After a long week of sports, we’re here to review in this week’s SSM.
We crowned a brand new champ this week in the NBA Giannis took the whole thing over, in a dominant way Even better than basketball, maybe his best display Fifty nuggets and an all-time video, drive through Chik-Fil-A
The Tampa Bay Bucs got their fat ass rings One of the better perks of being NFL kings That 43 year old quarterback just continues to linger If he holds on any more, he’s going to run out of fingers
Opposite side of greatness, USA basketball Pre-Olympic struggles, and to France they did fall We’ve been historically spoiled, not used to being rolled Need Pop and the boys to get going, if they want to get the gold
The summer of college football continues to be one of change Texas and Oklahoma, nearing a conference rearrange Leaving the Big 12 to move to the SEC This will not be the last big move, that’s a guarantee
Reports of SSM’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Our weekly review of the past seven days in sports is back.
Collin Morikawa, The Open is all yours Second win in eight majors, on his way to more Jordan Spieth gave it a go, but came up just too short Two young guns with bright ass futures, so great for the sport
Bucks are up three games to two, Suns are on their heels The Finals will be over soon, we’ll all be in our feels Devin Booker’s scoring in droves, Chris Paul is up and down Giannis is one win away from dawning his first crown
If it is not one thing, it’s always another Lindor and deGrom, why do the Mets even bother? To say they have bad luck, would be and understatement at the least Even with all the injuries, Mets first in the NL East
Speaking of New York, Yankees what the hell? COVID outbreak last week, six positive players fell Aaron Judge the biggest name, will be out at least 10 days Will miss some time against the Phillies, Red Sox, and the Rays
NBA All-Star Sunday is our focus this week. We recap an enjoyable Sunday night, event by event, in this week’s SSM.
The premiere event in our basketball binge Was the Taco Bell sponsored Skills Challenge A long shot winner, Domantas Sabonis Dribbling, passing, shooting, guy could not miss
Next event up, the three point contest From behind the arc, let’s see who’s best Trey’s were falling, it was a tree point flurry An obvious winner here, the man, Steph Curry
The dunk contest was the halftime show We had Obi Toppin and two names you won’t know It was Anfernee Simons of Blazers fame Who won the contest, and cemented his name
Now the main event, Team Lebron vs. KD Alley oops, no defense, and plenty of three’s A glorified scrimmage, but it’s always fun 170-150 was the score, Team Lebron won
Another ASG in the books, a way different look Great job by the NBA, and all who partook A normal All-Star weekend next year, fingers crossed Without events like this, sports fans would be lost
On Tuesday, The Milwaukee Bucks announced a contract extension with the cornerstone of their franchise, Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak signed a supermax contract for five years and $228M, keeping arguably the best basketball player on the planet in Milwaukee for the foreseeable future.
Antetokounmpo confirmed as much via social media:
This is my home, this is my city.. I’m blessed to be able to be a part of the Milwaukee Bucks for the next 5 years. Let’s make these years count. The show goes on, let’s get it. 🤎🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/895tCBE9RK
I don’t know about you, but to me, $228M is a pretty good chunk of change. It got me thinking…what exactly could Giannis buy during his next five years in Milwaukee with all of that coin?
$38.92 to each person who lives in the state of Wisconsin
Now, I would never tell another person what to do with their money…but there’s some pretty great stuff Giannis could buy with all of that scratch. Congrats to The Greek Freak on his big payday.
The NBA is the the best in the big four sports at a lot of things. They by far and away have the best commissioner in Adam Silver, they lead the charge in the “bubble” phenomenon while getting their sport back on track during the pandemic, and have been for the most part the league least afraid to take stands on both social and political issues.
They also are not afraid to get weird with it when it comes to uniforms, which I respect. Don’t get me wrong, I love the traditional uniforms of Alabama football, Yankee baseball, etc. But getting out of your comfort zone is always a good thing, both in uniforms and in life. In recent years, the NBA has begun creating new uniforms for teams, calling them “City Edition” jerseys that are meant to show “team history and unique city stories.” The 2021 versions were fully released today, and boy are they something.
Atlanta Hawks – while the MLK tribute is awesome, this looks like a jersey from a low budget, late 90’s Disney movie about a team full of scrubs who pulled out all of the right tricks, and had juuuust the right amount of luck to upset the far superiorly talented rivals from across town.
Boston Celtics – an ode to the 17 championship banners hanging in TD Garden, this jersey is the aforementioned far superiorly talented rivals from across town that the Atlanta Hawks beat in the low budget late 90’s Disney movie.
