“Here they go, past the equator, down into the coffin corner, wheels back into the middle of the lane, turnaround righthand bank hook – GOOD! Bucks lead by 13!” 

Instantly recognizable on the airwaves and on the printed page, Eddie Doucette was the voice of the Milwaukee Bucks from their inception in 1968 through 1984. He excited legions of fans – and created legions more – via radio and television with his creative vocabulary, his enthusiasm, his vivid rapid-fire reportage in his forceful, expressive basso profundo juiced with dramatic tension that sounded like basketball itself.

The star scorer on that first Bucks team in 1968 was guard Jon McGlocklin, dubbed "Jonny Mac" by Doucette. In 1971, McGlocklin helped propel the Big Green Line to their first NBA championship. In 1976, McGlocklin retired as a player.

On the night of McGlocklin’s retirement, he announced his partnership with Doucette in the founding of Milwaukee Athletes Against Childhood Cancer, aka the MACC Fund, now Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer.  McGlocklin also joined the Bucks organization as color commentator for televised games until 2018.

On July 20, 2021, the Bucks thrilled the sports world with their second NBA championship. The team’s love for their home city, their philanthropy, their proud stand for civil rights, their brotherly chemistry on and off the court, their self-deprecating sense of humor and their disarming humility have endeared them to sports fans all over the world.

Taking in games together at home and away, Bucks fans flocked from all over Milwaukee to the Deer District outside Fiserv Forum in numbers sometimes exceeding 10 percent of the city’s population, defying brutal hypersegregation night after night.

Who better to offer an expert appreciation and celebration of the last 50 years of your Milwaukee Bucks but Doucette and McGlocklin? (This conversation will also air on WMSE on Monday, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m.)

OnMilwaukee: Gentlemen, what were your first thoughts on the Bucks’ NBA championship victory in Game 6 on July 20?

Eddie Doucette: My first thoughts were “I am so happy that there are some people in the Bucks organization that are going to have an opportunity to enjoy the same experience that I had back in 1971.”

And I want to just take my hat off to (General Manager) Jon Horst and (Vice President of Basketball Operations) Dave Dean, who did a fantastic job, who are protégés of (former Bucks General Manager) John Hammond, who deserves a lot of credit in this whole deal also.

I think these people behind the scenes have done a magnificent job. First and foremost, I want to make sure that these folks get some accolades. Secondly and equally as important, and I’ve always said this: This one goes to the fans, the great fans in the city of Milwaukee, the state of Wisconsin. I just love it for them that they have an opportunity again to enjoy a championship – and a championship like no others, because it’s changed so much in 50 years with social media.

To the unsung heroes and to the people and the fans of Wisconsin and Milwaukee, I think I am absolutely thrilled for them. And, of course, then come the players and the people that surround the players that made it all happen.

Jon McGlocklin: Do you know how many franchises in the NBA have never won a championship? It’s extremely hard to win a championship, but people so often think, "Well, you just go pick an apple off a tree and you get a ring."

So, when it does come, it’s very special. I really am happy for our fans. Now, most of them are new fans versus when we won. (laughs) You know you look down there at Deer District and they’re all 18, 16, 20, and so they didn’t know us. We didn’t get any type of accolades like that, other than the people that came out to the airport the day that we came back. We don’t even have trophies. We have nothing other than our rings.

To see what these guys have had a chance to experience is thrilling. It’s great for the city. As Eddie said, I’m really happy for Jon Horst, (Bucks President) Peter Feigin, our coaches and players, ‘cause they’re the ones that made it happen. Nobody else did but those players and coaches.

I’m so happy for the economics of it, for all the restaurants and vendors and everybody. That makes it even more unique.

That ‘71 team – forgetting Kareem’s size and stature – was small but fast, correct? Talk about that five-to-eight-man rotation for that championship team – and did it influence other franchises to make the game faster?

