The Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks are barely on the same spectrum of NBA basketball. One is a otherworldly powerhouse making history and snapping long-standing records while the other has stumbled through the first quarter of their season in much more disappointing fashion than anyone expected. They only face each other twice a season -- in fact, it might be more than a year before the two teams face each other again.
NBA scores 2015: The Warriors and Bucks are the NBA’s best new rivalry
Milwaukee nearly beat Golden State for a second time before collapsing, but not before earning themselves a real rivalry.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Doesn’t matter. They’re a rivalry now.
The Bucks started it, if you will, demonstratively knocking off Golden State and ending their perfect season after a 24-0 start. In a perfect scheduling quirk, Milwaukee traveled to Oracle Arena for the two team’s second meeting just a week later. The Warriors, who thrive on people disrespecting them, didn’t like the loss or the “24-1” T-shirts that confident Milwaukee fans brought out. They talked some trash and had their own T-shirts ready to go. Moments like this is when you realize Golden State has transcended just playing basketball: this is a performance art for them and their off-court persona has become nearly as important as their on-court play.
Yet, on the Warriors’ home court, something strange happen. The Bucks took an early lead ... then it was halftime and they were up 10. And then it was the third quarter, and the Warriors cut into the lead ... and Milwaukee weathered it, clawing back ahead by double digits. Eight minutes left in the game and the Bucks led by 11. Was this the Warriors’ kryptonite? Were the lowly Bucks -- the third-worst team in the East despite all their promise coming into the season -- really going to do this to the NBA’s reigning hegemon twice?
Well, no. You can only hold down Golden State for so long and with a four-day break looming, Luke Walton didn't hold back his stars. A 121-112 win by the Warriors was predictable because every win for this team is predictable, but the gradual buildup before they, at long lost, went ahead was cinematic basketball. As the buzzer expired, Milwaukee took no pleasure in moral victories -- they knew how close they had come to this win before falling short. Some last-minute jawing proved it.
For the next 365 days, Milwaukee will continue down their path as a young team trying to find a long-term identity. Who knows how high the Warriors will fly, although they’re certainly the odds on favorite to win the 2016 championship right now and maybe snag an NBA-record for total wins while they’re at it. But these teams sure won’t forget this week of December, no matter how much time elapses before they go at it again. That’s not how either of them are wired.
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Jimmy Butler had a chance as the buzzer expired. All things considered, the shot he attempted that could have sent the Bulls and Pistons to a fifth overtime could have gone in. Thankfully, it fell short. There's rarely a limit to how much basketball can be played, but Chicago and Detroit had found it.
What a game it was, though. Three times, Reggie Jackson missed potential game winners. Three times, Detroit players fouled out. Three Bulls, for the first time since the Jordan era, scored 30-plus points. In fact, that Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler trio went for 107 of Chicago's 144 points on Friday -- but three points too few from prolonging the longest game in the NBA this year.
Do yourself a favor and peruse the box score, at least. You won’t see stats like those for a while.
San Antonio wins Game 8
The Spurs and the Clippers' first round series was the 2015 playoffs' most thrilling. The seven-game thriller threw gut punches both ways until a gimpy Chris Paul somehow carried Los Angeles to the finish line in an unbelievable Game 7. When the two teams met again Friday, even as their supporting cast changed, it felt like the series had never ended.
Ultimately, though, Kawhi Leonard was a maniacal assassin, knocking down shots from all sorts of impossible angles while playing even greater defense. After three quarters of back-and-forth hoops, it was Los Angeles' bench unit that coughed up a lead in the fourth quarter that the Clippers couldn't recover from. Still, circle your calendar for the next meeting between these two.
JaVale McGee awakens in Dallas' win
The surprising Mavericks haven't needed to rely on McGee this season since the oddball center returned from injury in mid-November, but they needed him on Friday. After starting the game 2-of-13 from the floor, Dallas desperately needed a spark and McGee, of all people, answered the call.
Starting the night with an alley-oop dunk and ending it with another, McGee abused Memphis' slow big men, finishing a game-high plus-20 with 10 points, five rebounds and three blocks. Chandler Parsons was his running mate, rattling off 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting and a season-high 32 minutes off the bench as he continues to work back from a summer knee surgery. While Dallas' starters were mostly unimpressive, the bench connection carried them, showing what a fully operational Mavericks team might look like come March.
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Steph is hitting shots from stupid distances and we’re apathetic. THAT’S how you know he has transcended. Even the TV crew knows he’s a robot now.
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Final scores
Spurs 115, Clippers 107 (Pounding the Rock recap | Clips Nation recap)
Timberwolves 99, Kings 95 (Canis Hoopus recap | Sactown Royalty recap)
Raptors 108, Heat 94 (Raptors HQ recap | Hot Hot Hoops recap)
Hawks 109, Celtics 101 (Peachtree Hoops recap | CelticsBlog recap)
Knicks 107, 76ers 97 (Posting & Toasting recap | Liberty Ballers recap)
Pacers 104, Nets 97 (Indy Cornrows recap | Nets Daily recap)
Mavericks 97, Grizzlies 88 (Mavs Moneyball recap | Grizzly Bear Blues recap)
Jazz 97, Nuggets 88 (SLC Dunk recap | Denver Stiffs recap)
Pistons 147, Bulls 144 (4 OT) (Detroit Bad Boys recap | Blog a Bull recap)
Warriors 121, Bucks 112 (Golden State of Mind recap | Brew Hoop recap)
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