As the reigning and defending NBA Champions, the Milwaukee Bucks have earned the respect of everyone in the basketball community. Their run in the 2021 playoffs was the ultimate display of talent, brilliance, and passion.
It doesn’t mean everybody sees their title victory the same way, however. Some see it as a fluke.
On his podcast (Big Shot Bob), Lakers legend Robert Horry talked about the Bucks in a rather shocking fashion, insisting that they won’t repeat because they “shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”
“I don’t think there’s ever gonna be a chance for a team to three-peat,” Horry said. “You might get a team to go back-to-back, but as far as three-peat, I doubt that. It might even be any back-to-back teams cause think about what the Lakers did. They win a championship; the next year, they got a whole different team. We know Milwaukee[Bucks] ain’t gonna go back-to-back cause they shouldn’t have been there in the first place. … They only won that because of a big toe.”
Back in June, the Bucks faced their biggest challenge of that entire postseason: a series against the Brooklyn Nets.
Despite a compromised roster, Brooklyn fought hard through 7 games, with Kevin Durant leading the charge. At one point, late in Game 7, Durant nearly changed the outcome of the game with a three-pointer that was later downgraded to a two (hence the comment about the big toe).
In the end, the Bucks escaped with a narrow victory, shocking the basketball world in a huge upset.
In a way, Horry is right. Had Durant’s foot been an inch back, it might have sealed Brooklyn’s win in Game 7.
But one cannot take away what Milwaukee was able to do throughout the playoffs. Led y Giannis, they dominated both sides of the floor in impressive fashion.
Clearly, that’s still not enough to convince some.
