Milwaukee Bucks Are Bringing In The Bachelor For A Key Game

The Milwaukee Bucks host the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night in a game with serious playoff implications. That is why they are bringing in The Bachelor to inspire both the team and the fans.

The Milwaukee Bucks are bringing in the artillery for a crucial game against the Atlanta Hawks.

After winning 10 out of the last 12 games, the Bucks have climbed from outside the playoff picture to sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

While they shouldn’t count their chickens before they hatch, Milwaukee is now shifting its priorities not just from making the postseason, but to earning the best possible matchup for the first round.

Just one game behind the Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee will have a chance to move up to fifth with a win Friday night as they host Atlanta at the Bradley Center.

While there isn’t an “easy” game in the first round, the Toronto Raptors are the most vulnerable missing their best player and floor general Kyle Lowry.

That makes the fifth seed a goal worth striving for. A win Friday against the Hawks will put the Bucks in the driver’s seat with 10 games to go; a loss would put them 2.5 games back with the same span of time to catch up. While not a “must-win,” this game holds key importance.

Milwaukee Bucks /

Milwaukee Bucks

That is why Milwaukee is pulling out all of the stops on Friday, not simply settling for a standard run-of-the-mill arena experience. Most Friday night home games at the Bradley Center feature a “Date Night” ticket package with a food and beverage combo to accompany a ticket.

This Friday night the Bucks will instead be offering a package that includes a meet-and-greet with the recent star of the hit show “The Bachelor,” Wisconsin native Nick Viall.

Less than two weeks after the finale of the season on which he was the star, Viall will be in the house for this crucial matchup.

For fans of the show, Nick Viall is not a new name. He has been on the program five times searching for love, only to strike out repeatedly.

That may be an experience many Milwaukee fans can relate to — the Bucks have not won a playoff series since 2001 and their last championship came in 1971.

Even this season, the Bucks have fought back against multiple opportunities to fold and give up. Their playoff odds dipped down as low as 11 percent in early February, but the Bucks kept scrapping and winning games.

A 4-2 road trip — their best record on a six-game road trip in 30 years — has those odds back up to 88 percent per FiveThirtyEight.

Bachelor fans see that same sort of determination in Nick, one of the reasons he is among the most popular contestants in the show’s 15 years of parading eligible men and women before each other.

Says Lydia, an avid fan of the show:

"“What set him [Nick] apart was that he never gave up on finding love, even when the odds were stacked against him…he could have given up and lost hope but he never did.”"

That quote could just as easily have applied to this Milwaukee season and that is why Viall is going to be in the arena Friday night. His long road to find love and happiness is almost identical to the one Milwaukee has been walking this season.

Unfortunately for both the Bucks and Nick, happiness doesn’t last forever. Whether Milwaukee finishes fifth, sixth or seventh they will still be picked to lose their first-round series.

For Nick, the first few months of his engagement to Vanessa Grimaldi have not been smooth, and FanSided’s own Alison Schil hypothesizes that their relationship may not go the distance.

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For a Wisconsin native to gain such popularity is a boon to fans across the state. Not only is Nick now a household name, but he debuted on “Dancing With The Stars” to continue his streak of uninterrupted Mondays appearing on ABC prime-time television.

His drive to win more than just one reality show is an example for the Bucks not to be complacent with simply making the postseason.

Nick Viall coming to the game Friday night may seem like a marketing ploy to sell tickets, and in some ways it is.

But for Wisconsin’s own to overcome defeat after defeat and endure, breaking free in the end to find true love — for at least a few months — is something to be celebrated and emulated.

Friday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks will have to be played on the court, and the Milwaukee Bucks players and coaches will ultimately be the orchestrators of a win or loss.

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But knowing that one Milwaukee champion is under their roof should inspire this Bucks team to its highest heights.

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