Atari’s original video game console was the hot toy. Leisure suits were cool. Elvis Presley unexpectedly died. The first “Star Wars” movie was released.…
Atari’s original video game console was the hot toy. Leisure suits were cool. Elvis Presley unexpectedly died. The first “Star Wars” movie was released.
The year was 1977.
That was the last time the Milwaukee Bucks appeared on Christmas Day.
“It’s been a while,” Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo said, knowing it was an understatement.
Their wait is over. On Tuesday, at 11 a.m. in Milwaukee, noon in New York and 7 p.m. in Greece — one of the 215 countries that will be seeing the NBA’s Christmas games, and a basketball-crazed nation where fans will watch in droves to see their brightest star — that will all change, when Antetokounmpo and the Bucks visit the Knicks.
He knows the world will be watching.
“I always wanted to play in a Christmas game,” said Antetokounmpo, the 24-year-old MVP candidate who is averaging 26.2 points per game this season. “When I came to the league I started watching it, and I wished and hoped that one day we can be there as a team to play a game — and the day has come.”
After the Bucks-Knicks tilt, it’s Oklahoma City vs. Houston, Philadelphia at Boston, the Los Angeles Lakers against Golden State and Portland visits Utah.
But no team has been waiting longer for an invite to the NBA’s on-court holiday party than the Bucks, who haven’t appeared in any of the last 120 games played on Dec. 25. There’s no shortage of factors for that — the league picks teams that drive ratings, teams that have superstars, teams that are coming off really good seasons. Milwaukee has won two playoff series in the last three decades, and both of those were in 2001.
But with Antetokounmpo as a full-fledged star and one of the NBA’s best records at 22-10, the Bucks and their best player are ready for their close-up.
