purposes. I love it.

But my main point I wanted to make is this:

2. Don't celebrate prematurely.

Last night was a blast. It was a huge, epic upset. It potentially legitimizes everything Milwaukee accomplished this year. To knock a top 3 seed out, would be a definite statement of "where all the white women at!" Nah, just kidding. Its a definite statement of "we've arrived!"

But the key there is "potentially". If the Bucks lose game six, game five is meaningless.

The Journal Sentinel published an opinion today on last night's win, that I think sums up the EXACT wrong reaction to have. Entitled "It Doesn't Get Much Better Than This", it glorifies last night's win. Which I'm perfectly good with -- it should be verbally fellated so beautifully and poetically that it would make a porn star beam with pride at said fellation.

But last night isn't As Good As It Gets.

Tomorrow night is.

As Dick Vermeil used to preach, "Victory Monday". Take a day, savor the win ... and then forget about it, and focus on the next one.

Because this next one, is without a doubt the biggest game the Bucks have played in our time as fans of their team.

Fear the Deer!

* Awesome tweet from Andrew Bogut, on the Bucks arriving at 1am back at Mitchell Field last night: "Wow, fans at the airport at 1am. Still gotta get one more. I love this city". "Still gotta get one more". I think Coach Scotty has this team's mindset exactly where it needs to be ...

(And hell yes, I love that city! Its impossible to hate Milwaukee. Impossible).

* Reading the Bucks blogs, the comments section, you just get chills up your spine. The fans are ready. Everyone preaching to "wear red", everyone preaching to "be loud", everyone preaching to "finish these guys off". Wait, that sounds like a typical Chiefs prediction column from me. No wonder I love this team!

* Also love the commentors using the Field of Dreams references in regard to the Hawks. "Ease their pain". "Go the Distance".

* OK, THE play of the series so far.

Bucks 83, Hawks 82, 1:24 to go. BJ drives, tosses up a floater, that misses badly. When out of nowhere, Ersan Ilyasova plows through three Hawks rebounders, somehow straddles the baseline, throws the pass cross-court to Delfino, for the three ... (bob davis voice) SWISH!

Obviously, at that point, its a huge moment. But it also shows the difference between Milwaukee and Atlanta. The Hawks just standing around, waiting for something to happen. The Bucks hauling ass, forcing the issue, and making something happen.

I can honestly say, I love this team, the 2009-2010 Bucks, more than any team since the 2006 Chiefs. They remind me a lot of the 2006 Chiefs, actually. If you knew me back then, you know how insanely in love I was with that team. You know the adversity that team overcame, the constant injuries, the horrid start, the awful start to December, and yet somehow, someway, they just kept fighting. They didn't give up.

This Bucks team, the same way. When Smith hit that jumper to go up 9 as the clock dropped under 4 minutes, it didn't look good. Generally speaking, if you're down more possessions than minutes left in the game, you're in trouble. At that point, you're down 5 possessions with under 4 to go. And yet what happened? Salmons strokes the three. BJ hits the layup. BJ hits two free throws. Kurt Thomas goads Joe Johnson into a horrific charge that fouls him out of the game. After missing both free throws, Ilyasova boards it, lays in the follow up for the lead. And then after a defensive stand, bam, BJ runner, Ilyasova save and pass, Delfino three, ballgame. From down 9 to up 4 in the span of two and a half minutes. That takes a total team effort. The Bucks give that every night. Let's hope the Hawks fail to do so one more time.

* As much fun as it is cheering for your team when they're expected to win ... come on, admit it. Last night was made that much more fun because no sane person thought Milwaukee would win more than a game in this series. Let alone three straight, the last via an epic rally from down 9 late in the game on the road to win. I think that's why I loved the 1995 Chiefs (and the 2006 Chiefs) so much more than the 1993 or 2003 versions. Nobody expected anything from those first two Chiefs teams, yet they defied all expectations. No sane person thought Milwaukee would win this series. Yet here they sit, 48 minutes away from the biggest win of the decade for this franchise.

* And yes, I did just type "no sane person thought Milwaukee would win this series". I am fully aware I picked the Bucks in six.

* Game six. Tomorrow. 6pm. ESPN. Red Friday alert!!!

I know how loud it was in the Fortress on Fourth for games three and four. I have a feeling they're gonna need to call in some professional roofers on Saturday morning to check out the noise damage to the ceiling by the time game six is over. Especially if "The LeBron James of Mascots" keeps pulling off crazy ass stunts like this one: