It’s a lovely Saturday in the MKE. The temperatures are rising outside the BMO; the grass was out on my run along Lincoln Memorial this morning and I heard the river running by Water Street not to mention that I saw my first gaggle of college students trolling the East Side in shorts. So yes, it does appear that spring is finally here. Then there is tonight, inside the BMO Harris, where the Bucks will try to capture that heat in their attempt to topple the two seed of the west.
The Thunder (53-20) are swinging into town after our Bucks turned around their four game losing streak, recently exploiting the Lakers and their injured defense. Will Milwaukee be able to figure a way to contain the ‘Durantula’? Will Russell Westbrook get stuck in Urban Outfitters buying a new pair of glasses? Will I be able to hand the kink in my neck that developed from all the head-bobbing I will do during the Vanilla Ice halftime show? Maybe we find out, but at the very least it’s time to power up the Super Nintendo, fire up the Chumbawamba and enjoy a fruit by the foot because it's '90s night and it's game time!
While the team may have turned back the clock on their jersey selection and intro music tonight, if they wanted to beat the Thunder they would need to turn up their offensive efficiency. Through the first quarter it looked like they were still feeling for those keys because through the first part of the quarter they were averaging more of a Sister, Sister and less of a Boy Meets World shooting percent. At least until Turkish Thunder started an 8-2 run for Milwaukee that would close the gap at the quarter to a more manageable game. Milwaukee 28 - Oklahoma City 32.
Quarter two was pretty similar to quarter one with both teams maintaining the status quo and flow of the previous twelve minutes. The Bucks were able to win some of the hustle categories, for instance out rebounding OKC 29-27, but were still not able to figure out a defensive scheme to stymie the Thunders overall efficiency. This team from the Western Conference runs an offense like Danny Tanner runs Spring Cleaning – quick, ruthless, and most importantly Kimmy Gibbler Free. Milwaukee 46 Oklahoma City 56.
If you are curious how the half time show went, words cannot do justice to the elation I felt when Vanilla Ice busted out Ninja Rap from the cinematic equivalent to the quadruple double that is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. Take that Super Shredder.
Powered by 6 points before an early technical foul exit to the bench by Larry Sanders, the Bucks were able to make this a tie game with a little over two minutes left in the quarter. OKC was still shooting over 50% from the field but it was no longer the Schwing-worthy 60+% of the first half. This along with a few extra defensive stops and followed by a few extra fast breaks and Milwaukee was able to claim its first lead of the game. The lead was short lived however, as a pair of Kevin Durant free-throws tied the game up going into the fourth quarter. Bucks 83 Thunder 83.
So there we were, twelve minutes away from deciding who would rule '90s night, the Milwaukee Bucks or the former Supersonics. I was still trying to figure out a way to slow down my heart rate after the riveting halftime show and it looked like the Bucks were trying to figure out a way to keep rolling with the Thunder. Neither of us were succeeding, as KD did what he needed to in order to take over another fourth quarter. He contributed 30 points on over 50% shooting and 8 rebounds as the Thunder beat Milwaukee despite 29 points and 14 rebounds from Ersan Ilyasova. '90s night ended in defeat much like Shredders evil plan to overtake New York City, Milwaukee 99 Oklahoma City 109.