MILWAUKEE -- Teams don't become NBA Finals contenders overnight. The same goes for players developing into All-Stars and league MVPs. Making those kinds of gains, and reaching that kind of rarified air, takes time and pain, sweat and tears.
For Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, the past eight years have seen them turn the Bucks into one of the NBA's elite teams, and themselves into some of the game's elite players. And it was the weight of all of those shared experiences that, with Milwaukee's season on the line Wednesday night, helped the Bucks' franchise cornerstones save the day.