The Bucks may have narrowly lost Game 2 of their playoff series against the Raptors on the road last night, but the thrilling, 106-100 loss still captured fans' attention and had plenty of eyes watching Giannis Antetokounmpo, listening to animated announcer Gus Johnson and enjoying the contest.
Game 2 of the first-round NBA Playoffs series between sixth-seeded Milwaukee and third-seeded Toronto was the highest-rated Bucks game ever on FOX Sports Wisconsin, the network announced on Wednesday. After the momentum and excitement generated by Milwaukee's big Game 1 win in Toronto on Saturday piqued fans' interest, Tuesday night's nail-biting defeat – which featured a dramatic, late Bucks comeback – produced a 7.80 rating on FOX Sports Wisconsin.
In the Milwaukee market, according to the network, one rating point represents 8,868 households, meaning 69,170 households tuned in for Tuesday’s game.
The postseason viewership spike continues an increase in the Bucks’ 2016-17 regular-season ratings, which were the team’s highest in seven years. FOX Sports Wisconsin saw a 21 percent uptick from the 2015-16 season.
With the series now tied 1-1, the Bucks return home for Thursday's Game 3 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, which will host a Palermo's-presented pep rally beforehand. The 7 p.m. contest will be televised nationally on NBA TV and locally again on FOX Sports Wisconsin, which will feature a special one-hour edition of Bucks Live presented by Ascension at 6 p.m. It also can be heard on 620 WTMJ and the team's statewide radio network.
According to the Bucks, all fans in attendance at Thursday’s game will receive a Fear the Deer T-shirt, courtesy of Johnson Controls, which will match Milwaukee’s Fear the Deer jerseys and court that will be making their playoff debuts. Thursday’s game will be the first of two home playoff games for the Bucks this week, as both teams will return to the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Saturday, April 22 (2 p.m.), for Game 4 of the series. Fans can buy tickets at bucks.com/playoffs.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
