Milwaukee Bucks: Brook Lopez becomes a legend with Game 1 heroics

As the Milwaukee Bucks opened up a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals, they have Brook Lopez to thank for a performance that will live long in the memory.

Eighteen years is a long time. In fact, it’s been so long since the Milwaukee Bucks found themselves in a game with these kind of stakes that there’s an unquestioned surreality to the whole situation.

After years of having to look back to 2001, or the Don Nelson-coached teams of the 1980s, or the 1974 Finals, or even the ultimate success of 1971 for reminders of what success was like, this season has certainly breathed new life into the Bucks.

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Still, there’s an element of having to pinch yourself when you realize that truly momentous Bucks history is finally being written in front of your eyes.

And so, the Conference Finals is different to what’s gone before. For as great as ending the series win drought was in the first round against the Pistons, or bouncing back from adversity to win four in a row against the Celtics, this is the point when this team and every player on it can finally begin to reach out toward a different kind of immortality.

These are the moments that will give way to years of discussion, analysis, debate and reminiscence. These are the games where legacies are forged.

In Wednesday’s Game 1, it was an unexpected figure who rose to that occasion. Brook Lopez delivered a dominant two-way performance, in which he scored more points in one game than he did in five combined during the previous series. On a night when the Bucks didn’t quite have their best, and the Toronto Raptors were riding incredible performances from their stars, Lopez stepped up and delivered a win for his team.

There’s no knowing what the road ahead holds for the Bucks. On Wednesday’s evidence, this series will certainly be an incredibly hard-fought one. But if Milwaukee is to prevail when all’s said and done, this will very obviously be looked back on as a real turning point.

A seven-game series seems long, but the truth is it can turn on an instant. It takes just a few moments, and Lopez had more than his fair share on this occasion.

After struggling with his shot against the Celtics, Lopez had mixed fortunes from long-range once again in the first half. Still, he wasn’t dissuaded from attacking. Lopez attempted a variety of drives, including one truly beautiful spin move that he finished neatly for two points.

Even more importantly, though, there was an extra gear to Lopez’s game. Known as more of a box-out specialist, on this occasion the veteran center crashed the glass for himself. An increased willingness to drive brought him closer to the rim and, from there, sheer determination helped him to rack up four offensive rebounds and a spate of second chance points.

Defensively, this couldn’t have been further from the Game 1 nightmare against Boston. Even a hot Toronto start didn’t suggest any major issues with Lopez anchoring the defense in the Bucks’ more traditional dropping scheme, which proved untenable against the Celtics. Toronto made their share of threes with impressive shot-making, but when they attacked Lopez they found nothing but trouble.

Able to hover around the paint, Lopez snuffed out floaters and short jumpers. The Raptors shot a miserable 44 percent on their 25 attempts from within eight feet, and Lopez’s presence and activity played a major part in that. Four blocks to his name in the box score speak to that, but his influence also stretched far beyond those rejections in terms of paint defense.

Then, of course, there was the three-point shooting finally coming good.

So much has been said about Lopez’s evolution that at times it’s apparent that everyone seems to have forgotten the player he once was. That seemed clear from the reaction of the TNT broadcast to much of his work inside, as it did for the Raptors’ willingness to let him operate in those areas.

If we’re to focus on the new look Lopez, though, the origins of his transformation can certainly be traced back to Kenny Atkinson in Brooklyn. But if you want to really pinpoint the moment when his ability to fearlessly combine his well-established post scoring game with his newfound let-it-fly mentality was unlocked, you need to hone in on one of the Bucks’ worst losses of the regular season, and the reaction that followed it.

As the Bucks fell foul to a shock two-point loss to the Phoenix Suns on November 23, Lopez shot a brutal 3-of-17 from the field, and a historically bad 0-of-12 from three-point range. It was the most three-pointers attempted in a game without a make in NBA history.

So, how did Lopez and the Bucks respond? By coming out the very next night against the San Antonio Spurs with a scripted play to get Lopez a three-point look on the first possession. He drained it, of course.

After going 1-of-6 from deep through three quarters, and shooting just 27.3 from deep in the playoffs coming into this game, it would have been easy for Lopez to duck out of shooting in the fourth. Instead, he drained 3-of-5 long range attempts in the period, which complemented a collection of crucial plays down the stretch that helped to seal the most important Milwaukee win in almost two decades.

Lopez is about as easy to root for as any player in the NBA, and a fantastic season on both ends had already guaranteed that he’d remain a Milwaukee fan favorite for years to come. On Wednesday, though, under the brightest lights and the greatest pressure, Lopez became a legend.

Milwaukee Bucks: Analyzing regular season series against Toronto Raptors. dark. Next

With a house on the property in Orlando, there’s no doubt that Brook Lopez was already planning on going to Disney World at the end of the season, but with performances like this one for the man nicknamed Splash Mountain, that refrain may yet take on a meaning similar to what it holds in the NFL.

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