Jason Whitlock wrote this after the Bucks fell behind 2–0 in their NBA conference semifinal series against Miami:

The refs bailed out Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night.

Yep. You read that right. The refs saved the Greek Freak with the bogus touch foul that sent Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler to the line for the game-winning free throws with no time on the clock.

Miami 116, Milwaukee 114.

The 5th-seeded Heat now own a 2-0 advantage in their best-of-seven playoff series against the NBA’s best regular-season squad.

Lucky for Giannis and the Bucks everyone will spend [Thursday] talking about the sloppy officiating that first allowed Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton to knot the score at 114 with three gift-wrapped free throws and then four seconds later handed the game back to Miami.

Milwaukee fans will likely focus their animus toward referee Marc Davis, who made both sketchy foul calls. That’s fine. But all of Milwaukee should be talking about Jacob Blake’s role in Milwaukee’s terrible start to the second round of the playoffs.

The Bucks dug this hole the moment they diverted their attention away from basketball to fight for the life of a criminal suspect who doesn’t care all that much about his own life.

The Bucks are suffering from Post Traumatic Black Lives Matter Disorder. It’s the mental lapse that happens when a professional athlete realizes he’s allowed Twitter race-hustlers to dupe him into caring more about the life of a criminal suspect than the criminal suspect cares about his own life.

Twenty seconds of an edited cell phone video provoked the Bucks to shut down the NBA Bubble and other parts of the sports world. The shutdown accomplished nothing. Skipping work rarely does.

It was a well-intentioned publicity stunt orchestrated by people who believe in the power of publicity to end racism, cure cancer, spark world peace and stop police from shooting resisting criminal suspects.

The Bucks are mentally lethargic because they’ve spent the past four or five days coming to grips with the immaturity, recklessness and futility of their response to events in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Giannis, George Hill, Kyle Korver and the rest of the Bucks are the official public relations team for Jacob Blake, a man accused of serial sexual assault against a black woman. The Bucks knew nothing about Blake when they decided to go on strike moments before taking the court against the Orlando Magic. All the Bucks knew at the time is what the Twitter race-hustlers told them.

A white cop shot Jacob Blake while Blake was innocently trying to break up a fight. That was the original fairytale floating across the Twittersphere.

Now we know the rest of the story. Blake allegedly had a history of sexually abusing the black woman who called the police. He allegedly stole from her. He wrestled with the police. He admitted having a knife. With his kids in the car, he ignored the commands of police at gunpoint.

Blake behaved in an incredibly irresponsible manner. He behaved like a man who didn’t care whether he lived or died. Think about it. You’re somewhere the courts have ruled you should not be — at the residence of the alleged victim of your sexual assault. Your kids are in the car. You fight with the police. The police draw their guns and you attempt to get inside the car where your three children are.

You’re endangering your own life and the life of your three completely innocent children.

The social media mob and Black Lives Matter dictate that we only evaluate the behavior of white police officer’s in these situations. It’s illegal, immoral and racist to second-guess Jacob Blake’s behavior.

BLM seemingly believes Blake has no responsibility to protect the safety of his three kids, to protect his ability to provide for them. According to Bigots Love Marxism, it is the sole responsibility of the government and white police officers to make sure nothing bad happens to Blake, a suspect they’re trying to arrest for visiting a woman he allegedly sexually assaulted.

Bigots Love Marxism thinks black men are incapable of consistently making decisions to protect themselves and the welfare of their children. Blake responded to police like a man with a death wish and no regard for his children.

Did he deserve seven shots in the back? No.

Am I going to skip work and mourn Blake’s tragedy as if the government sanctioned the KKK to physically harm Martin Luther King, Michael Jordan, Patrick Mahomes or a sophomore at Morehouse College? Absolutely not.

The Bucks made fools of themselves. They chose the wrong hill to plant a flag. It’s easy to lie to yourself via social media. The algorithms, Russian bots and blue-check, bubble-approved sports journalists protect the influencers promoting BLM Derangement. It’s unlikely anyone will ask the Bucks if their Blake stunt shook their focus.

And if the question is asked, they’ll be allowed to pretend it was all worth it.

“The Bucks started a conversation. They raised awareness. They showed empathy.”

Inside the social media matrix, it’s better to slap a slogan on the back of your jersey, kneel during the national anthem or perform some other  symbolic gesture on behalf of a criminal suspect than it is to take action in support of a high school or college kid attempting to make a positive impact on society.

The Bucks are “ride or die” for Jacob Blake.

If they die in the second round of these playoffs and Giannis leaves for Golden State, Milwaukee made the ultimate sacrifice for someone unwilling to sacrifice his pride to protect his three sons.

Trust me, not everyone on the Bucks’ roster is foolish enough to believe justice for Jacob Blake is worth a 0-2 playoff deficit.

According to Wisconsin court records, Blake has been in court three times for not paying child support. The charges for which Kenosha County courts issued an arrest warrant include third-degree sexual assault — domestic abuse (maximum penalty 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine), criminal trespass to dwelling — domestic abuse, and disorderly conduct — domestic abuse. That is who people are defending.

To no one’s surprise, what pro athletes — and, for that matter, Gov. Tony Evers and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes — thought happened in Blake’s arrest is not what happened. But don’t believe me, read the state Department of Justice‘s investigation yourself. (The DOJ, by the way, is run by Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat.)

There would be some cosmic justice if the Bucks ended up losing this series. The Bucks’ owners are well-known Democrats. Fiserv Forum, built with $250 million in taxpayer dollars, was built in part to attract the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which of course wasn’t really held in Milwaukee due to the coronavirus pan(dem)ic. (Someone predicted that Milwaukee would take a bath over the convention. He was right for reasons that didn’t exist when he thus opined.)

Beyond the political issues (actually, not, given the Democratic governor’s shutdown of this state earlier this year), the Bucks clearly suffer when not playing at home. The NBA “bubble” has had the impact of completely negating home court advantage. It’s as if the NBA designed it to eliminate the Bucks’ chance of getting to the NBA FInals, let alone winning.