Eddie Doucette: I look at that team and it was unique in that this team was totally complementary of one another. That means we didn’t (just) have Kareem and Oscar. That wasn't the makeup of this team. This team was five guys playing as one. When we did rotate in off the bench, they fit right in there. That team was constructed magnificently, and they carried the ball to the end, to the championship. 

We were small, yeah – Bobby Dandridge 6’6”, Greg Smith 6’5”, Jon was on the short side of 6’5” at that time, and then we had Oscar, who is a legit 6’5”, and then you've got Lew Alcindor. That was a small team, certainly by today's standards, but the difference was we played a different kind of game back then. Back then it was an outside-in game; today it’s an inside-out game.

So you can afford not to have a huge game because you had the big hook and ladder in the middle and you had the complementary parts around it. I don’t think I don’t think enough has been said about the offense that Larry Costello was the architect of. It made these players complementary parts to one another. I think that was the magic of this team.

The other thing about this team was, unlike today’s players, everybody on that team played anywhere from 79 to 82 regular season games and probably all 14 of the playoff games. We’re talking about – when you add them all up – it was like 78 and 14 for a record, playoffs and regular season, with no time off. There were no load management deals. These guys played because they knew they had to play, because their careers were on the line.

Today, honestly the players have got a pretty good deal. They get kind of treated like milk-fed veal – you know, their feet never touch the ground.

Back then these guys had to play. It was an eight-man rotation once you got into the second season and everybody played their role. That was the thing that impressed me – not so much small/big but they made it work. When Kareem found out that Oscar was coming to the Bucks, he and the rest of the guys understood one thing: This is Oscar Robertson. He is a guy who’s been there. He’s the guy that's going to lead us. If we have egos, we’re going to put ‘em aside and let Oscar find a way to make this team gel. And they did, unselfishly. A great thing to watch. A team that was in total synchronization for the entire season. Beautiful results. World champions.

Jon McGlocklin: I think, back then, there was less copying styles. But you would have evolution of the game. As Eddie mentioned, back then it was a big man’s game and we played in. But not many teams had Kareem, who arguably is the greatest offensive center to ever play. Even though Kareem’s leading the all-time scoring in the NBA, Wilt was pretty dominant as a center.  Olajuwan was a great offensive center.

I don’t know that we influenced that much. Back then, every team had at least five good shooters. It wasn't measured by the three point line; it was measured by the two-point game. Everybody could shoot. We could shoot. I think, statistically, if you look at that team the margin of victory, the points we scored (versus) what we gave up defensively is still like first or second in the NBA ever. (Ed. note: The team is number two of all time.) So we were good at both ends. So I don’t think there was as much copying then as the league evolved. And how are they going to copy Oscar and Kareem? I mean, two of the 10 greatest players of all time.

Oscar brings it up to me every single time I see him: Management broke that team up the next year, which is mind-blowing. Consequently, it took us until ‘74 to get back to the finals with a bit of a different team.

Eddie Doucette: That team, when we won the championship, shot 51 percent from the floor as a team, and they shot 74 percent at the foul line. Now that’s talent. You don’t find that today very often.

Jon McGlocklin: Four of the starting five shot over 50 percent for the year.  The one guy under, at 49.5, was Oscar Robertson!   

Eddie Doucette: Jon shot 54 percent that year, guys, and averaged about 16 points a game, 86 percent at the foul line. I used to watch him shoot free throws blindfolded and make nine out of 10.

McGlocklin took most of his shots away – often far, far away – from the basket. Since that season, the style of the jump shot has changed, with maneuvers like the step back gaining favor with guards throughout the NBA.  

Jon, have you thought about how much the three-point line could have changed your career?

Jon McGlocklin: Right after I retired in ’76, I think the three-point line came in at ’77. Eddie and I did national broadcasts for cable. He did west coast with Steve Jones; I did east coast with Al Albert. I could still play a year or two later after I retired, and I’d been still playing for fun. So the producers said, one game in Milwaukee – a national game – “Jon, we want you to come down early to dress. We’re going to record you shooting 10 threes: five one way, five the other way. Whatever you make or miss, we’re going to record and that’s it, and we’re going to run it at halftime and not tell your partner what we're doing.”

