NBA’s show returns to the stage once again
Bucks are primed for the league’s restart
Friday marks the 145th day since the Milwaukee Bucks last played an NBA game that will count in the standings. It's been four months, three weeks and two days since that last game as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the league – and the world – into an extended holding pattern.
After months of waiting, working out behind the scenes, assembling in a bubble at Walt Disney World, practicing for a few weeks and a trio of scrimmages, the Bucks are finally about to resume their 2019-’20 season when they tip-off against the Boston Celtics at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
Are they excited to be back? Absolutely. Are they totally prepared for the rigor of the grind – eight regular-season games in less than two weeks followed by the playoffs – ahead of them? That answer is a little more complicated.
“As close as we can be,” Bucks guard Wesley Matthews said with a laugh Thursday when asked how close he and his teammates are to being in game shape. “I don’t think anybody here is going to say – being fully honest – and say that they’re all the way ready gamewise, but we’ve done the necessary things to get there. And I think all of us feel good. We feel really, really good.”
With the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference virtually wrapped up – the Bucks have a 61⁄2 game lead on the Toronto Raptors with eight games to go – the challenge for the team will be balancing rounding into shape while keeping everyone healthy for the playoffs. As happy as he is with the way his team stayed active over the hiatus, coach Mike Budenholzer recognizes that all of his players all still have some ground to cover when it comes to being in top game-shape.
With that in mind, you can expect Budenholzer to ramp up his players’ minutes over time instead of getting them back to their regular workload right off the bat. His focus is on having his team ready and playing well come playoff time, not selling out and riding his starters hard for seeding-game wins.
“I mean, if you think about a season, you go through the first 10 games of the season you’re probably not really stretching guys out significantly there,” Budenholzer said. “You’ve got to build it up. Usually, with NBA players practice is important, practice is really good, but I think as far as conditioning and stretching themselves out and building up a conditioning base it probably happens best and most often in games and so it takes some time to get there.”
Reining and presumptive MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo knows that his conditioning and level of play aren’t yet where they need to be, estimating that he’s about 70-75% of the way to being in game shape.
The way he feels now is akin to how he feels at the beginning of the season, knowing he’ll need game reps to elevate to where he needs to be.
While his minutes will be monitored and he likely won’t get back to playing his regular eight-minute stretches right away, he’s looking forward to playing as much as possible as the team prepares for the playoffs.
That – he believes – is what he needs most to be successful.
“I feel like I need as many minutes as possible,” Antetokounmpo said. “Just being out there makes you better. Just playing the game you feel more comfortable, just being in a lot of situations over and over and over again you know how to react in those situations. Personally, I’m just trying to use these eight games to get in, like, playoff shape and being out there as much as possible I think is going to help me get where I want to get faster.”
When it comes to getting back into game shape, the Bucks have two players who aren’t there yet and as such will be held out of Friday’s opener. Guards Eric Bledsoe and Pat Connaughton both tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month and went through two-week quarantine periods before arriving late to the Disney campus.
Bledsoe cleared his mandatory quarantine in Orlando, Florida, on July 24 while Connaughton did so on July 27. Both were able to take part in 5-on-5 scrimmages on Thursday in practice, but neither Budenholzer nor the Bucks medical staff believe they are ready for Friday’s game against the Celtics.
It’s unclear exactly when both players will be cleared to play in games, but they’re going to have to prove their fitness in practice situations first.
“I think it’s a little bit of conditioning, a little bit of just rhythm and everything,” Budenholzer said. “Everybody else is getting ready to play in a live game and has had 10 to 12 to 14 days of probably 5-on-5 every other day and individual work and all of that.
“I think getting Bled and Pat a couple of 5-on-5 sessions at a minimum and get them some 3-on-3 in other situations or days – they just need to play. So, I think that’s a big hurdle. With playing will come both conditioning and their rhythm, so we’re going to make sure they get some of that before we put them in an NBA game.”
After a 145-day wait between games, the Bucks are on the verge of beginning a sprint to the finish.
Even before this season started nearly a year ago, Milwaukee had championship aspirations – a goal they hope to achieve now that the NBA season is restarting.
If they’re going to do that, they’re going to have to go from shaking the rust off in eight seeding games to battling through a difficult playoff field to potentially matching up against the best of the West for the right to claim this season’s championship. Based on the playoff schedule, all of that is going to happen in 74 days or less.
It’s going to be a grind unlike any other in the NBA’s history, but the chance at glory still remains. The Bucks’ championship window remains open and the trophy up for the taking. Now all that’s left is to earn it.
“Well, that’s why we’re all down here. It’s simple and plain,” Matthews said. “That’s why we’re all down here is because we know that opportunities like this are rare . ...
“Now we got a chance to finish it off and we know that it’s not gonna be easy. We don’t even care if we’re favored or not. We’re just excited to be down here. That’s why we’re here. We’re all here with that same mission, with that same goal, with that same objective.”