Bucks vs. Hawks Game 1 Open Thread

Milwaukee Bucks vs. Atlanta Hawks - 8:30pm ET (TNT) - series tied 0-0

Photo by Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images

Are you able to watch this game? It’s one thing to tune in to see Dario and the boys in the Valley of the Sun take care of business out west. That’s just entertaining NBA playoff basketball that has nothing to do with whatever atrocities to James Naismith’s game were committed by the Sixers last week.

But tonight is different. People should be packing up their coolers and filing into the Wells Fargo Center right now. If the Sixers had played to 80 percent of their capabilities, they would be hosting the Bucks tonight. On this site, we would be discussing the best way to defend Giannis Antetokounmpo (Joel Embiid, but can he do it long on his bad knee?), whether it was OK to root against forever Sixer and all-around wonderful human being Jrue Holiday, and whether the crowd should do the counting thing during Giannis free throws (but it seemed to help him!).

Instead, you know what happened, and now we have to deal with more infuriating Trae Young flops and grifts, before the NBA changes the rules this offseason. (One postseason too late, Adam Silver! Why do you hate the Process?) Do you have a rooting interest in this series? Personally, I want Milwaukee to look like a well-oiled machine and blow the Hawks out of the water, so I can tell myself the Sixers would have lost in the next round anyway.

Tune in if you can stomach it and follow along in the comments. Or catch up on something on Netflix — that’s cool, too.