So I said, “OK.”  So I did it and then we ran it at halftime. Al was caught and a bit stunned. How many did I hit, Eddie?

Eddie Doucette: (laughing) You were right there, man, right at the top.

Jon McGlocklin: I hit all 10. Honestly, I was a bit surprised. I thought eight or nine. No one was guarding me, but that shot would have been cake for me, and I would have played a year or two longer if my body held up. And today I’d make 25 or 30 million, because everybody would want a guy who could shoot it like that.

I want to make one more comment: Every year, I went down two points. I averaged 19.6 (points per game) the first year in Milwaukee and made the All-Star team. Then Kareem came. I went to 17.6. Then Oscar came. I went to 15.6. (laughing) And Bobby was in there.  I didn’t get more than 10 or 12 shots in a game. I just had to make most of them, or half of ‘em, to average 15.6.

I played 79 or more games (a year), like six straight years. That’s hard to do it when you flew commercial, and had no training and no food and all the above. So those are kind of the only stats I’m proud of.

At this point in the conversation, Doucette comes up with the most staggering and satisfying statistic of all.

Eddie Doucette: Jon indicated that he wanted to play another year. The Bucks said no, that’s it. He retires in ’76. That’s when we came to the idea that it was going to be the MACC Fund. We had talked about it before his retirement night, but that’s when it became full bloom. His retirement was officially celebrated on the night we kicked off the MACC Fund.

So it’s interesting how things work out. One time it doesn’t look like things are looking too favorable for you, look what happens. We have the MACC Fund, and we’re now going into a 45th year. We’re pushing $100 million in contributions, and the cure rate has gone from 20 percent to over 80 percent for the things that the MACC Fund is doing research on.

It’s been wonderful. Jon would probably tell you, in retrospect, giving up one year for all the years of success with the MACC Fund was well worth it.

Jon McGlocklin: Sure was, Eddie. I actually considered going to another team for a year but for $80,000, which was my high number one year. Then looking at what the legacy has been with the MACC Fund and with the Bucks – all those years working with you and then Jim Paschke, and the longevity in a sport (in which) we get no longevity as announcers or players. Totally – and Eddie and I believe this, guys with all our hearts – totally God-driven, 100 percent.

Eddie Doucette: Amen. Praise God.

Both of you guys are known for your strategic knowledge. What strategies of today’s Bucks shown that you appreciate?

I thought Jon Horst brought in the missing link when he brought in Jrue Holiday. Now you have a combination old-school player with a new-school player. This guy plays both ends of the floor. He knows and understands how to play the game the way the game was meant to be played. He’s sacrificial in the sense that he’ll give himself up to make plays to his teammates, and when he’s called on, he usually delivers the goods.  

What I liked about what the Bucks did this year as far as strategy and personnel: They filled in all the holes the right way – whether it was a Bryn Forbes early; whether it was a Tucker later; whether it was a Bobby Portis, who came in a did a magnificent job; a Teague, who at one time they tried to get in Milwaukee and couldn’t get when he was a free agent. They seemed to flip the right switch in the absence of Donte DiVincenzo.

This is my thinking: Giannis decided he could trust his teammates. When he had to take it upon himself and go directly to the basket and leave four guys standing around looking – that never happened in ’71, by the way – once he got off that and started getting the ball to other people, there was the complementary style of basketball that I so appreciate. I think he understood that; I think the light went on. The third-to-last game (of the championship finals), he had eight assists. Now where do you hear of the guy in the middle of getting that many assists?

This guy is so talented. He has no idea yet completely what he can do. Coach Bud did a great job of constantly reminding Giannis, "Your teammates are there. Trust them, trust them, trust them."

