A Manchester City Fan’s Guide To the NBA Playoffs

The Milwaukee Bucks may be the best fit for Manchester City fans to root for in the NBA Playoffs.

The final team that Manchester City fans should consider rooting for in the NBA Playoffs is the local team I’ve grown up rooting for my whole life: the Milwaukee Bucks.

No team, even out of the ones I’ve previously mentioned, has had quite as tortured of a history as the Bucks have.

The Bucks were founded in 1968. Their start was about as promising as any teams could be.

Though Milwaukee would finish in a tie for the worst record in the NBA during their first season in 1968-69, they would win a coin flip that gave them the first pick in the NBA draft that summer. With that coin flip, the Bucks would have the great fortune of drafting, arguably, the best player of all-time: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor). He would immediately turn the Bucks around.

In his first season, the Bucks would make the biggest improvement over a preceding season in NBA history (at that time), winning 29 games more than they had the season prior. The Bucks would finish with the second best record in the NBA, making it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to the New York Knicks.

The next season, Milwaukee would make a trade that landed them another all-time great: Oscar Robertson. With his addition, the Bucks would win the NBA title in just their third season in the league.

After their first title, Milwaukee would remain in the thick of contention. Milwaukee had 60 wins seasons in 1972 and 1973. In ’73, they made it to their second NBA Finals, where they would come up just short against Boston.

Their fortunes, however, looked like they were about to change in the middle of the 70’s. Abdul-Jabbar requested a trade at the end of the 1975 season. Milwaukee granted his wish, trading him to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Bucks, however, would remain resilient. Milwaukee would continue to remain in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoffs from 1979-1990. Though they failed to make the NBA Finals during that stretch, they remained a real contender.

After 1990, things collapsed. Milwaukee would spend nearly the entirety of the decade outside the playoffs.

A brief moment of resurgence happened at the end of the 1990’s. The Bucks hit on a couple of their draft picks in Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson. Several other moves they made landed them other good players like Sam Cassell. Milwaukee would make it back to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2000-01, and looked to be on their way to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1973.

Then, disaster struck: Between a monstrous series from Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson, and several controversial officiating decisions, Milwaukee would lose in seven games.

The following season, the Bucks would begin to fall apart at the seams. Tensions flared between their coach George Karl, and their star player Ray Allen. Allen would get traded to Seattle in exchange for Gary Payton and Desmond Mason. Mason would be a bust, and Payton would leave in free agency that summer. Allen would go on to make the Hall-of-Fame. What remained of that roster was either moved via trade, or the players left in free agency.

Milwaukee then spent the next 16 years mired in the position no franchise wants to find themselves in: mediocrity. Milwaukee was never bad enough to land a pick that would net them a star player. They were never good enough to seriously contend for a title.

Nothing encapsulated this era better than this in 2013. Bucks guard Brandon Jennings made a claim that the Bucks, who had gone 38-44 during the regular season, would beat the defending NBA champion Miami Heat in 6 games. The Bucks got swept in four.

By 2013, the team was in real danger of being moved out of Milwaukee. With an unexciting roster and an outdated arena, the Bucks seemed destined to leave. The team had become a joke, one that as fan you didn’t whether to laugh or cry about.

Things, however, couldn’t look more different today. The same year that the team looked to be at its lowest point, Milwaukee drafted an unknown 19 year old kid from Greece with their first round pick: Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The following year, the team would be sold to new ownership, a group that was committed to keeping the Bucks in Milwaukee and turning them into a real contender.

Though there would be ebbs and flows, the Bucks would continue to improve their roster: they landed Khris Middleton in a trade in the summer of 2014.

They would land Malcolm Brogdon with a second round pick in 2016 NBA draft. In 2017, they would land Eric Bledsoe via trade.

Then, this past summer, the Bucks moved on from sub-par coaching to bring in Mike Budenholzer, one of the best coaches in the league.

If the Golden State Warriors are what Manchester City is now, the Milwaukee Bucks are where Manchester City was in 2011-12.

After decades of absolute misery, the Bucks have bolted to the top of the NBA this year. They had their first sixty win season since the 1980s. They finished the regular season with the team’s best record. They’ve dominated teams on both ends of the court the way City dominated the EPL in 2011-12.

Their star player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, is arguably the most likable player in the league. His dominance as a two-way player may land him the MVP this year. Antetokounmpo has so many of the qualities of City’s greats from their current generation. His leadership qualities, composure, and defensive dominance are like Vincent Kompany. His ability to do the incredible on offense, to bully defenders, reminds one of Sergio Aguero.

Milwaukee has played the most exciting ball in the NBA this year. Like Guardiola’s City side, the Bucks have developed into an unstoppable force that’s steam-rolled most of the league.

The Bucks may be underdogs to win it all, but there’s no doubt that they’re here to contend. This team, much like City in 11-12, has a chance to take down the giants. To become the next great team.

After spending most of my life watching sub-par basketball and dealing with nothing but disappointments, the Bucks finally look different. Just like Manchester City fans couldn’t believe their success when it arrived in 11-12 chanting, “We are not really here,” we can’t believe what we’ve seen out of the Bucks.

If you’re looking for a team that embodies much of what Manchester City stands for, both past and present, you won’t find a better team to root for than the Milwaukee Bucks during this NBA Playoffs.