‘Fear the Deer’ revisited
For Luc Mbah a Moute, the Rockets’ last trip to the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Wednesday triggered happy memories of his first time playing there, when he spent the first five seasons of his career with the Bucks.
The Bucks will move to the Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center, a $524 million venue more than 75 percent completed next door. The Bucks have played at the Bradley Center since 1988.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Mbah a Moute said. “A lot of good memories. That was the beginning. It’s always special, your first year in the NBA, first moments, first years. It’s a good thing for the city to have a new arena, but I had a lot of great memories here. It’s not one of those things you can say those memories go with the building. I know it’s going to be different in the next building. Even here, I still know some of the people, where they sit.
“It tells me how blessed I’ve been, how great of a journey for me from those years to now.”
The memory that stands out most is from a 2010 playoff series in Mbah a Moute’s rookie season.
“There are many, many games,” Mbah a Moute said. “But I remember that year in the playoffs. We played Atlanta. It was unbelievable. That’s when they came out with ‘Fear the Deer.” It was unbelievable. We were up 3-2. The building was rocking. Jerry Stackhouse sang the national anthem. It was crazy.”
The Bucks lost that series in seven games, but Mbah a Moute said “it showed” how Milwaukee can embrace a team.
Antetokounmpo freakishly good
It probably did not take his experience coaching Giannis Antetokounmpo in the All-Star game for Mike D’Antoni to see the greatness in the Bucks’ young star, but he did get a good look at the attitude that has driven his rise to the NBA’s upper echelon.
“He’s great and will be great,” D’Antoni said. “A lot of enthusiasm. He wants to be great, which besides being 6-11 and unbelievably athletic, one of his best skills is he wants to be good and wants his team to be good. He’s a good one to have.”
D’Antoni said Antetokounmpo reminds him in some ways of Amar’e Stoudemire, who he coached in Phoenix at the start of Stoudemire’s career.
“If they put the work in and they have the right stuff, which Giannis does, Amar’e had it, and allow their athletic ability and learning the game, you just try to keep them confident, keep them going, keep them in the gym and they’ll figure it out,” D’Antoni said. “You give them the ability to have confidence, knowing they will make a mistake every once in a while. They have God-given ability to be really good.”
Antetokounmpo is third in the NBA in scoring, averaging 27.2 points per game (along with 10.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists), though he slowed down in recent weeks, averaging 23.2 points since the start of February. But D’Antoni said that is not about anything the defense has done.
“I don’t think other teams do it,” D’Antoni said. “Like all superstars, they’ll have periods they play unbelievably great most of the time and other periods the game’s not there. Same as James
(Harden) or Chris (Paul). Defensively, you always try to do the same thing. You try to muscle up as much as you can. But he’s a force.”
Helping hand appreciated
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni visited with 20 students from the Notre Dame Catholic Schools of Milwaukee, thanking them for their support during Hurricane Harvey.
“A bunch of kids, underprivileged kids, gathered supplies and musical instruments and set them to the Sheldon (Independent School) district in Houston and really helped out and really made a big difference in a lot of kids’ lives,” D’Antoni said.
The students were the guests of the Bucks at Wednesday’s game, the first NBA game they had attended.