Bucks' Christmas contest will lack some cheer
The lights and the decorations are hung and the willing spirit may be festive, but there will not be the same feel around the home opener at Fiserv Forum on Friday afternoon.
Typically, a nationally televised slot on the NBA's signature holiday schedule featuring a pair of multiple-time most valuable players would create a buzz around the city of Milwaukee. On Christmas Day, however, the buzz will have to come from Irish coffees within the confines of homes, as no fans will be allowed into the Bucks' arena for the 1:30 p.m. contest.
For the Bucks, taking the court by themselves won't be new – they experienced playing in an empty home arena for two exhibitions against Dallas. But the game against Golden State may lack a bit of luster without the blithe mood in and around the venue, despite the Bucks entertainment team's plans to make it a festive atmosphere.
“The fans definitely accentuate that,” Bucks guard Pat Connaughton said following shootaround in Boston on Wednesday. “They do kind of make it a little more magnified, they make it a little more ‘more,' if you will.”
It is the second game of the season for Milwaukee and Golden State – the Warriors were part of the NBA's opening night showcase in a loss at Brooklyn on Tuesday – so both teams got a feel for having to generate their own excitement when typically the league, television partners and host cities can help lay a base for them.
And, such festoonery is the fans as well. The game itself remains unchanged. “We miss them,” Connaughton said of the crowds. “We hope that we can get them back in a safe manner at some point soon, but I don't think it takes away any of the intentionality that we're going to have as if there were 17,000 people in these stands yelling and screaming at us as if we're a mortal enemy.”
The Warriors (0-1) were blown out by the Nets, 125-99, but two-time MVP Stephen Curry scored 20 points and handed out 10 assists in his first game since Oct. 30, 2019. James Wiseman, the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, scored 16 points in his debut. Andrew Wiggins scored 13 as the Warriors shot just 30.3% from three-point range and 37.4% overall.
Golden State stayed in New York to practice Wednesday before traveling to Milwaukee on Thursday afternoon. Forward Draymond Green (foot) did not play in the opener and his status for the Bucks game was to be evaluated closer to game day.
This is the eighth straight year the
Warriors have been picked by the league to play Christmas Day and the third straight year the Bucks are featured.
But, it is the first time the Bucks are playing at home on Dec. 25 since 1968.
So while the on-court mission will not be different, when that little extra adrenaline rush is needed late in a game, or when a large comeback is seeded and needs a downpour of emotion to grow, can that also be accomplished purely from within? That will be the question the Bucks begin to answer Friday afternoon.
“I feel like that energy, when we come back to the Fiserv Forum and we have our fans we have 18,000 people every single night cheering for us and we go on a run, we are hard to beat as a team,” forward Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “But, we just gotta adjust. We go out there we have no players, we don't have our fans, new system, we just gotta adjust, play as well as we can. It' going to be a little bit harder, OK, but we're still going to play as hard as we can and do our best.”