2. 47 4747
BUCKS MAKE
MOST OF
TRIP TO
LONDON,
ON AND OFF
THE COURT
By Patrick Stumpf
On its most important level, the Bucks’ first-ever interna-
tional regular season game in London was a smashing suc-
cess as the team posted a 95-79 win over the New York Knicks.
But even before basketball, the mere act of flying
across the pond provided an interesting contrast for just
about every member of this year’s team.
John Henson, for one, had never been out of the country.
“I can’t wait,” Henson said before takeoff. “I’ve never
been overseas or even on a flight longer than three or four
hours. It is going to be fun. It will be a great experience be-
yond basketball, just to be out there and see what it is like.”
At The O2 arena, where Milwaukee played host, Bucks
assistant Joe Prunty was a mere six-and-a-half mile bus trip
south of the Copper Box Arena, just beyond the River Thames,
one of the home sites to the Great Britain National Team
which he coached in EuroBasket 2015 this past August.
BUCKS MAKEBUCKS MAKEBUCKS MAKE
MOST OFMOST OFMOST OFMOST OFMOST OFMOST OFMOST OF
TRIP TOTRIP TOTRIP TO
LONDON,LONDON,LONDON,LONDON,LONDON,LONDON,LONDON,LONDON,LONDON,LONDON,
2014-15 Milwaukee Bucks Tipoff
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B U C K S M A K E M O S T O F T R I P T O L O N D O N ,
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Jason Kidd was making his third trip there in as many
years, having played for the Knicks in a 102-87 victory over
the Detroit Pistons at The O2 during the 2012-13 season
before coaching the Brooklyn Nets to a 127-110 win over
Atlanta in London last season.
Twenty-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo was visiting
the United Kingdom for the first time, despite growing up in
Athens, Greece.
“This is the first time I’ve traveled outside of the U.S.
with my team and it’s something I’ve been really looking
forward to,” said Antetokounmpo. “I’m very excited to be
in London.
“I’ve spoken with Brandon (Knight), who came here
before (2013 with the Pistons), and he told me all about
London. I just can’t wait to explore the city and to play at
The O2.”
Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova (a native of Turkey) and
center Zaza Pachulia (Georgia) were both playing as close
to home as they ever have in their NBA careers.
“I feel like I’m going home because I have so many
friends coming from Georgia; it’s just a 4-hour flight,”
Pachulia said.
With 23 international players listed among the all-time
roster, including four on the current squad, the Bucks have
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2014-15 Milwaukee Bucks Tipoff
always had an international presence. Milwaukee logged a
pair of preseason games in China in 2008, earning a 98-94
win over the Golden State Warriors in Guangzhou before
falling 109-108 in a rematch in Beijing.
Well before that, however, the Bucks were one of the
pioneers in the NBA when it came to playing basketball
on an international stage. Milwaukee played host to the
first McDonald’s Open in 1987, competing in a round robin
tournament against the Soviet National Team and Tracer
Milan, a Euroleague power at the time. The 1987-88 Bucks,
coached by Del Harris and led by Terry Cummings, Jack
Sikma, Paul Pressey and Sidney Moncrief, rolled to a 2-0
record and paved the way for a wave of expansion for the
NBA on the international basketball landscape.
With the NBA transforming into a global entity more
and more each year – there are seven games in six coun-
tries scheduled as part of the NBA Global Games this
season – perhaps there wasn’t a more opportune time for
this group of Bucks to show their face on the world stage.
“I think it’s an exciting time for the Milwaukee Bucks,
taking our brand to play abroad in London,” Kidd told the
Daily Mail’s Sunni Upal. “We have a couple international
players, too, so family and friends will get to see them play
in person.”
Bucks president Peter Feigin couldn’t agree more.
“The NBA is a fast-growing brand with a tremendous
global reach,” he said in a Jan. 12 interview on 620 WTMJ’s
Wisconsin’s Afternoon News. “We’re beyond excited that
Milwaukee is on the forefront of it.”
That meant a little something extra to Ilyasova, who re-
turned to the rotation after sitting out 19 of the previous 20
games with a nasal fracture as well as a concussion before
he played 12 minutes.
“It’s the first time we’ve had that kind of game,” said
Ilyasova, the longest-tenured Bucks player, in an inter-
view with the Journal Sentinel’s Charles Gardner. “Flying
overseas, now it’s an opportunity for everybody to see a
different atmosphere. Everybody is blessed for this to be
part of our job.”
