When the moment is so sweet and you’ve been waiting for it so long you don’t forget easily where you were, how you felt and who was there with you.
That’s the case for many surrounding the Milwaukee Bucks’ NBA championship in 2021.
Whether you were shoulder to shoulder with 100,000 raucous fans in the Deer District for Game 6, at a bar hugging strangers on Water Street, listening to Ted Davis’ iconic call from home or watching the clock hit zero with your Dad as confetti poured down inside Fiserv Forum, that night of July 20, 2021, is one to remember.
And two years later, the memories came flowing back for fans.
The tears. The jubilation. The euphoria.
While it’s no doubt been disappointing for Bucks fans to watch the team unable to replicate that moment the past two seasons, bowing out in the playoffs well ahead of the NBA Finals, the lasting memories from that night are as strong as ever — including for its superstar player.
“What a night to remember!” Giannis Antetokounmpo wrote in social media posts Thursday. “Enjoy it until the next one.”
Antetokounmpo posted a photo of himself Thursday showing him celebrating in the Fiserv Forum locker room after the Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns, 105-98, to win the franchise’s second championship and first since 1971.
Antetokounmpo had the MVP trophy in his right hand after he tied an NBA Finals record by scoring 50 points in a clinching game.
The Bucks will enter the 2023-24 season with an eye on giving their fans that championship feeling again. Of course, while a lot has changed since 2021. But they will again bring back the core of the team that raised the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
But that can wait. On this day, Bucks fans listened to Antetokounmpo as they enjoyed a trip down memory lane.
Unless there’s an NBA scheduling change, the Bucks will always keep the anniversary date to themselves.
The NBA Finals are always held in June but in 2021 the schedule was altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020-21 season, as a result, didn’t begin until December, with the playoffs lasting well into the summer of 2021.
The summer of the Milwaukee Bucks.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Giannis, Bucks fans celebrate 2021 NBA championship on anniversary