The Atlanta Hawks, without the services of superstar guard Trae Young, surprisingly trounced the Milwaukee Bucks, 110-88, in Game 4 of the East finals on Tuesday night to even the series at two games apiece. And to add injury to insult, two-time MVP winner Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered a hyperextended knee injury that could have series-altering implications.
Milwaukee's time as heavy favorites to reach the NBA Finals is officially over. But does the team still deserve credit for their accomplishments this season? DA and Mraz debated the Bucks' title hopes and current expectations during Wednesday's edition of The DA Show.
"Give them credit for where they are and don't assume they can't do it because they haven't done it in the past. Because that's how history works," DA said. "Everything that's ever happened has to happen for a first time. And so everybody going back on, 'They'll never do it because they haven't done it yet' is stupid. It's the dumbest rationale in life to say it can never happen because it hasn't happened. Everything happens for a first time. And the Bucks winning a championship this year, if they do it, would be like everything else -- a first time!
"I'm not going to criticize the Bucks for winning a Game 7 [against the Brooklyn Nets in the East semifinals]. As a sports society, we suck so bad. Like, there's you and half our listeners who want to criticize the winner -- the winner! Everybody is an NBA player -- they're paid professionals. They're all really good. Kevin Durant's an all-time player playing at an all-time peak and they found a way to beat them. And we're going to criticize that? That sucks...
"If you want to criticize them, then you look at Game 1 of this series and say, 'How could the Bucks lose at home to Trae Young and the Hawks?' Fine. You want to say, 'How could the Bucks come out last night and trail in a game without Trae Young?' That's fine. But don't go back to a game they won on the road when a historic player had a historic night and say they can't get credit for that... That take sucks."
Game 5 of the best-of-seven series (tied 2-2) will take place on Thursday night in Milwaukee, with tipoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET. The Bucks still have a 71-percent chance of advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1971, per FiveThirtyEight's projections.
The conversation between DA and Mraz can be accessed in the audio and video players above.
You can follow The DA Show on Twitter @DAonCBS and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.