No 1 seeds eliminated in Eastern Conference semi-finals by Miami Heat
Wednesday 9 September 2020 11:35, UK
After their second-round playoff exit at the hands of Miami Heat, what comes next for the Milwaukee Bucks? And how much of it can they really control?
Let's make sure no one gets the Milwaukee Bucks' timeline twisted as they make their way out of the NBA bubble.
The Bucks dug themselves a fatal 0-3 hole in their Eastern Conference semi-finals series against Miami with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Yes, the likely Most Valuable Player and the certified Defensive Player of the Year twisted his right ankle in Game 3. But he played through it, only exiting with 16 seconds left in that staggering 40-13 fourth quarter last Friday.
Then Antetokounmpo sprained the ankle again early in the second quarter of Game 4. He spotted his team-mates 19 points in his 11 minutes, but they proved plucky enough to take advantage of some Heat complacence and avoid a series sweep by winning in overtime.
Then the Bucks' star got ruled out shortly before Game 5 on Tuesday night, effectively ending their 2019-20 season against a Miami crew that was not going to make the same mistake twice. Milwaukee ran out of defense in stretches, ran out of buckets in one miserable third-quarter drought and ran out of time.
It is important to keep the sequence of events straight because in the coming months or years, some people may get it mixed up.
They might attribute Milwaukee's unacceptable ouster in five games - by a No 5 seed - from the second round to Antetokounmpo's injury and absence from the series finale. They might think that failing in five games somehow is better than four, when in truth it was over in three. They might shift their gaze back to the Bucks' admirable regular-season record, not just this time (56-17) but from 2018-19 (60-22) too.
They might spin all those things forward in an attempt to rationalise the Bucks' second consecutive playoff failure. And then maybe alibi some more by citing the weird, artificial atmosphere of the Orlando bubble or the Bucks' focus on social protest that might not have been a distraction, per se, but clearly added a lot to their playoff plate.
Everybody, winners and losers, have dealt with the same isolated, hunkered-down circumstances. And they all have felt capable of tackling two tasks, playing on the court and speaking out on their media platforms over the past eight weeks.
The Bucks could have felt a little extra glare from the spotlight they shined on themselves when they decided not to play Game 5 of their first-round series vs Orlando on August 26, the day it was scheduled. But the other teams still alive in the playoffs had their backs. The schedule got shifted by three days and basketball returned.
Now that we have accounted for the timeline and the purging of excuses, the questions remain.
What's next for Milwaukee? And how much of what's headed their way can they really control?
Do not underestimate the severity of the Bucks' swoon. They got to March 1 with a 52-8 record. Then they went 1-4 before the virus lockdown, losing at Miami, at the Lakers, at Phoenix and at Denver.
After an interruption of more than four-and-a-half months - again, same for everybody - Milwaukee went 3-5 in the seeding games, got spanked in their playoff opener by the Magic and wound up at 5-5 in the two rounds as their bubble burst. In all, that's a 9-14 mark that began well before the restart.
No one had an answer for that lost vim, vigour, mojo or bottom-line results.
What is inescapable is that the Bucks need change and a fair amount of it. An overhaul, not tweaks around the edges like they got last summer. There would be zero satisfaction, and potentially a lethal dose of impatience, if general manager Jon Horst, Budenholzer, his staff and the players tried to run back the same group, same strategies, same results whenever the 2020-21 season gets here.
Posting the best record over the long schedule to again snag the No 1 seed, then hoping for a different playoff result is a form of hoops insanity. Besides, that's what this year was all about. The Bucks were two victories away from the 2019 Finals when they lost Game 3 to Toronto in overtime and never got back on track.
That means they are 5-9 in their last 14 postseason games.
Even if the Bucks (like the other 29 teams) won't have to worry about selling tickets anytime soon, how will they attract eyeballs when fans already have seen this movie twice?
It is not change for its own sake that is needed. There are weak spots to address, holes to plug, work to be done and mistakes to be erased, if they can be.
The decision last offseason to keep Eric Bledsoe over Malcolm Brogdon goes all the way to the top, a financial flinch by co-owners Marc Lasry and Wes Edens that saw the Bucks keeping the wrong guy. Or at least parting with the better player for them.
It has been bad enough to see Bledsoe play poorly in the biggest moments - after the way he shrank against Boston in 2018 and Toronto last year, his work against Miami should be strike three. If, that is, there is a way to offload the guaranteed $40m or so left on his contract.
What hurts too is that Bledsoe is not a shooter (Brogdon is), which is what Milwaukee needs from the point guard they pair with Antetokounmpo. He can be a fireplug defensively (he was named to the league's all-defense second team Tuesday) but that does not outweigh his inefficient and oft-forced offense.
Wesley Matthews at the other starting backcourt spot will turn 34 next month and played this season on borrowed time. George Hill, Bledsoe's back-up, already is 34. There is more center Brook Lopez can give if asked, and Khris Middleton needs to use his play in Antetokounmpo's absences against the Heat to boost his game to that next proverbial level.
Budenholzer's twice-tried, twice-thwarted system - based on making three-point shots over the top of his freakishly versatile penetrator, while counting on opponents to miss theirs - needs a makeover. His team's focus on defending the paint coupled with the game-by-game randomness of perimeter shooting earned the Bucks' their No 1 defensive ranking again this season.
But Miami beat them at their own game, shooting 37.3 per cent from the arc for 75 three-pointers to the Bucks' 32 per cent and 54. The Raptors had turned them inside out that way as well.
Relying so heavily on Antetokounmpo - yet seeing how other players moved and played more aggressively in his absence near the end against the Heat - suggests there are skills and styles to blend toward better ends, too. No more waiting for Giannis to do it.
Revamping a system is not always an easy thing for a coaching staff, so Budenholzer's happiness and future in Milwaukee may get bandied about outside and even inside the organisation.
When four playoff coaches already have been dumped - Indiana's Nate McMillan, Philadelphia's Brett Brown, Brooklyn's Jacque Vaughn (interim) and now Oklahoma City's Billy Donovan - it is important to remember that contracts are guaranteed but jobs are not.
As for Antetokounmpo, even he has lots to improve upon for 2020-21, from his foul shooting and need for a reliable mid-range jump shot to new brakes, new shoes or new moves to cut down on his offensive fouls.
That might have confused some folks, focused as they might be on Antetokounmpo and the quarter-billion-dollar, five-year 'supermax' contract extension he will or will not sign before next season.
Even though the 'Greek Freak' has room for growth and definitely can help his team-mates more right where he is, that is not necessarily how this league works.
To head off that disaster - Antetokounmpo deciding he wants out to seek a championship elsewhere - the Bucks frankly must change around him. However and whatever he wants.
