NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabber picks the Brooklyn Nets to enter the Eastern Conference Finals on the back of Kevin Durant.
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Over the last couple of years, Milwaukee Bucks have established themselves as legit title contenders. Backed by their All-Star duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, the Bucks have been making a few deep playoffs runs the last few years.
But they haven’t managed to reach the finals yet. This season, with the addition of veteran two-way leader Jrue Holiday, the Bucks team looks more complete and strong than before.
After sweeping last year’s Eastern Conference champions, Miami Heat 4-0 in the first round, Giannis and co. got the difficult matchup of the star-studded Brooklyn Nets as their Eastern Conference Semis.
Four games into the series, with superstars James Harden and Kyrie Irving been sidelined with injuries, it felt as if the Bucks will hand the Nets an upset.
However, after Kevin Durant’s historic Game 5 performance, the odds shift back to Brooklyn’s favour. After witnessing KD’s once-in-lifetime Game 5 outing, NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has picked Brooklyn to reach the Eastern Conference Finals.
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“The Bucks have no chance to win a title, KD will kill them”: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
A former Milwaukee Buck legend himself, Abdul-Jabbar led the Bucks to their only NBA title back in 1971. It’s been 50 years since the city of Milwaukee has seen another championship. Of course, the 19-time All-Star knows a lot about winning and can obviously spot talent when he sees it.
The 6-time NBA champ made a recent appearance on ESPN’s “The Jump” and revealed why Milwaukee wouldn’t win a championship this year. He told Rachel Nichols:
“Giannis and those guys are, I’ve been there to see them play, they’re an incredible team, but I don’t know what it is. Sometimes, it’s just, you can’t get the right team to go as far as you want it to go. But it’s still a great team and it wins the support of all the fans. They’re just going to have to figure out a better approach.”
“No, I don’t (think the Bucks can win a title). KD would kill those guys, man. No, I’m serious because he’d score, and then he’d [pass], he finds the open guy. He could do that by himself. They gotta do a better job; the whole team has to play differently so that KD, one guy, can’t just dominate like that.”
With Brooklyn leading the series 3-2, they will be looking forward to closing out the series on Thursday night, in Game 6. While Giannis and co. will hope to secure a win at home and force a Game 7.
