This brings up old bad memories.  I still hurt after reading this.  I knew they were shafted then.  And I still know they were shafted now.  Sad thing is no one cares the Bucks got the shaft, cause it’s Milwaukee, and no one wants to see the Bucks in the Finals, especially the NBA.  That was my last and only chance to see my team in the Finals, and it got stolen from us.

I watched all the games in that series that year, mainly cause that’s one of the last years they still showed the Conference Finals on network television.  We should have gone to the Finals that year.  And we could have gone if Big Dog makes that gimme 5 footer, or if Ray Allen gets that goaltend called on Dikembe.

I keep waiting for my team to get back into contention.  It’s a long road for Bucks fans.

From Bill Simmon’s latest article:

10. If crooked NBA playoff series were heavyweight boxers, then the 2002 Western finals (Lakers-Kings) was George Foreman and the 2001 Eastern finals (Bucks-Sixers) was Earnie Shavers. Translation: People remember only George, but Earnie was almost as memorable. To briefly recap, Philly’s wins in Games 1 and 4 swung on a controversial lane violation and two egregious no-calls. The Sixers finished with advantages of 186-120 in free throws, 12-3 in technicals and 5-0 in flagrant fouls. Glenn Robinson, one of Milwaukee’s top-two scorers, didn’t even attempt a free throw until Game 5. Bucks coach George Karl and star Ray Allen were fined a combined $85,000 after the series for claiming the NBA rigged it. In that game, Milwaukee’s best big man, Scott Williams, was charged with a flagrant foul but not thrown out, only to be suspended, improbably, for Game 7.

The defining game: When Philly stole a must-win Game 4 in Milwaukee despite an atrocious performance from Iverson (10-for-32 shooting), helped by a 2-to-1 free-throw advantage and a host of late calls. How one-sided was it? When an official called a harmless touch foul to send Sam Cassell to the line with two seconds left and the Bucks trailing by seven (maybe the all-time we-need-to-pad-the-free-throw-stats-so-they-don’t-seem-so-lopsided-afterward call), the subsequent sarcastic standing ovation nearly morphed into the first-ever sarcastic riot. And this was Milwaukee, the most easygoing city in the country! Nobody remembers this. The real loser was Allen, who exploded for 190 points in the series, including a record nine three pointers in do-or-die Game 6. Nobody remembers this, either. Even I didn’t remember it. Crap.