As the Bucks prepare for game two of the Eastern Conference Finals, fans are buying up lots of merchandise with superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo on the front. Including those sharing the same name.
"I'm Yiannis," Yiannis Rokkas said. "It's kind of a common name in Greece."
Rokkas was in San Francisco for business, but knew he needed to make a stop in Milwaukee to catch the Greek Freak in action. He also picked up dozens of things for his friends and family back home; most with his namesake on the front.
"You can not be bigger," Rokkas said "Everybody loves him because he's such a nice guy and a tremendous player of course."
This isn't Rokkas' first trip to Milwaukee, but it has been a while.
"I love Milwaukee," Rokkas said. "I haven't been here for 25 years. The change has been tremendous. I'm very happy. I'm one of the few Greeks supporting the Bucks from before because I graduated from Marquette. I lived in Milwaukee. It's double the pleasure to see Giannis play for the Bucks."
Even those stateside can agree with that. For many fans outside of Milwaukee, this playoff run is giving them an opportunity to check out the new arena and Deer District for the first time.
"My daughter and son-in-law are in here from out of town," Jerry Kornhoff of Franklin said. "We wanted to come down tonight but it's a little chilly. I'm soft. I'm an old man. It's so cool to see the excitement going on and I haven't been down here to see all this stuff. We'll be tuning in tonight, that's for sure."
"I live in the middle of the state so I'm not down here often," Joshua Pegram of Wisconsin Rapids said. "On TV it looks like a lot of fun down here with the new forum and all that's going on. It's really exciting."
Pegram was one of the many people coming out of the Bucks Pro Shop today with a new team sweatshirt to boot. He's glad to see the Bucks have put Wisconsin on everyone's radar.
"My brother-in-law lives in Tennessee and was always a big NBA fan," Pegram said. "He's excited for me, being down in Tennessee. I think that's a little story of how far the Bucks reach."
If they win 7 more games, that reach is going to go even farther.
