There are no ifs or buts. The Bucks are in trouble. After having lost yet again to go down zero to three in their second-round series against the Heat, they face the inevitability of elimination from the 2020 Playoffs. It isn’t simply that they require the right mix of skill, focus, determination, and no small measure of luck to be the first in National Basketball Association annals to come back from such a deficit. It’s that they don’t seem to be in the right mindset to do so; they’re already backpedaling even as today’s match has yet to commence. Starting and ending with acknowledged leader Giannis Antetokounmpo, they appear overwhelmed by the moment. Under intense scrutiny from all and sundry to deliver exactly as expected, they instead feel compelled to justify the very strategies that enabled them to rule the roost in the first place.
True, the Bucks suffered from the worst of breaks when found themselves up against the Heat in the quarterfinals. Their gritty opponents don’t have any marquee name to boast of outside of seemingly erratic Jimmy Butler, and yet possess precisely the type of game to rattle them — anchored on stubborn, in-your-face defense that has neutralized Antetokounmpo’s mastery of and in the paint and compelled anyone other than him to produce for them. In what has unfortunately become a familiar postseason refrain, however, they don’t seem to have the toughness to keep going under pressure.
In playoff hoops, adjustments aren’t just par for the course; they’re critical to survival and success. And for all the intricacies of head coach Mike Budenholzer’s sets on both ends of the court, he looks unwilling — or unable — to shift gears. If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while foreseeing different results, then he’s pushing the boundaries of foolishness. There’s a reason they haven’t yet won in three games, but not because they’re not trying their best. It’s because they insist on executing the predictable. The plays that worked in the regular season against 29 other foes have been effectively exposed and countered by the Heat, and it’s time for them to move on and explore other ways to prevail.
From this point on, the Bucks aren’t merely battling to stay in the bubble. They’re aiming to prove, particularly to themselves, that they have the right tools to turn Antetokounmpo’s best years into sustained championship runs. Else, they’ll be entertaining the prospect of losing him to free agency next year. With all due respect to those around him, he doesn’t have enough support to ease the burden he’s carrying. As things stand, he’s hard-pressed to prove his MVP standing against the Heat, whose constant dare for him to beat them from the outside has paid off. Once again, he will be enduring criticism for owning ultimately hollow mantelpieces that fail to mask his most glaring weakness: he has no outside shot, a humongous no-no in today’s partial-to-pace-and-space NBA.
Certainly, the unique campus setup under which the 2020 Playoffs has unfolded doesn’t help the Bucks’ cause. It’s why the other supposed favorites have, likewise, encountered hurdles; the utter absence of any homecourt advantage has scuttled traditional assessments based on hierarchy. Against this backdrop, they’re enjoined to innovate. They can’t improve their talent base, but they can at least up their output by being collectively better than the sum of their parts. And, before anything else, they have to put Antetokounmpo in position to deliver what he can. Otherwise, they won’t just lose the series. They’ll also lose him — and they’ll have only themselves to blame.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
