Near-term future is one big if for Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks do not inspire confidence that they can win a playoff series, but for all their warts – their maddening inability to defend the three, their nonexistent defense in the paint, their tendencies to come out flat, stand around in their half-court offense and go on turnover binges – I haven’t completely given up on them.
They have shown often enough that when they play the right way, they’re hard to beat. If I were coaching the Toronto Raptors or Boston Celtics, I would not be looking forward to a first-round series against Giannis Antetokounmpo and a motivated Bucks team.
The concern is that they’ve checked out mentally for so many spurts in so many games, it brings into question their collective will, their psychological makeup as a team.
Individually, sure, they want to win, but at times they don’t seem to be connected as teammates; the thread that runs through talented players and pulls them tightly together is missing. It's an important intangible, and the good teams have it.
I’m not suggesting there is discord in the locker room. On the contrary, the players seem to like one another. The bench goes crazy when one of the Bucks makes a good play, and teammates sprint to help a fallen comrade to his feet.
And they certainly are aware of their shortcomings. How many
times have you heard or read one of the Bucks say, after a desultory effort, that they lacked energy, that they didn’t share the ball, that they stood around too much, that they didn’t have a sense of urgency?
Jason Kidd took the fall in January for an underperforming team. Perhaps Kidd is the classic example that great players don’t necessarily make great coaches. But I wrote at the time that the players were equally at fault, that they weren’t holding themselves accountable. I still believe it, more so now than ever.
The Bucks won nine of their first 11 games under Joe Prunty but haven’t won more than two straight since early February. They are 7-10 since the all-star break (entering Thursday night’s game at Golden State) and are 6-7 in March, when they are supposed to be fighting for a higher seeding in the East. That says volumes about their resolve to show up at the arena every night ready for a fight.
Sometimes, they are lethargic at the start of the game or the second half, but the four- or five-minute lapse can rear its ugly head at any time.
“It’s not always just the literal start of the game,” Prunty said. “(On March 21) against the Clippers (it’s) 15-all and in about 5 12 ⁄ minutes were down 14, 16. The other night against Chicago (March 23) it was the start of the game, down 13-4.”
The Bucks aren’t talented enough to go through the motions and win, yet they do it far too often.
“That’s been our problem all year, turning it on and off,” Khris Middleton said. “That’s just part of growing up and the experience of going through it.”
It’s a deeper issue than that. By now, the Bucks have experienced so many lapses and lulls that they should be sick and tired of them – and mad enough to do something about it.
Perhaps they lack a strong leader, someone with the strength of character and willingness to get in teammates’ faces. Perhaps there is a tiny bit of jealousy in some corners of the locker room about the amount of fawning attention Antetokounmpo gets. That’s at least possible, isn’t it?
Despite all that, the Bucks are fully capable of spoiling somebody’s playoff party. Antetokounmpo is a top-five player in the league, Middleton’s mid-range game is sublime and Eric Bledsoe is a dynamic point guard. Jabari Parker can be explosive off the bench. And injured guards Malcolm Brogdon and Matthew Dellavedova will rejoin the team any day.
“We’re a tough, tough team to guard,” Middleton said. “Multiple guys can score on this team. Multiple guys can defend. If we play together and not play selfishly and try to do it all ourselves, we’ll be alright. If we play where our motor’s on, we’re attacking, we’re playing unselfish, we’ll be fine.”
If. And only if.