I picked the Bucks in six before the playoffs, and I didn't have any idea. I thought, if they’d get by Brooklyn, they would win it. But I thought Giannis had learned from the previous two playoffs. Apparently it took a while during this playoff. But, once he got it, they were devastating. And they could win a lot of games in the future this way.

Today’s Bucks not only win; they revel in it, and they revel in sharing all the joys of playing pro basketball with each other, their families, their fans and their city. Ask anyone who hangs out at the West Side Chick-fil-A. Few modern sports teams can claim to have united such a variety of people, especially in such a polarized, alienated time. We had to ask how it felt for Doucette and McGlocklin to watch the city’s affection for the Bucks – and, eventually, for their neighbors – grow.

Jon McGlocklin: The ‘71 team, actually, off the court weren’t that close a team, because we came from such varied worlds. We know about Kareem.  Then he brought Lucius Allen with him from from L. A., so they were the hip-hop guys, you know? And younger. And Bobby (Dandridge) came from an all-Black school, and never played with a white guy or a white coach ‘til came to the NBA. I was the – probably – square white guy from the Midwest. Oscar was the old veteran. Bob Boozer was an old veteran.

Off the court we got along. I wouldn’t say we were like buddy-buddy, like this team today, but when we walked in the gym for games or practices, everything was checked at the door. Like Eddie said, we were a fine-tuned unit, and I think we were professional. We came to play and do our jobs. It was that way in practice, it was that way in games, and so it was a heck of a team on the court.

But, off the court, we had different interests and different ways and different ages. It shows you what you can do when you’re willing to be a professional and dedicated. 

This team today is really close. I envy that. I think their closeness is helpful in them winning an NBA championship. They really pull together, and I think it is more valuable to be that close on and off the court, the way they function.

Eddie Doucette: I think that Giannis kind of leads the way in terms of his energy and positiveness. He has kind of acted as a magnet to the other fellas, so that they not only buy into the team but buy into the community.

When Giannis says it’s his city and he likes being here, the other guys who may have had misconceptions about the city probably a step back and say, "Well, maybe, you know if the big guy says that, maybe I ought to look at it," and "Yeah, it is pretty good. It is pretty darn good."

People go out of their way to make these players feel like they're part of the community. When you’re playing any kind of a sport in Wisconsin, professionally. Amateur, whatever it is: People want to be a part of the family. They are in Wisconsin; they aren’t in New York where it’s "What you can do for me tonight?" – and, if not, you get boos. In Wisconsin, you can have a bad night, you’ll still get cheers. So that helps. 

The unity made it a kind of a unanimous single-mindedness, and that has created a unity which has become infectious. And everybody feels that way: "Play as one. Win as one and we’ll enjoy it."

Even when they lost those first two games (of the NBA Finals), I remember seeing a couple of interviews. To the man, they kept saying, “No, no, we’re going to continue doing what we’re doing. We believe in one another." That belief won it for them, because there was a trust that finally came through.  It’s great to see.

Jon McGlocklin: Taking nothing away from the other players, I agree with Eddie: That’s all Giannis. He’s the one that started it, finished it, kept it going, that unity for the team and for the city. They all followed suit well and it paid off.

Just like you both have done with the MACC Fund, today’s Bucks have made a point of serving disadvantaged people. Have you noticed that kind of awareness and action growing within the Bucks, within the NBA?

Eddie Doucette: Well, I think so. I think I think it’s part of (the Bucks’) persona now. They want to be known as people who are active in the community. They have their own causes that they like to be involved with. Certainly we appreciate any interaction that they would give the MACC Fund, because they’re big. They're important to us. Were it not for the Bucks, the MACC Fund would not be in existence today.

We had this relationship then, when Jim Fitzgerald was the owner, and we still have a relationship now with the present Bucks.

Jon can speak to this more, because he’s been the president of the organization all these years. But, as a board member, I’m very much aware of who does what in the community. There are more charities involved in Milwaukee, and each of those charities would like to have an association with the Bucks, so it becomes more and more difficult to be able to retain some of these people who are willing to get involved.