Chicago Bulls – the Bulls slogan is “Touch the Clouds,” which is ironic because they haven’t touched anywhere higher than eighth place in the Eastern Conference in the past five years.
Dallas Mavericks – hard to find much wrong with these, besides the fact that one of the NBA’s best players, Luka Dončić, wears number 77. Get the hell out of here and give the man a real number.
Detroit Pistons – very fitting slogan here, “Tough Together,” Pistons fans have had to watch some tough looking basketball together for the last decade or so.
Golden State Warriors – hard to argue with this one, paying tribute to Oakland after moving into their new arena in San Francisco. Like most things The Warriors have done since they drafted Steph Curry, this was done right.
Los Angeles Clippers – these are pretty much identical to the Clippers 2019-2020 “City Edition” jerseys, so bonus points for fresh creativity. Bonus points for making me want to play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas when I see the font.
Memphis Grizzlies – these are solid, but I wish they would’ve just went for it with the old Vancouver Grizzlies uniforms, which are just gorgeous and remind me of another one of my favorite old players, Bryant “Big Country” Reeves.
Miami Heat – this is the perfect city/team for something like “City Edition” jerseys. Miami can do anything with any neon pink, blue, orange, etc. and make it look great. A very solid, wavy effort here.
Milwaukee Bucks – does anyone really associate Milwaukee with the Great Lakes? I don’t, but can only assume this is what Giannis Antetokounmpo wanted, and The Bucks continue to do whatever they can to keep him happy and in Milwaukee.
Minnesota Timberwolves – this is just generally boring. Also the slogan “The North Star That Guides & Unites” is pretty great for a organization that has seemingly no direction at this point.
New Orleans Pelicans – an ambitious stab here, although I think it came out looking more like what I would have came up with for uniforms of my “Create A Team” in NBA Live 2002. You know, the one with Steve Francis on the cover.
Orlando Magic – Orlando has messed around with incorporating orange into their uniforms in last years “City Edition,” and I just don’t get it. They have a great color scheme, and should use it here.
Sacramento Kings – I can see thousands of bros at Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza rocking these bad boys solely because is has “sac” on it, which is approval enough for me.
San Antonio Spurs – very smooth. Slick font, crisp lines across the chest. I’m all in here.
ROAM THE NORTH@Raptors City Edition jerseys are launching in March 2021. Shop the rest of the Raptors City Edition Collection today ➡️ https://t.co/NyoY8DuBlr
🗓️ NBA Season Starts Christmas Week with Games Beginning Tuesday, December 22. pic.twitter.com/f5iIlW1NSy
Toronto Raptors – from a team that’s going to be playing in Tampa Bay next year, missed opportunity to double up on your sales by throwing “Tampa Bay” and “Toronto” across the chest. Those friendly Canadians are too nice to make people pay twice though, eh?
Washington Wizards – ending our recap here with a banger. These are great, from the throwback logo to the flag pattern moving down the sides. This is the best thing the Wizards franchise has done in a while.
Even though it seems like the NBA season ended last week, it will be back on Christmas Day. Bring on The Association and all of the great, and not so great, “City Edition” jerseys that come with it.
The Milwaukee Bucks are, by all accounts, the best team in the Eastern Conference. Arguably the NBA. They have one of, if not the best player in the NBA in Giannis Antetokoumpo, finished the shortened season with the best record in the NBA at 56-17, and ranked first overall in margin of victory (10.7 points per game) by a large mark over the second-ranked Clippers (6.44 points per game).
That last stat is interesting, because the Bucks have a point spread problem.
Earlier this month, the Brooklyn Nets upset the Bucks. A fairly significant upset if you know anything about the NBA. However, as Action Network points out, the Nets 119-116 victory was the largest in the history of point spreads. The Nets closed as anywhere between an 18.5 to 19 point underdogs, and won outright. An absolute improbable bet that would have netted anyone willing to take the Nets money line $1,500 on a $100 bet.
But, anyone can have a bad night, right? Injuries, off shooting night, rest, anything can all come together and cause the statistically largest upset in NBA history. No way it could happen again.
WRONG. The Bucks opened up today’s NBA playoff schedule with Game 1 of their series against the Orlando Magic. The Bucks, the top seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, closed at a -13.5 point favorite over the eighth-seeded Magic. Giannis and the boys laid another betting egg. Not only did they not cover the -13.5 point spread, the lost outright. The Magic upset the Bucks 122-110, dealing another embarrassing blow the Milwaukee and their large point spread issues.
I luckily stayed away from this one, but feel for all of those poor souls out there who thought the Bucks would blow out a poor Magic team. Keep your chins up, Bucks bettors, we still have three more games to go today. Shake it off and get back up there on that horse.