The Aftermath
The immediate aftermath throughout the NBA and sports world was one of shock. Even the most optimistic Bucks fans (like myself) couldn’t have seen such an upset from such a mediocre team.
NBA Twitter, as it does, erupted with memes about the breaking of the streak. And, I’m not ashamed to admit that I also got in on the fun.
Mood: pic.twitter.com/DhGVLcOOrI
— robenheimer (@RoBByCowles) December 13, 2015
It’s hard to say that an NBA regular season game is one of the biggest upsets in sports history, but it’s hard to call it anything but that. The Bucks were a bad team, as they showed before and after this game by finishing a paltry 33-49.
The Warriors, on the other hand, would go on to break the NBA record for wins in an NBA season with a 73-9 record. But one of those Ls came in Milwaukee.
The Bucks players and fans celebrated enthusiastically, as they should have. However, the Warriors didn’t seem to like the manner in which they did. Courtesy of ESPN:
"“We were kind of laughing at some of the stuff going on. It was a big game for them. Friday will be a big game for us.”- Stephen Curry “Obviously a team that gave us our one in the loss column, and we felt they could have won with a little more class.”- Klay Thompson"
These quotes came days later before the rematch between the teams in Golden State just six days later. To this day, it still makes me scratch my head.
Like, really Klay Thompson? You’re going to scold another team for not winning with “class”? Gimme a break, dude.
The Warriors won the rematch in Oakland 121-112. But they again struggled with the Bucks, who held an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter. Strangely, it seemed like the only team the Bucks played well against that season was one of the best teams of all time.
The Warriors fans also got their revenge on the Bucks and their 24-1 t-shirts by making their own before the rematch, except theirs read “10-18”, a nod to the Bucks record. As it turned out, both fanbases were correct in their t-shirt prophecies.
(If you ask me, the Warriors shirt is a bit of a self-own. I mean, you still lost to that team, so maybe don’t broadcast how bad the team that beat you is? I don’t know, that’s just me.)
The tensions between the teams spilled over somewhat as the clock wound down, with O.J. Mayo and Draymond Green having a back and forth that spilled over into a more widespread exchange of words between the two teams.
Although it had been characterized as a “feud” in the media, that was pretty much the end of the weird, short-lived rivalry between the Warriors, one of the best teams in NBA history, and the Milwaukee Bucks, who were, as Jason Kidd often told us, certainly a team of basketball players.
Although it seems that any bad blood from the game has passed over. Back in August, while on Bill Simmons’ podcast, Curry brought up the game and the prophetic 24-1 t-shirts, saying he wanted one for himself. The Bucks happily obliged and apparently mailed him the shirt, although since then we don’t know if Curry has worn it or plans on wearing it.