But yes, it’s good for the brand, but more importantly it’s good for the cause.  And I’m seeing more of that and I’m very happy about that. That’s great.

Bonus: "The Skyhook and the Rainbow Jumper"

Eddie Doucette: He had a variety of hook shots: baby hooks, left and right hands, but the purest form of a hook shot in my lifetime. With all the respect in the world, George Mikan had a nice-looking hook, Johnny Kerr had a nice-looking hook shot. The purest form of a hook shot was the skyhook.

I had used that term a couple of times in the previous two years. That night in Boston (ed. note: Game 7 of the championship finals, 1974), with seven seconds to go, the Bucks called a timeout. They came out of the timeout, it was kind of a scrambled mess. Jon was hurt. He didn’t start that game. Mickey Davis started at one of the guards and did an admirable job, because Oscar couldn’t bring it up either.

When Jon was in the game, Oscar was in the game, Kareem was in the game, the feeling was – I believe – that Jon was going to get the shot, but nobody quite got it. Jon and I have talked about it. He couldn’t get much lift, so that might have been a mistake, but there was an improvisational reaction by Oscar on the inbound to turn. Kareem instinctively flashed across the lane, came in along the right side about 15 feet up, over High Henry Finkel.

I was in the first balcony at the Boston Garden, and when he went up, everything went slow motion. Double overtime. When he went up with that right hand, blocking the body with the left hand, elbow bent, came all the way up, fully extended, the purest form of a skyhook – the most difficult shot to perfect but the most beautiful shot in the world, and the toughest shot to block if it’s executed purely.

That ball went up, it froze, it got at the apex and I said, “That ball is coming out of the sky! That’s a skyhook!” That’s when that shot became full blossom.  That was when the skyhook was officially baptized.

I had an opportunity to do most of Kareen’s highlight games, including the night he broke the scoring record of Wilt Chamberlain in Las Vegas, against the Utah Jazz. And that was a skyhook, and I had fun with that.

There’s no shot quite like the skyhook. There’s really no shot like Johnny Mac’s bango jumper either, that rainbow jumper. That was Johnny Mac’s shot, the rainbow. Everybody uses that now. It’s amazing that that shot wasn't copied, because it was indefensible.

Jon McGlocklin: It is. I’ve been asked that question: "Jon, why don’t more guys perfect the hook shot?" It’s a simple answer: It’s too hard. It’s a lot of work. It’s the most difficult shot in basketball, and so guys don’t perfect it.  And now, with no low post play, no one ever will.

Kareem told me, when we played together, “When they took the dunk out in college for me, you know what, Jon? It made me a better player. It perfected my skyhook. It perfected the rest of my game.” And he became a reasonably good jump shooter from 10 feet, because he couldn’t dunk in college.

Extra: "Exit Kareem"

Jon McGlocklin: I’ve been asked, “How did that affect the team?” So I’ll answer it from that perspective: It didn’t. We understood. We lived with him for five years. Very moody, very private, very unapproachable at times. But, on the other hand, from a teammate’s perspective, he had a great sense of humor. In the locker room it was a different story. He was pulling pranks on us.

We all knew he was miserable in Milwaukee. He couldn’t hide. He had a home that he sold immediately because people were driving by stopping and honking, and so he moved into a high-rise apartment. He was miserable. He grew up in New York, went to college in L. A., so we understood that he wanted out.

Wes Pavalon, who was the controlling owner of the team, was a lot like Kareem – quiet, to himself. Pavalon grew up rough in Chicago, so he had an affinity for Kareem. So, when Kareem went to him to be traded, it was basically "OK," whereas, if Jim Fitzgerald had owned the team, he would have worked to keep Kareem there and might have pulled it off.

As a teammate, I understand it for the guy. He just didn't handle things well in Milwaukee with fans, and he’s repented of that. He realized that.

Eddie Doucette: Kareem expressed the desire to go, unlike today’s players who go public and try and make a big stink out of it – you know, they’re gonna walk out or they’re not going to report to camp.  You’re going through something like that with Aaron Rodgers right now.

