As another great sees the curtain come down on his NBA career, we look at five of Amar’e Stoudemire‘s best performances against the Milwaukee Bucks.
It was somewhat fitting that in the same summer as Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan called an end to their career that Amar’e Stoudemire joined them in announcing his retirement.
That’s not because the three of them will be remembered in the same breath, but more a reminder that in spite of Stoudemire’s remarkable talent, injuries left him in the shadows of his contemporaries for most of his career and in some ways continue to do so into his retirement.
If it wasn’t for constant knee injuries and problems with his eyes, there’s no knowing just how Stoudemire’s career would have ranked all-time. When he burst on the scene his combination of power and athleticism was close to unmatched around the NBA, ultimately leading to him becoming a cornerstone of the outstanding Phoenix Suns teams of the mid to late 00’s.
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Of course, across the course of a career in which Stoudemire logged over 28,000 minutes between the regular season and the playoffs, he crossed paths and dropped big performances on the Bucks on a number of occasions.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing between Amar’e and his Milwaukee counterparts. Stoudemire and Andrew Bogut clashed in the Bradley Center back in 2010, with both men likely still on edge having recently recovered from serious injuries. Of course, Stoudemire was the man involved in the clash that marred Bogut’s time as a Buck too.
Even in what was Stoudemire’s last game against the Bucks back in March, he was involved in a fiery war of words (and shoves) with Giannis Antetokounmpo early on. Perhaps when Antetokounmpo outscored him by 18 points after the exchange Stoudemire realized he could no longer win such battles with the league’s young stars.
A current Buck must still have nightmares over a time when there was no stopping Amar’e too. In a career that was awash with great dunks, a slam he threw down on a young Greg Monroe in Detroit remains an exclamation point.
Let’s narrow our focus to the best of what Amar’e showed in matchups with the Bucks over the years though, and take a look at his top five performances against Milwaukee.
Next: #5