By Adam Roberts – 7/15/2021

With Kareem and Oscar in the house, and 25,000+ outside Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee was in a position to either make the 2021 NBA Finals a best-of-three or fall into a daunting 3-1 hole with two road wins necessary to win the Finals. In Game Three, Giannis was the superstar with a 41 point performance.

Last night, the 40 point star would be Khris Middleton.

The Bucks’ shooting forward recorded 40 on the nose on 15-33 shooting with a 7-8 night at the free throw line. Giannis added 26 and 14, Milwaukee had five guys in double figures and forced 17 Phoenix turnovers on their way to a 109-103 Game Four win. It was a good thing that those turnovers turned into fastbreak points as well; Devin Booker was electric for the Suns with 42 points and very nearly carried the Suns over the hump by himself.

But it was those turnovers and the Bucks’ defense in the fourth quarter which truly provided the difference. The highlight of the night came within the final two minutes, when Booker had Deandre Ayton set up perfectly for an alley oop that would have tied the contest at 101. Giannis, however, had other plans and was able to pivot from a standstill at the free throw line and contest the shot just enough to block it away.

Statistically, there was a lot going in the Suns’ favor during a good chunk of the game; they shot an impressive 51.3% and outshot the Bucks both from three and the free throw line. But four Suns starters had negative plus-minuses, and again the 17-5 turnovers going against Phoenix led to easy buckets for Milwaukee. Booker’s supporting cast being held largely in check didn’t help matters for Phoenix, either; Chris Paul was held to just 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting and had five of the Suns’ turnovers. Deandre Ayton ended with six points and 17 rebounds in the setback.

So now the series shifts to Phoenix once again this Saturday, with neither team finding a way to win on the road yet. Our coverage from the desert begins at 7pm on ESPN La Crosse 105.5 and espnlacrosse.com!

By Adam Roberts – 7/14/2021

The Washington Wizards have started to finalize the names on their list of head coach candidates, and two Milwaukee assistants are on the list.

Darvin Ham and Charles Lee join Denver assistant Wes Unseld Jr. as finalists for the position, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Ham has been the lead assistant in Milwaukee under Mike Budenholzer for some time now, and many within the league have called him a top assistant coach across the association. Ham interviewed for the position earlier this month, and he also played for the Wizards during the 1997-98 season.

As for Lee, the 36 year old is another long-time Bud assistant back to the Atlanta years. He is most noted for his time at Bucknell University, especially the 2006 season when he was the Patriot League player of the year as part of a Bison team that upset Arkansas as a nine-seed, their highest tournament seed in school history.

No timeline has been announced as for when the Wizards will make a selection, though this is likely due to the fact that the Bucks are still alive for a championship.

By Adam Roberts – 7/13/2021

Looks like Team USA Basketball is going to appreciate the arrival of Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday even more than we thought.

The U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team has now lost back-to-back exhibition games for the first time since pros joined the roster in 1992. Australia upset the Americans 91-to-83 Monday in Las Vegas to get the team off to an 0-and-2 start. They also lost to Nigeria over the weekend, a team they beat by 80+ points back in 2012. Team USA had been 54-and-2 in exhibition games since pros joined the roster. They’ve now matched those losses over nearly three decades in only three days.

Middleton and Holiday are obviously occupied at the moment, but will be a part of the roster that competes in Tokyo this year.

By Adam Roberts – 7/13/2021

The Coulee Region will have six representatives at the 48th annual American Legion State All-Star Game.

Owen Cauffman of Gays Mills, Onalaska’s Bryce Hoeft, Prairie du Chien’s John Nicholson, Viroqua’s Clayton Slack, La Crosse Post 52’s Brandon Stadtler and Sparta’s Brett Stuessel will be the area’s reps on August 8th at American Family Field in Milwaukee. After missing out on the All-Star game last year because of the pandemic, it will be a welcome sight to have it back again this year. According to Coulee Region American Legion Baseball League commissioner Craig Otto, the Brewers are the only team to offer this kind of a legion baseball game.

The game will immediately follow the Brewers-Giants game on the 8th.

Also, the newest Legion rankings have been released. The classes that include area teams look like this:

Class AA

1. Onalaska (12-0)
2. Seymour(9-1)
3. Holmen (13-6) 
4. Ashwaubenon (7-4)
5. Medford(4-2)

Receiving Votes: River Falls (4-4), Beaver Dam (6-4), Antigo (7-5), Minocqua (4-2), Rhinelander (3-0)

Class A

1. Viroqua (20-3)
2. Denmark(5-3)
3. Waupun (9-0)
4. Little Chute (4-0)
5. Baldwin(9-3)

Receiving Votes: Prairie du Chien (10-7), St. Mary’s Springs (5-4), Jackson (4-2), Green Lake (5-3)

By Adam Roberts – 7/12/2021

Johnny Davis was already the Coulee Region basketball world’s golden boy. Now he just has some extra hardware to prove it.

Davis and the USA U19 team won gold at the FIBA World Cup in Latvia with an 83-81 nailbiter against France to cap off a perfect 7-0 run in the tournament. The sophomore guard from La Crosse provided his best effort against Korea during group phase play, where he posted 9 points on 5-6 shooting, 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals in 17 minutes of action.

In helping secure the second straight gold for Team USA, Davis became the first Badger to win a gold medal for USA Basketball since Sam Dekker in 2012 as part of the FIBA Americas Championship team.

Davis will head back to the states to get ready for his next season with Wisconsin, which begins November 15th against Providence in the Gavitt Tipoff.