Why The Bucks’ Loss Was Bigger News Than The Heat’s Win?

May 3

The Buckette List

The NBA playoffs are well into round-two, so why are we still talking about the Milwaukee Bucks loss from last week? While the NBA has been strategic in growing a global audience it is unexpected that the Bucks’ round-one loss has been trending around the world. So why have international athletes around the planet, taken notice of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s post-game interview?

After Milwaukee, the top-seed team gets knocked out of the playoffs by the eighth-seed team Miami, the Greek Freak faces the media’s questions about the loss.

This is how it went down….

May is the NBA’s Mental Health Awareness Month. The league has made big strides to support the mental health of its players. The mandate for each team to have at least one full-time licensed mental health practitioner on staff was a demonstration of how serious the NBA got about mental health. I mentioned in my last article, the impact the media has on the mentality of our athletes. How can the NBA say they prioritize mental health and allow the media to ask these types of interview questions?

Do you view this season as a failure?

In my opinion, that is a pretty rotten question to ask any human at any time in life. Does anyone want to reflect on their life and label particular actions as failures? Why not ask, “How do you view this season?” Or even, “How would you respond to someone that says the Bucks failed this season?” The reporter who asked this lacks respect for the common humanity in all of us.

It is no secret that Giannis holds Kobe Bryant in high regard, like so many of us ballers and fans. What is fascinating is how Kobe responded to a similar question back in a 2017 interview. Take a listen to how Kobe talks about failure, and see if you hear the similarities.

There are some reports out there that Giannis “snapped” at the reporter, but I think he stayed as professional as anyone could possibly be in that situation. This interview is being viewed by athletes around the world.

What I would like to see come out of this, is a new culture in sports media. Embiid was rightfully announced MVP last night, but equal recognition needs to be given to Giannis as the face of the NBA. Thank you Antetokounmpo for being an example we can all look up to.