The Milwaukee Bucks finally got their hands on that elusive championship in 2021, but things could have panned out quite differently if not for one injury.
In Game 4 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Brooklyn Nets, Kyrie Irving sprained his knee, and the guard believes the Nets would have won the title if he was healthy. Jeff Teague, who was with the Bucks at the time, reacted to Irving’s comments.
“I have some feedback for Kyrie, y’all probably would have won that mother******,” Teague said on his podcast. “We played Game 1, they beat us. I’m like, ‘Game 1 is a test game, everybody like you gotta figure each other out.’ Game 2 they beat us by 30 something, I went to the locker room and you talking about packing up, my truck was packed soon as I got to Milwaukee… This is over. Kyrie sprained that ankle, you see their energy, they zapped… The energy on our team like, ‘Oh s*** like this might be our chance.'”
Teague wasn’t playing and while he tried to cheer his team on from the bench, he admitted he didn’t think they could win. It was a sentiment shared by teammate Bryn Forbes as well.
“The thing that is funny about this story is Bryn Forbes,” Teague said. “Shout out to Bryn, I can’t even say it. Yeah I can, he never thought we was gonna win. We used to be on the sideline, KD (Kevin Durant) hits it, (he’s like), ‘I told you, just ain’t meant to be, bro.’ PJ (Tucker)… I love that dude but KD was cooking that n****. He was doing him so bad, me and Bryn just looking at each other like, ‘We ain’t got a chance, bro. It’s over, bro.'”
(starts at 7:29 mark):
The Nets, even without James Harden, who injured his hamstring in Game 1, just looked like the far superior team in the first two games of the series. The Bucks then narrowly won Game 3, and Irving’s injury in Game 4 turned the tide of the series. Harden returned in Game 5 but was a shell of himself, and despite Kevin Durant playing out of his mind, the Nets ultimately lost in overtime in Game 7.
The Nets Big 3 Era Would Be Looked At Completely Differently With That Title
The Big 3 era in Brooklyn is now looked back upon as a failure of epic proportions, but it certainly wouldn’t have been if they won that championship. Perhaps Durant, Irving, and Harden might still be with the franchise if they had won it all in 2021. Winning cures everything, and any and all issues between them would have been put aside.
Instead, their superteam has gone down as one of the biggest failures in NBA history. On the other hand, that title got the proverbial monkey off the back for Giannis Antetokounmpo, and one wonders how differently he’d be looked at today if the Bucks had suffered another early exit in the postseason.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
