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Unified Milwaukee hosts NBA Finals 50 years after title run

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Thousands of fans gather outside Fiserv Forum to watch on a video screen as the Milwaukee Bucks play at Phoenix in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Monday, July 5, 2021, in Milwaukee. Bucks officials said 9,000 fans watched the game on a video screen inside Fiserv Forum and another 20,000 watched in the Deer District outside the arena. The Bucks are in the Finals for the first time since 1974 as they chase their first championship since 1971. (AP Photo/Steve Megargee)

MILWAUKEE ā€“ Much has changed in Milwaukee since the Bucks won their last NBA title a half-century ago.

Nothing reflects the differences more than the melting pot of fans swarming together outside Fiserv Forum playoff games. Fans will flock there again Sunday in hopes of helping the Bucks rally from an 0-2 deficit in the NBA Finals when they host the Phoenix Suns in Game 3.

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The diversity of the crowds is striking considering Milwaukeeā€™s history.

Team President Peter Feigin backtracked five years ago after calling Milwaukee ā€œthe most segregated, racist place Iā€™ve ever experienced in my life,ā€ but 49-year-old Milwaukee native LaNelle Ramey ā€” a Black man ā€” believes it needed to be said.

ā€œIt forced those who were here, longtime Milwaukeeans, to look in the mirror ā€“ in particular those who didnā€™t want to believe it,ā€ said Ramey, the executive director for MENTOR Milwaukee, a Bucks-backed organization that fosters mentorship programs for area youth.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he took no personal umbrage over Feiginā€™s 2016 comments. Barrett noted the diversity of his own administrative team while adding, ā€œIā€™m also very cognizant of the fact we have a very large income gap, education gap, public safety gap in not only the city of Milwaukee but all of southeastern Wisconsin.ā€

Feigin believes what the Bucks have done off the court is at least as important as what they have accomplished on the court.

When asked what his proudest moment is with the Bucks, Feigin doesnā€™t mention the Eastern Conference title the team just won. He instead cites the playersā€™ decision not to take the floor for a postseason game inside the bubble at Walt Disney World last year following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Their decision led to a leaguewide postponement of playoff games.

ā€œIt really kind of sparked a global pause and awareness for social justice,ā€ Feigin said.

Barrett said the Bucks ā€œembody not only the team spirit that you see with all the players, but they embody the community spirit of wanting to be a part of the community. It has been true since the day they got here.ā€

Bucks players engaging in social issues isnā€™t new.

Bob Dandridge, a recent Hall of Fame selection who played on the Bucksā€™ 1971 championship team and the 1974 squad that lost the NBA Finals to Boston, said there were plenty of outspoken players on those teams.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbarā€™s activism inspired the NBA to give out a social justice award bearing his name. Oscar Robertson filed the lawsuit that helped bring free agency to the NBA. Dandridge also wasnā€™t shy about sharing his views.

The difference today, Dandridge says, is the support players receive from management.

ā€œI think itā€™s an entirely different approach as far as outspokenness with todayā€™s owners and the owners back in the 70s when I was in Milwaukee,ā€ Dandridge said.

Team executives also issued a statement standing behind then-Bucks guard Sterling Brown after Milwaukee police took him to the ground and shocked him with a Taser in January 2018 over a parking violation. Brown, one of the leaders of the Bucksā€™ playoff protest last year, sued the city and eventually reached a $750,000 settlement.

When Feigin took over as Bucks president in 2014 after Wes Edens, Marc Lasry and Jamie Dinan bought the team, the franchise was struggling.

Milwaukeeā€™s 2001 Eastern Conference finals appearance marked the only time the Bucks advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs from 1990 to 2018. The Bucks were playing in the Bradley Center, one of the NBAā€™s oldest venues.

ā€œIt was like finding a unicorn, finding a Bucks fan six years ago,ā€ said Sean Marus, a 28-year-old Bucks fan from the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa.

Times have changed.

Marus was one of about 9,000 fans who poured into Fiserv Forum to watch on a video screen Tuesday as the Bucks played Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Phoenix. Bucks officials said another 20,000 fans gathered in the ā€œDeer Districtā€ outside the three-year-old arena.

ā€œIt doesnā€™t matter what color you are,ā€ Brandon Cunningham, a 27-year-old Milwaukee resident, said outside Fiserv Forum before Game 1. ā€œEverybodyā€™s here to support the Bucks.ā€

The Bucks have engaged in social change in Milwaukee and around the state.

Bucks players visited a prison last season to spotlight the need for criminal justice reform. The Bucks teamed up with the Sacramento Kings on a Team Up for Change summit featuring panel discussions on police brutality. They led a protest march through downtown Milwaukee following George Floydā€™s death.

After Feigin made his comments about Milwaukee in 2016 while speaking at a Rotary Club event in Madison, Wisconsin, he later issued a statement noting he was referring to the cityā€™s economic and geographic divides. As the mayor pointed out, those issues still exist.

Angela Lang, the executive director for the Milwaukee-based Black Leaders Organizing Communities, believes activists pushing back on issues such as police accountability, spending disparities and clean water has had an impact on unifying Milwaukee residents.

ā€œEven though weā€™re I think a long way away from being perfect as a city, with that amount of activism and organizing, it feels like we could be on our way to something tangibly real in the next couple of years,ā€ said Lang, whose organization encourages civic engagement from Black residents.

Lang said the Bucks are a major part of the change.

ā€œIt does feel that theyā€™re not just a team,ā€ Lang said. ā€œTheyā€™re actually embedded in part of our community.ā€

On the court, the Bucksā€™ run to the NBA Finals has boosted the city, which is reeling from the loss of last yearā€™s Democratic National Convention due to the pandemic.

The Bucksā€™ turnaround began in 2013 when they drafted two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo with the 15th overall pick and acquired Khris Middleton from the Detroit Pistons. Before this season, the Bucks added guard Jrue Holiday, who has quickly made an impact on the city.

Holiday donated part of his 2019-20 salary to form the Jrue and Lauren Holiday Social Impact Fund with his wife. Their foundation recently opened a second round of funding to provide up to $1 million in grant money for Black-owned businesses and Black-led organizations in Milwaukee as well as the New Orleans, Indianapolis and Los Angeles areas.

His contributions have endeared himself to fans starving for a championship.

ā€œThey have made it known that this is just as important to them as it is to us,ā€ Holiday said.

If the Bucks can find a way to win their first NBA title in 50 years, it would give Milwaukee residents of all backgrounds another reason to celebrate together.

___

More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports


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