Bucks Look To Make The Most Of Playoff Run — On Court And Off

The Milwaukee Bucks’ next playoff game is on the road, but the team is encouraging fans to cheer the team on here in Wisconsin.

The Bucks have announced a watch party Saturday night outside Fiserv Forum, including a 40-foot screen showing the game and live entertainment.

A growing number of teams are hosting events like this for away games, said Nate Jones, associate lecturer in the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Department of Exercise and Sport Science.

Jones said the Bucks organization is looking to make the most of the team’s strong on-court performance to boost its presence in Milwaukee and throughout the state.

“What they’re trying to do is trying to bring everyone together and solidify themselves within the organization, kind of how the Green Bay Packers have solidified themselves within Wisconsin,” he said.

Jones said marketing a team is considerably easier when it’s playing as well as the Bucks have played.

Milwaukee had the best regular season record of any team in the NBA, and has won the first two games of the series against the Detroit Pistons by 35 and 21 points, respectively.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has scored 50 points for the Bucks in the series so far, and has 29 rebounds.

Eric Nehm, Bucks reporter for The Athletic, said the Pistons have tried to contain the Bucks star’s scoring, and even succeeded for a time in the first half of Game 2.

But, he said, containing Antetokounmpo is not the same as stopping him.

“He’s going to get to the rim and he’s going to dunk on you, and there’s not a whole lot you can really do about it,” Nehm said. “It really puts teams in a bind.”

The third game of the series is Saturday night in Detroit.