Kareem did everything pretty much behind closed doors, and the Bucks organization honored that. Everything was amicable, and once he decided there was no way, it was irreversible; they would try and make the best deal possible. Credit to Wayne Embry, with approval from Wes Pavalon and his board: They put together a pretty nice deal in terms of trying to rebuild the team’s assets. They got some really nice pieces, but you’re never gonna replace Kareem. Never. Arguably the best of all time. Still is. You can talk about Giannis this, this and that. Giannis could be, but Kareem played 20 years.

Jon McGlocklin: Kareem only wanted to go to New York or L.A. That’s it. So now Wayne had to go put that together and ended up with four players. Three have their numbers retired.

Extra: "On Larry Costello"

Jon McGlocklin: When he came to the Bucks that first year, he could still play. He could have been a player-coach, but he had a torn Achilles tendon.

Eddie Doucette: In ‘68, he played with the 76ers.

Jon McGlocklin: When people try to judge a coach, unless there’s something outstanding or is terribly wrong, you can’t unless you are in every huddle, every practice, every chalk session, every reaction. You don’t know what that coach is like unless you’re a player.

A lot of times coaches catch heck for what players didn’t do and he told them to do, or (laughing) catch great accolades for something a player did and he had no influence whatsoever. Like the skyhook in Boston. That was a totally broken play. No one knew where to go. I heard Kareem say, after the game, to the media “I think McGlocklin was supposed to shoot.” Like Eddie said, I couldn’t even walk. But the Celtics didn't know that.

So … Larry. Larry was old school in every way, from the era that I came from also. Hard-nosed, straightforward, fair, always meant well. But his soft touch was very seldom. It was “BUH-BUH-BUH-BUH, and that’s what you do.”

The fact that he pulled it off with Kareem and Oscar is a testimony to Kareem and Oscar. There were many times I would see Kareem just reel in practice when Larry would say, “No! Come here! Do this, do that, do this!” And (Kareem) just didn’t like his style because he came out of John Wooden. Larry did not mean harm. He worked hard. He was a great defensive player, but yet spent most of his time developing our offense, which I always found interesting. Even from day one, when I was the offense that he built around.

He designed many great plays. In ‘73, our assistant coach kept track of how many called plays we had. By the end of the season, it was 82. But you didn't run all 82 all the time. Eighty-two. Called plays. Then you have options off the plays.  

In training camp, we had a playbook we all had to study. And he’d give us tests. Can you imagine sitting us down at Carroll College in a classroom with Oscar and Kareem and telling us to take a test on the playbook? I don’t even know how those guys didn’t just write "Screw you" in it. But I knew what I had to do: I had to know ‘em all. I’m trying to keep my job.

But how (Costello) pulled it off is a testimony to Kareem and Oscar, that they went along with it, even though it rankled both of them sometimes. But Larry was an honest man, a hard-working man. Tried to do the job well and did, because we won the championship.

Extra: "On Giannis"

Eddie Doucette: I think it’s a wonderful story. I hope the story remains unblemished. By that, I mean once agents get a hold of you, they have a very unique way of trying to squeeze the lemon until there’s no juice. And then they get you to do and say things and act certain ways that you didn’t feel was you.

But remember now: We’re talking about a young man that was discovered by John Hammond when he was standing on the street corner in Athens, Greece, selling sunglasses. He is so happy to be here and so happy that his life did this kind of a turn. And he has provided a life for his mother and his brothers like he never dreamed of (while) playing in the lowest level of basketball professionally in Greece.

So he’s thrilled. Every day is Christmas for him. It couldn't be any better. I mean this guy is literally dancing on whipped cream. And I am so happy for him because it’s a great story. It’s a wonderful story. It’s a book. (Ed. note – "Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP" by Mirin Fader, along with at least eight others.) They called me and interviewed me briefly.

