The Bucks trolled Shaq and the 2001 Lakers on Instagram

The Milwaukee Bucks and the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers championship team led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant might not seem like natural enemies, but they were actually bigger foes than one might think.

As a matter of fact, the Bucks (somehow) managed to sweep the Lakers 2-0 in the regular season during the 2000-01 campaign, a little piece of trivia the Bucks decided to remind Shaq about when he posted a quote from Bryant about that title team on Instagram:

NBC Sports caught the Bucks’ troll job:

Hey, that was a pretty solid ribbing, and in no way easy to fire back against because of the Bucks’ own unimpeachable history.

So as fellow history enthusiasts, and because the Bucks wanted to compare stats, we here at Silver Screen and Roll decided to dig through a few as well and see how the Bucks and Lakers compare, just for fun:

NBA Titles in Franchise History

Lakers: 16, Bucks: 1

Titles with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar:

Lakers: 5, Bucks: 1

Regular season series wins against each other:

Lakers: 81, Bucks: 53

All-time playoff appearances:

Lakers: 60, Bucks: 30

All that said, it would be disingenuous to say the Bucks haven’t beaten the Lakers at ANYTHING. In the interest of fairness, we managed to find a few stats they’re superior in as well.

Regular season wins in Lakers-Bucks season series during the 200-01 season:

Bucks: 2, Lakers: 0

Lottery picks used on Yi Jianlian:

Bucks: 1, Lakers: 0

Amount of times Kareem Abdul-Jabbar left team:

Bucks: 1, Lakers: 0

Number of times being Greg Monroe’s preferred free agency choice:

Bucks: 1, Lakers: 0

That last one I’m sure especially stings, as many columnists at the time were dutiful enough to remind us it meant that the Lakers’ time as a marquee destination for NBA stars was over, which is why LeBron James, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are all rumored to want to head to Milwaukee this summer.

Oh wait. Maybe that was one more thin the Lakers beat Milwaukee at. However, they’ll always have the 2000-01 season series.

Grant Goldberg / Silver Screen and Roll