Milwaukee Bucks: 3 reasons the door is open for a title repeat

The Milwaukee Bucks are coming off a championship won in one of the strangest seasons in NBA history.

Between the countless man-games lost to injury and COVID around the league and the contenders who had their seasons scuttled by health misfortune, the Bucks persevered and won the war of attrition.

It’s a great feat and one that should be lauded, but often NBA champions are judged as much by their play the year after as they are the year of their title win. Whether fair or foul, the great champions in history are the ones who were able to repeat or at least valiantly defend their titles.

There are no glorious one-hit wonders in the NBA.

It’s important that the Bucks live up to this challenge, even though the field may be tougher this season than last. We’ll go over three reasons this team may well deliver on this expectation, starting with the most obvious.

Reasons the door is open for the Milwaukee Bucks repeat: 3. They have Giannis Antetoukounmpo

Giannis Antetokounmpo was great on a historic level against the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals. The Suns simply had no answer for him, in spite of having a great young big in the form of Deandre Ayton.

Antetokounmpo is still suffering some ill effects from the hyperextended knee he suffered in the Eastern Conference Finals (which makes his Finals performance that much more incredible), but he’ll round back into form sooner than later. And he’s such a physical force that even if he’s not at full strength, he will still be unstoppable on a night-in, night-out basis.

If the Bucks have Giannis at the peak of his powers, they’ll have every opportunity to repeat as NBA champions. Without him, they’re drawing dead.