People kept saying, "Eddie, what do you think of the nickname? The Greek Freak, the Greak Freak, the Greek Freak." I said, "You know, it’s kinda not a term of endearment, to be called a freak." But, I mean, he does have freakish skills. I said, I think, more appropriately in Wisconsin today, if you can find a bigger cheese in the state, you’d be really doing something special. So I call him the Big Feta, ‘cause that kinda ties it all together.

Extra: "The World"

Eddie Doucette: We saw the big kid (Dirk Nowitzki) that came into Dallas, that the Bucks drafted originally. When he came over here and had success, that kind of started the floodgates opening, and we’ve seen an influx of talent coming from outside the United States, (playing) what was unquestionably an American game.  

It’s now become an international game, not because there are games being played around the world, but because of all this great talent that’s come in.  It’s been good and, at the same time, not so good. And I say that because I kind of like the game the way it used to be played, because back then it was played the way the game was meant to be played.

Now it’s a game where you stretch the perimeter, and you don’t have quite as much of that crafty ball movement and play structuring and doing things. That requires a synchronization. So it’s a different game.

But, at the same time, look at the size of some of these people who are coming from Europe. They’re massive. I mean massive. And they can stretch the floor and shoot the three.

When I was up in Portland doing their games for a number of years, we had (Lithuanian center) Arvydas Sabonis. Had he been healthy when he came to this country to play in the NBA, he’d be right up there with Wilt, with Kareem, with the very best in the NBA big guys, ‘cause he had talent. He could do everything that a big man could do, and he could go outside, shoot the three and pass the ball.

They are overtly skilled in the things that they can do, because they’ve been playing the game, many of them professionally, since they were 15. So they understand how to play basketball, but not the basketball that we knew back then.

So now, because there are so many of these Europeans that are forcing guys out of work, guys are happy to go out and play more in Europe and down in the G League because of this European talent. I think that now the game has changed, and more and more of our players are learning how to play the game the way these Europeans play. North, south, play the game athletically. Shoot the deep ball, master the deep ball and forget about the midrange jump shot. We don’t see enough of that.

We saw (Chris) Paul execute beautifully against the Bucks on the midrange, but why wouldn’t you? He’s a smart guy. A smart guy should be able to recognize the fact you can drive buffalos across the middle of that maple. There’s plenty of room. Drive, get inside deep. If you can’t take it to the rack, you go up with the midrange. At the worst you get fouled, you go to the line.  Plenty of real estate in there. And it’s not the price of real estate that we see around the country now.

So yeah, I think the Europeans have changed the game for the good, and for the not-so-good for the purists like myself.

Extra: "The Passion"

Eddie Doucette: Honestly, that’s the way I went about my job: That passion that I had then and still have for the game that gave me everything I’ve got. Even though I went on to do NFL, Major League Baseball for many years – I mean, I’ve done everything except nude celebrity bowling. But the NBA and what the Milwaukee Bucks offered me was the best, and I owe everything for me and my family to the NBA. 

Could I go out and do a game today? Let me tell you: I know I could do it, but I don’t know if I could do it two nights in a row (laughs) because I used to burn up a lot of energy. I poured everything I had into it. I didn't worry about money; I worried about entertaining the fans. People who are shut in or blind, or the guys driving an 18-wheeler on a cold winter night, 10 degrees below zero and guys whizzing by them in their cars doing 20 miles an hour more than they could go, icy roads. We created a visual picture of this game, a word’s eye view of what was happening, and wrapped it in excitement.

My job is to make the game as exciting for the fans listening as it is to me doing the game in person. It was easy for me to do because it was my life. I loved every bounce of the ball on the maple, and that’s what you gotta have. You don’t have that? Step aside, let the next guy in.

Extra: "Underdogs"

Eddie Doucette: The original championship flag they lost. They found it in a storeroom somewhere collecting dust. Seriously. And the trophy was gone too. So this team went through a period when it was kicked around a little bit, and I’m glad to see it back.