No more passing the buck: Pinoy Milwaukee fan relishes NBA Finals shot

After years of heartbreak, his team gets a shot
Jul 6, 2021
PHOTO: (From Left) Courtesy of Renz Lyndon Paguio, AP

By Renz Lyndon Paguio

I NEVER cared much for basketball when I was a kid, which really explains my poor ball handling and why I always settle for jump shots.

Boxing has always been my thing. I remember when we bought our first PlayStation console, I made sure we get the new Knockout Kings 2000, but not before my uncle grabbed a disc with Tim Duncan gracing the cover. This was NBA Live 2000.

NBA Live 2000

That’s right, my first basketball exposure was not Robert Jaworski nor Alvin Patrimonio, but rather, a video game featuring the Big Fundamental in all his pixelated glory. While I fell in love with it, I was honestly getting sick of my uncle and cousins picking the same set of teams, rotating only between the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, and Philadelphia 76ers every damn game.

In a poor attempt at being cool, I decided to go for a team that I believed they had no idea about. Browsing through the dizzying array of teams, I chanced upon this majestic deer logo, accentuated with a green and purple background color, and a distinct inverted triangle motif. No other team has a deer, so I thought that this would be the perfect team to distinguish myself among the rest.

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    This is going to be my team. No matter how bad they turn out to be, this is going to be it.

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    That's the genesis of an eight-year-old me following the Bucks, a foolish kid rooting for a small-market team thousands of miles away, located in a city I can’t even spell or pronounce.

    The 2000-01 NBA season was the first time I laid my eyes on Milwaukee’s roster live. It was much better compared to their polygon counterparts. I watched as they continue to win game after game, finally accumulating a 52-30 record, the second-best in the East. “I didn’t know they were this good!” said my prepubescent self.

    As the Bucks reached the Eastern Conference Finals, I was ecstatic. One year into this fanhood, this obscure team which I randomly picked suddenly had the chance to reach the NBA Finals and win the championship.

    While the basketball long-timers proudly donned Iverson jerseys and cheered for the 76ers, there I was in the corner, this newbie who didn't even know anything — a lonely Bucks fan with a second-rate Divisoria Bucks cap roaring for every shot Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson, and Sam Cassell heaved for seven excruciating games.

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    But when the clock on that final hit zero, the score read: Philadelphia 108 - Milwaukee 91. The 76ers were going to the NBA Finals.

    Little did I know that this would the first of many more playoff heartbreaks to come.

    Pinoy Milwaukee Bucks fan

    The pains of being a Pinoy Milwaukee Bucks fan

    For the 20 years that followed, I still believed, no matter how hopeless the situation was.

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    Every move the team made was a breakthrough in my mind, no matter how laughable that may be. Michael Redd emerging as an All-Star and earning his place in the Redeem Team in 2008. Andrew Bogut being the Australian Messiah that he is being taken first in the 2005 NBA Draft. Brandon Jennings looking like a keeper with his 55-point game in only his seventh game (take that, Stephen Curry and Tyreke Evans!). Jabari Parker starting a party in Milwaukee after he was taken second in the 2014 NBA Draft. Jason Kidd and his unconventional ways looking like the right coach for the Bucks.

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      But a man can only fool himself so many times.

      Not even Giannis Antetokounmpo, God bless him, a star and a two-time NBA MVP, could take away my hesitancy to believe. Especially with how the past two NBA Playoffs have ended in disappointment.

      For the first time in two decades, I started to doubt the team.

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      I grew tired of the choke jobs, the questionable coaching decisions, the lack of a sense of urgency. It became too exhausting that I even caught myself predicting we will lose in the first round against last year's finalists Miami Heat.

      Funny how the basketball gods work things out. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

      When the Bucks demoralized the Atlanta Hawks, 125-91, in Game Two, my faith grew the length of Giannis' reach.

      Fast forward and now, here we are: the culmination of two decades of hopeless devotion. My team is in the NBA Finals.

      Bobby Portis John Collins Bucks vs Hawks Game 5

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      Amusingly, after years of being stuck in no man’s land, I’ve got no clue what to do next. We’re on the grand stage. What now? How do I cheer from here?

      Well, probably like I always do, with my Bucks cap and my Fear The Deer hoodie with a nervous breakdown on the side. I pride myself with that social media biography of mine that says, "Probably the only Bucks fan in the metro."

      When I went over to the comments section after the Bucks won Game Six over the Hawks, it filled me with love and pride that a number of Filipinos are now rooting for a team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to win it all.

      Suddenly, people are cheering with that lonely boy with a second-rate Divisoria Bucks cap.

      I’m not the only Bucks fan in the Metro anymore.

      Bucks in 7.

      Renz Lyndon Paguio is a proud product of Tondo who is now doing communications work in the health sector. He previously dabbled in public relations, events, marketing, and film industries, while also being an avid online gamer.

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      PHOTO: (From Left) Courtesy of Renz Lyndon Paguio, AP
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