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O N A N D O F F T H E C O U R T
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2014-15 Milwaukee Bucks Tipoff
With team visits to Buckingham Palace on Monday, a
full-blown tour of Stamford Bridge – home of world-re-
nowned soccer club Chelsea – on Tuesday, a reception at
the residence of the U.S. Ambassador Tuesday night, an
NBA Cares clinic on Wednesday, and plenty of tourism and
selfie activity in between, including a team photo at the
iconic Tower Bridge, the week-long venture was anything
but routine in the middle of a NBA season, and provided a
chance for some added bonding.
After landing in England, Kidd said: “We’re delighted
to be here. I’ve been to London for the last two games here
and it is always a great experience. There is so much to see
and do, it’s a fantastic city.
“This is a close team already so being able to do team
functions and something different always gives the expe-
rience, win or lose, of understanding what we can learn
from doing something that isn’t just the norm. I think this
is a great time for a young group and a young coaching
staff to go through.”
The atmosphere lived up to the billing, too: a sold-out
venue, with many of the 18,689 fans packed into The O2
witnessing their very first NBA game. Plenty of celebrities
were on hand, too, including soccer stars Didier Drogba,
Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas and Tim Howard – the goal-
keeper for the U.S. Men’s National Team.
“I really like The O2 and I’m looking forward to going
back there,” said Kidd in the days leading up to the game.
“I have some fond memories from the last two years. There
is always a good atmosphere in that building.”
Pachulia had also experienced what European fan were
like during games a time or two before, both as a player
and spectator.
“They love it,” he said of European fans. “I have
watched on TV the NBA teams playing from Asia to Europe
to different continents, and I always see the full house.”
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2014-15 Milwaukee Bucks Tipoff
B U C K S M A K E M O S T O F T R I P T O L O N D O N ,
O N A N D O F F T H E C O U R T
One of the concerns both coaching staffs naturally
would have was how the players would adjust to the quick
change in time zones. But due to his previous experienc-
es, Kidd was able to devise a game plan that clearly paid
off, and it started in the days leading up to the game, with
run at both Imperial College on Tuesday, and the team’s
first appearance in The O2 for a workout on Wednesday.
“We had two good practices,” Kidd told the Journal
Sentinel’s Charles Gardner postgame. “That got the
guys’ attention.
“We talk about trust, and they trusted our game plan
about what we were going to do for the week. Understanding
they wanted to sightsee, but we had to do our work first, and
they did that.”
A lot has been made about the team’s youth – they
began the season as the second youngest in the league by
average age (23.7). Since then, they’ve brought 37-year-
old veteran Kenyon Martin on board with a pair of 10-day
contracts. Whether Martin’s presence played an added
role, it was still clear that playing on the international stage
certainly didn’t faze anyone.
Milwaukee never trailed in the game, beginning the
first quarter on a 14-0 run and holding the Knicks 0-of-10
from the field until the 6:11 mark. They got balance offen-
sively, with five players in double figures, led by O.J. Mayo
(who scored 16 of his team-high 22 in the first half) and
Brandon Knight (20 point/5 rebounds/6 assists/6 steals).
“The coaches did a great job of managing our
schedule while we were there so that we’d be ready to
take care of business on the court,” said Pachulia, who
entered this season as the oldest member of the team
at age 30. “We did a great job of handling all the distrac-
tions so that we could still get the win, which was the
most important thing.”
“They didn’t complain,” Kidd said. “I’ve been on that
side of the fence where you complain a little bit as a player.
But guys were great. For that, we came out with a big win.”
The trip didn’t come without adversity. After leaving the
game with a right knee injury, days later it was revealed
that point guard Kendall Marshall had suffered a torn right
ACL, the team’s second such blow to the injury in less than
a month after Jabari Parker’s similar misfortune.
Overall, however, it was certainly a trip worth remem-
bering: for the new experiences, and certainly for the
result. But most importantly, it instilled confidence and
served as yet another positive for a team looking to contin-
ue its upswing into the NBA spotlight, both this season and
in seasons to come.
“We experienced something different as a team, and
for us it was perfect,” said Pachulia. “It was a lot of fun.
We spent a lot of time together, starting with the flight over
and then dinners and events together. I look at it as a big
positive for our ball club, to be able to spend time together
and grow closer as a family.”
B U C K S M A K E M O S T O F T R I P T O L O N D O N ,
O N A N D O F F T H E C O U R T
One of the concerns both coaching staffs naturally
would have was how the players would adjust to the quick
change in time zones. But due to his previous experienc-
es, Kidd was able to devise a game plan that clearly paid
off, and it started in the days leading up to the game, with
run at both Imperial College on Tuesday, and the team’s
first appearance in The O2 for a workout on Wednesday.
“We had two good practices,” Kidd told the Journal
Sentinel’s Charles Gardner postgame. “That got the
guys’ attention.
“We talk about trust, and they trusted our game plan
about what we were going to do for the week. Understanding
46 Feature.indd 52 1/20/15 8:45 AM
