Fresno folks celebrate Bucks’ NBA championship in Milwaukee, including Giannis’ girlfriend
The Milwaukee Bucks are NBA champions!
And that has some folks in and from Fresno celebrating, including a pair of Bucks players with Fresno ties.
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was named NBA Finals MVP after scoring a game-high 50 points Tuesday to lead Milwaukee to a Game 6 clinching 105-98 victory against the visiting Phoenix Suns.
Antetokounmpo practically has made Fresno his home away during the offseason, having visited “the 559” multiple times with his live-in girlfriend Mariah Riddlesprigger being from Fresno and a Bullard High alum.
Riddlesprigger and her dad, Pat, who is Fresno Unified School District’s athletic manager, attended Tuesday’s game in Milwaukee.
Both were shown celebrating with Antetokounmpo on national TV.
In addition, Brook Lopez added 10 points and eight rebounds as the Bucks starting center as he became the first Fresno native to win an NBA championship since DeShawn Stevenson (Washington Union High), who won with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.
Lopez, in his 13th season in the NBA, averaged 13.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game during this postseason.
The last Fresno native to contribute as much as, if not more than, Lopez in an NBA Finals was Bruce Bowen (Edison High), who won NBA titles with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003, 2005, 2007.
Lopez also became the first member of the juggernaut Memorial squads from the early 2000s to win an NBA title, besting his twin brother Robin Lopez and Quincy Pondexter. The star trio graduated from Memorial in 2006.
Robin Lopez actually played with the Bucks last season, serving as Brook’s backup. But he decided to sign this past offseason with the Washington Wizards.
Pondexter played seven seasons in the NBA, his last time suiting up in 2019.
Brook and Robin often roast and make fun of each other on social media and in interviews.
So it was perhaps fitting that while Brook celebrated a championship, Robin shared out a tweet about Paddington Bear.
This story was originally published July 20, 2021 at 9:59 PM.