3 Lessons Brewers Can Take Away From Bucks NBA Finals Championship

Milwaukee is on top of the world! The Milwaukee Bucks are NBA champions for the first time in 50 years. The Milwaukee Brewers are trying to win their first World Series in just over 50 years as well.

Several Milwaukee Brewers players were in attendance at Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee to watch the Milwaukee Bucks win Game 6 of the NBA Finals. After seeing the Bucks win their own title, the Brewers are left wanting the same for themselves.

Obviously, winning a World Series was the Brewers goal to begin with, but seeing another team in their own city win a title, against all odds and adversity, has only strengthened their desire and further proved that winning it all is possible.

Here are three lessons the Milwaukee Brewers can take away from the Milwaukee Bucks’ NBA Finals victory.

1. Defense wins championships

This is something the Brewers already have a head start on. President of baseball operations David Stearns placed a priority on defense this offseason with the acquisitions of Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Kolten Wong. The Brewers have one of the best defenses in baseball.

The Milwaukee Bucks also had a great defense, one that was aggressive and certainly showed up in Game 6, but showed up all throughout the postseason. They held the Suns to 103 points or less in three of their four victories. For a such a prolific shooting team, that’s incredible.

Every player on the court contributed to that strong defense, but some had defense play a bigger role in their playing time than others.

P.J. Tucker, for example, was mostly on the court for his defensive prowess rather than what he brings on offense. In fact, Tucker brought very little offensively, but had a huge impact on defense. The Brewers have someone like that in Jackie Bradley Jr., who hasn’t brought much on offense most of the season, but his defense is exceptional and he’s impacted the team in a very positive way.

Strong defense wins championships. With the Brewers elite pitching staff and elite defense, they’re in a very good spot to already learn this lesson.

2. Start planning for a “Beer District”

The Deer District has been a wild success, with around 65,000 people filing into it to watch Game 6 of the NBA finals. It was full of people, big screens, music, and celebration. Tickets to get inside the stadium for the game were incredibly expensive, but standing outside and watching the game with other fans in a stadium-like atmosphere was free.

The Brewers don’t really have something like that, at least right next to American Family Field. Obviously, the Brewers are further out from downtown and are more spread out with the parking lots than what the Bucks have.

Perhaps when it comes to the Brewers postseason run, they can borrow the Deer District as a spot for fans who can’t get tickets to the game to watch with other fans. But having something outside the stadium also wouldn’t be a bad idea, although they don’t have a great amount of space to just have tens of thousands standing outside in a crowd.

3. They can do this

Anything is possible, even a small market, low payroll team winning the World Series. For years, it seemed the NBA was biased against small market teams, especially the Bucks, and wanted big market teams on either the east or west coast to win the title. They wanted super teams and for superstars to move to larger markets to make super teams to win titles.

The NBA has seen that with the Lakers and the Nets this year while MLB has that with the Dodgers and Yankees. The league, the national media, everyone it seems wants small market, Midwestern teams to fall short.

Despite all that, a city like Milwaukee can power through and win a championship. They can beat the odds, beat all expectations, and come out on top. The vast majority of the Brewers roster was there to witness it in person. They talked specifically about winning the World Series themselves and having that kind of celebration for themselves.

Seeing Giannis and the Bucks win their title has given the Brewers confidence that they can do the same. It’s not impossible. It is extremely possible for the Brewers to do it. They may need another in-season acquisition, and the Bucks made some in-season moves as well, but they can get the pieces in place and go on a run.

The Bucks title should be a huge confidence booster for the Brewers that they can win their own title and should motivate them to bring a second title to the city of Milwaukee in the same year.