Mikal Bridges Reminisces Suns’ Confidence of Winning Championship vs Bucks With 2–0 Lead in the Finals

In conversation with Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Matt Hillman on episode two of The Roommates Show, former Phoenix Suns wing Mikal Bridges revisited the team’s 2021 championship loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks came back from a 2-0 deficit to win their first title in 50 years.

Mikal Bridges, former Suns’ small forward, while in conversation at the Roommates Show on the February 16th episode, recalled Suns’ initial overconfidence in taking up a team from the East. He said, “Yeah and I remember going up 2-0, thought we was good, I was like oh we about to win the chip cause look especially in the West, East really like east really like whatever you know we go see Milwaukee we over here like man it’s light, its the East, it’s Milwaukee.”

Bridges recognized the presence of Giannis Antetokounmpo but underestimated a team from the Eastern Conference and went on to state, “I know they got Giannis and and obviously they got hoopers, but I’m like the west is tougher in the east.”

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Having said that, Mikal Bridges remembered the turning point of the series, “We’re like we good. Go up 2-0 we’re there like exactly. This is what we’ve been talking about. Like it’s the East bro, like we’re about to win this. They ran up 4 straight. I just couldn’t believe it. I actually couldn’t believe it.”

Rise of the Young Buck.

The turning point in that series could be traced back to the Suns’ underestimation of Giannis Antetokounmpo. When a young Giannis was picked up as the 15h overall draft by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2013 NBA draft, little did anyone know how the future of the Bucks would be changed forever.

In 2021, when the franchise finally broke its 50-year championship drought, Giannis was at the heart of it all. He earned Finals MVP honors with his monstrous performance. His clutch free-throw shooting (17-19) sealed the deal, from his game-saving block in Game 4 to his highlight-reel alley-oop in Game 5, it’s safe to say Giannis led the Bucks to the championship ring.

Mikal Bridges, who was averaging 18.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in the two games he played against the Bucks in the NBA championship finals, has developed his game heavily since being traded from the Suns. In the 2023-24 regular season, he has played 54 games and has been averaging 21.7 points per game, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.7 assists with a 37.1% three-point shooting percentage. Looks like the loss to the Bucks and the subsequent Nets trade fueled his drive for excellence.

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