Don’t look now, but the up-and-coming, Giannis Antetokounmpo-led, league-darling Bucks are starting to get some legitimate national media attention.
Milwaukee’s home opener for this season, its 50th Anniversary campaign, is against the three-time defending Eastern Conference-champion Cleveland Cavaliers at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. And, the NBA announced Thursday, the game will be nationally broadcast on ESPN as part of the Opening Week television schedule.
The Bucks’ complete 2017-18 schedule will be released at a later date.
Last year, when the schedule was released, Milwaukee had nine nationally televised games, including two on ESPN, one on TNT and the remaining six on NBA TV. The Bucks opened the 2016-17 season at home on Oct. 26 against the Charlotte Hornets; this year’s schedule is starting a week earlier.
Last season, Milwaukee went 1-3 against Cleveland, but its victory at home on Nov. 29 – in which Antetokounmpo exploded for 34 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, five steals and two blocks, outplaying LeBron James – was a signature moment for the team. The Cavaliers lost in last year’s NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors.
Fans can sign up for the 50th Anniversary Superpass, which is a digital ticket pass guaranteeing access to all of the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2017-18 regular-season home games, including the "Return to the MECCA" contest and the home opener against the Cavs on Oct. 20, for just $500.
For more information, or to sign up for the 50th Anniversary Superpass, fans can visit bucks.com/superpass.
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.
