Milwaukee Bucks: Just a regular season team?
FOR the second straight season, the Milwaukee Bucks finished at the top of the NBA standings. They were even on pace to reach 70 games before the league suspension.
It’s too bad that they are precariously on the brink of elimination again. They reached the Conference Finals last season; they may not even get that far. Many predicted a showdown with the winner of a Raptors-Celtics bloodbath (now tied at 2-2), but the lightly regarded Miami Heat has them on the ropes with a 3-0 series lead.
The Bucks became the pre-emptive favorite to win the title. Tides shifted to their favor before the start of the season: Kawhi Leonard left the East, weakening the team that defeated them. The Golden State Warriors were dismantled and decimated by injuries. They were likely to face a fatigued LA team that would have survived the death match with their neighbor.
All those storylines for the Bucks went for naught. Even the stars align for you, you need to show up. They did that in the regular season, but the playoffs are an entirely different animal.
The regular season MVP
Last season, Giannis Antetokounmpo won the MVP award. This season, he is likely to take it again (there was a leaked voting result) along with the Defensive Player of the Year award. He now has an All-Star sidekick in Khris Middleton. The Magic 8-Ball would have responded with “All Signs point to Yes” on the Bucks’ title chances.
What happened to Giannis? It wasn’t so different from last season. In the regulars, Giannis can overwhelm a team with sheer athleticism. Some teams, even the contenders were ready to take an L from them.
However, everything changes with a seven-game series. A good coach can figure out the Greek Freak’s game. Nick Nurse of the Raptors did it last season. It took him 3 games and an overtime period, but after that, they never looked back. It helped that they had Kawhi Leonard to man their “Greek Wall.”
The remaining teams of the East have the best coaches: Nurse, Brad Stevens of Boston and the ridiculously underrated Erik Spoelstra of Miami. All of them have prepared game plans for Giannis. Even Orlando Magic’s Steve Clifford managed to give him a hard time.
The Heat has got him all sorts of frustrated. No matter what he says in the media, it is clear with his expressions: Giannis is questioning himself and his team.
Now, the entire basketball world is also starting to ask: “Is he really good enough to lead a championship team, or is he just a regular season guy?”
There are many factors to the Bucks’ failures. Some question why Coach Mike Budenholzer benches him in crucial stages in the game, or why he has not assigned the DPOY on Jimmy Butler who has been destroying them.
Budenholzer is another notorious regular season performer. He was the coach of the Atlanta Hawks team that had four all-stars and finished with 60 wins. They lost to the LeBron Jamesled Cleveland Cavaliers in a sweep.
Rumors light up
With any Milwaukee Bucks failure, Giannis trade rumors inevitably follow. Many are confident that they might not even need to trade, but pick him up in free agency. The Bucks brass will be on the hot seat if they get swept.
The Miami Heat themselves have cap space for Giannis, and if they continue to flounder, the Bucks may have to trade him to get something back.
Just like the Sixers, though, they are likely to use the band-aid solution: Fire the coach.
Other playoffs notes:
Are the Los Angeles Lakers using Game 1 to “feel out” their opponent? Sort of like Round 1 of a boxing title match where hardly anyone attacks?
This is the rationale of many LeBron stans and Laker die-hards, but could they actually afford to give games to the Houston Rockets?
LeBron will have plays wherein he has a chasedown block and barge all the way to the basket. With the Rockets lacking a rim protector, he should do that more often. The question now is why he hasn’t.