Milwaukee Bucks Shockingly Eliminated in NBA Playoffs First Round: Comparison with Dirk Nowitzki’s 2007 Failure and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Resilience Like Michael Jordan’s

At the start of the playoffs, the Milwaukee Bucks had a big 16 in the dressing room. 16 is something of a magic number in the NBA postseason, the number of wins a team needs to be crowned champion at the end of a long season. After every win, i.e. after every step that would bring Giannis Antetokounmpo and Co. closer to this goal, the number in the Bucks dressing room should be exchanged until in the end there was only one and then zero. Actually.

“It has to be the worst postseason of all time. We’ll stop at 15,” the depressed Antetokounmpo had to realize late Wednesday evening local time. Milwaukee managed just one meager win from five games against the Miami Heat, the 126:128 defeat after extra time finally made the end in the play-offs perfect.

Two weeks ago, Milwaukee was still considered the big favorite for the NBA title by the bookmakers in Las Vegas, ahead of teams like the reigning champion Golden State Warriors, last year’s finalists from Boston, and the newly formed star troupe from Phoenix around Kevin Durant or the Sixers and Nuggets with MVP candidates Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic.

A sextet of the disappointed

Of course, Milwaukee also had the status of favorites in the first round against Miami, which only qualified for the postseason via the play-in tournament. Best-of-the-season Eastern Conference regular-season team Milwaukee versus 8th-seeded — in NBA history, that’s usually a one-size-fits-all affair.

Since the introduction of the 16-team playoff format in 1984 – eight teams per conference – there have only been five cases in which the eighth-place finisher actually made the sensation. Now it’s six, eleven years after the last surprise victory.

Back in the 2012 playoffs, the Philadelphia 76ers overthrew the Chicago Bulls, whose former MVP Derrick Rose was injured. A year earlier, the Memphis Grizzlies eliminated the San Antonio Spurs, in 2007 Dirk Nowitzki with the Dallas Mavericks fell victim to the now legendary “WeBelieve” warriors after a regular season with 67 wins from 82 games. The other surprise wins included the New York Knicks in 1999 against Miami and the Denver Nuggets in 1994 against the Seattle SuperSonics – but still in a best-of-five series.

Antetokounmpo and the Jordan comparison

Still, Antetokounmpo didn’t want to write off his team’s season entirely as a failure. “There is no such thing as failure in sport. It’s another step in development,” said the 28-year-old Greek. “Michael Jordan played 15 years and won six championships, so were the other nine years a letdown?”

You can’t always win. Sometimes others win and this year someone else will win. As simple as that.

“You have good days and you have bad days. You can’t always win. Sometimes other people win,” continued Antetokounmpo, “and this year someone else will win. It’s that simple.” Nevertheless, it is of course “hard” to digest this defeat.

Certainly also because the Bucks partly have to write the play-off off themselves. Of course Antetokounmpo missed two and a half games against Miami due to back problems – of which Milwaukee nevertheless won one – of course Jimmy Butler played an outstanding series at the other end.

New discussions about Bucks coach Budenholzer?

But the Bucks also stood in their own way, which can also be seen in the final fifth game. For example, the 2021 champion missed 17 free throws – Antetokounmpo alone missed 13 attempts – Milwaukee gave away a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter and in the last play of overtime the home side didn’t even get a shot in time before time expired.

This will again lead to discussions about head coach Mike Budenholzer in Bierstadt. On the one hand, he’s been criticized for failing to take time out in Game 5 against Miami either late in regulation or in overtime to paint a potentially winning play. In addition, Budenholzer did not manage to find the necessary adjustments over the course of the series – for example in the defense against Butler – to turn things around.

Antetokounmpo attacking: “We will come back”

Now the Bucks have important decisions to make in the summer. Center Brook Lopez (35) is out of contract, and Antetokounmpo’s co-star Khris Middleton (31), who was injured for a long time this season, can also get out of his contract and become a free agent thanks to an option. In general, Milwaukee is by far the oldest team in the entire league.

That didn’t stop Antetokounmpo from looking to the future with confidence after the bitter loss to Miami. “Next year we’re going to come back and try to be better. We have to build good habits, not have a ten-day period or something where we’re playing bad basketball. And then, hopefully, we can win a title again.”