Bucks, Hawks look to end decades-long droughts
There’s more than a berth in the NBA Finals at stake when the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks square off for the Eastern Conference championship.
The winner of the series that starts today also will end decades of frustration.
Milwaukee won its lone NBA title in 1971 and last reached the Finals in 1974. The Hawks won their only championship in 1958 and lost in the Finals in 1957, 1960 and 1961 — and that’s when they were still playing in St. Louis.
“This is obviously a great chance, a great opportunity for us,” Bucks center Brook Lopez said. “But what is it, you can’t put the cart before the horse or whatever? We’ve got a lot of business to take care of still. We’ve got to go get Game 1.”
The Bucks got here by sweeping the Miami Heat and surviving a seven-game series with the second-seeded Brooklyn Nets. Atlanta beat the New York Knicks in five games and knocked off the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in seven.
Both the Bucks and Hawks ended their second-round series by earning their first Game 7 road victories ever.
It’s been an impressive turnaround for the Hawks, who were 14-20 and 11th in the East standings when they fired coach Lloyd Pierce
at the beginning of March. The Hawks closed the regular season by going 27-11 under coach Nate McMillan and have followed that up with an 8-4 playoff record.
Trae Young has led the way by scoring 29.1 points per game in his first postseason.
“I think our guys have done a really good job of just locking in to that particular game and not thinking about what happened in the past and not thinking about anything other than what we need to do in that game,” McMillan said.
PISTONS WIN LOTTERY FOR NO. 1 DRAFT PICK >> After one of the worst seasons in franchise history, the Detroit Pistons have something to celebrate.
The Pistons won the NBA draft lottery on Tuesday night, meaning they’ll have the No. 1 pick on July 29 — and, presumably, the chance to take Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham.
Houston — which basically had 50-50 odds of picking in the top four — got the No. 2 pick. Cleveland will pick No. 3 and Toronto will pick No. 4, after both of those franchises got some lottery luck to move up in the order.
Unless Detroit moves the pick, it will be picking No. 1 overall for the first time since taking Bob Lanier in 1970. MIDDLETON, HOLIDAY, LOVE COMMIT TO OLYMPICS >> Jrue Holiday is planning to try to follow in his wife’s footsteps and win an Olympic gold medal.
Holiday has committed to USA Basketball for next month’s Tokyo Games, along with his Milwaukee teammate Khris Middleton and Cleveland forward Kevin Love, said to a person with knowledge of the decisions.
Holiday and Middleton are planning to play at this point even if the Bucks make the NBA Finals, the person said. The person spoke to The Associated Press Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the team has not yet publicly released the roster.
It would be the first Olympics for Holiday and Middleton, and the second for Love — who was on the U.S. team that won gold at the 2012 London Games.