MILWAUKEE COUNTY

Optimism running high for Bucks fans before Game 4

Jacob Carpenter
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It was 50 degrees and sunny, the $9 beer flowed and the Bucks were couple hours away from going up 3-1 on the Raptors.

Fans file in for  game 4 of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs at BMO Harris Bradley Center Saturday afternoon.

Yes, the corner of 4th and State, home of the pre-game pep rally, was a happy place Saturday afternoon.

Optimism ran high as thousands of fans filtered into the Bradley Center, sight of Thursday's beatdown of Toronto and a crucial Game 4. Milwaukee's NBA franchise hasn't won a playoff series since 2001, but a victory Saturday would nearly end that streak of futility.

Wauwatosa resident Kyle Rozek couldn't hide his excitement Saturday — not even under the latex, Bojack Horseman-style deer mask covering his face. Rozek's only memories of playoff glory involve the long-gone Ray Allen, but this year "feels different," he said.

"When they were up 30 on Thursday, I kept waiting for the comeback, but they just shut Toronto down," Rozek said. "They're really built on defense this year."

Donning his own hat — an upside down basketball net — and a basketball painted on his face, Griffin Blanks toted around a sign cheering on his favorite player: Giannis Antetokounmpo. Blanks, 8, met the forward on Christmas Eve at Omega — the Greek Freak's favorite Greek restaurant — but will get his first up-close look at Antetokounmpo in the playoffs.

"He was really tall. I was only like right here to him," Blanks said, putting his hand just above his knee.

Racine resident Jesse Ramos brought his own pint-sized version of Giannis to the game, carrying around a cardboard cutout of the 6-foot-11-inch forward. Ramos took a picture of Antetokounmpo, printed it across 20 pages of 8.5 x 11 paper, stapled it to cardboard and surgically sliced Giannis' silhouette.

"I've gotten a lot of pictures, a lot of people stopping by asking about it," Ramos, 36, said. "I should have made more of them and sold them."