When forward Isaiah Jackson made a pair of free throws with just over two minutes remaining in Game 6 on Thursday, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo could only watch from the opposite baseline. Hands in the pant pockets of his gray Nike sweatsuit, Antetokounmpo stood and looked toward the other end when the Pacers reserve forward hit two free throws to help give Indiana a 120-98 win that knocked the Bucks out of the playoffs. For the second consecutive season, they failed to get out of the first round despite being one of the preseason favorites to win the NBA title.
Last season, Antetokounmpo played only two full games in a 4-1 upset loss to the No. 8 seed Miami Heat. This season, he did not play a single minute against the Pacers after suffering a left soleus (calf) strain in a win over the Boston Celtics on April 9. Antetokounmpo didn’t speak to the media after Thursday’s loss, but Khris Middleton, who missed the 2022 second-round loss to the Boston Celtics while rehabbing a left MCL sprain, knew exactly what Antetokounmpo was feeling from the thousand-yard stare he gave him during the fourth quarter.
The Bucks have been eliminated from the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/qtkK2fN7S7
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 3, 2024
“Honestly, I haven’t talked to him that much because I know he’s angry,” Middleton said after Thursday’s game. “I’ve been there before, where you’re itchy, you’re fighting with the medical staff to tell them that you’re OK, that you’re being held back to some extent. I could see the frustration on his face. I mean, I know how much he wants it, wants to be out there and be the great player that he is and wants to prove to the world how great of a player he still is. So, yeah, I know there’s a lot going on in his mind right now, just the frustration of not being available this time of year.”
In each of the past five postseasons, the Bucks have lost a starter for a significant portion of the series. In 2021, they were able to overcome the loss of starting shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo in the first round and a left knee injury that knocked Antetokounmpo out for the final two games of the Eastern Conference Finals to win their first NBA championship since 1971. But in the other four postseasons, injuries ultimately played a role in the team’s postseason shortcomings.
“Injuries are just a part of it,” stated Doc Rivers. “As I often say, winning is extremely difficult. To unite as a team of twelve or fifteen players, assemble your crew, and prioritize your health. You are still unable to prevail. It’s really challenging. Furthermore, you won’t succeed unless you’re extremely strong or well.
“So, there’s nothing you can do about it. Giannis plays the way he plays and we need him to keep playing that way. Dame might have had a season this year where he never got into the shape he wanted to because he didn’t know where he was going to be all summer and so he couldn’t workout.
Khris, this might be the healthiest he’s ever been, so maybe we can work on that, so we’ll see.” When Milwaukee decided to fire Adrian Griffin in January, general manager Jon Horst made it clear that despite starting with a 30-13 record under the first-time head coach, there were some things the organization believed the Bucks could do better.
“I would say assessing the team so far, our record is really good and that’s what matters,” Horst told reporters. “We’ve had that in the past. We have a great offensive team, and I believe we not only have a great offensive team in terms of rating on total play, but we have a starting five that is great offensively and very good defensively. We’re great in late-game situations, we have iso scorers, we have pick-and-roll scorers. We have a lot of dynamic, flexible things we can do offensively.
“Defensively, we have a talented group that can be even better than it has ever been. Is this a top-five defensive team, top-10, top-15? I don’t know, and that’s what we’re trying to decide with the roster building. We’re trying to figure out where we can take it. Making the players better. The players have accountability to do that, to be better. And then the coaching element. I know we’re going to be really good offensively. We’ve got to figure out how to consistently improve defensively.”
Ultimately, despite putting together one of the league’s best records in the first half of the season, Horst and the Bucks’ ownership group believed the team was not consistently doing what it would need to do on either end of the floor to make a deep championship run.
The Bucks had lost ground defensively under Griffin. Opponents were scoring against them at will in transition and Griffin struggled to find the best defensive coverages after being forced to scrap his initial plans when players told him his strategy was not going to work with the roster in Milwaukee.
Milwaukee Bucks rating
Offensively, the Bucks were second in offensive rating when they outed Griffin, but they put up those numbers against one of the league’s weakest schedules and often did so without relying much on the two-man game between Antetokounmpo and Lillard.
Improving the partnership of the team’s superstar duo on the offensive end was ultimately going to be a huge task for the new coach and a crucial part of the job as the two-man game was what the Bucks used the most in the postseason. Ultimately, the success of Rivers’ midseason acquisition was going to be graded on how deep the Bucks went in the postseason, as well as how much the team improved defensively and the ability and rhythm of the Lillard and Antetokounmpo pick-and-roll.
Injuries to both Antetokounmpo and Lillard deprived the organization of any kind of final grade for Rivers as the star duo played zero postseason minutes together. So, without a final solution, how will Rivers’ progress be viewed? Over the final 36 games of the regular season, the Bucks went 17-19 under Rivers. They improved on the defensive end, but only slightly as they were 22nd in defensive rating in 43 regular season games under Griffin and 15th in defensive rating under Rivers.
A move to below average on that end of the floor would suggest Rivers had a better plan in place, especially considering Milwaukee played one of the league’s toughest schedules in the second half of the season.
Rivers will likely point to the first-round series against the Pacers as the best evidence of his ability to lead a defense. After giving up 128.8 points per game to the Pacers in five regular season games under Griffin, the Bucks held the Pacers to 94 and 92 points per game in their Game 1 and Game 5 victories, and 123 points per game in their four playoff losses.
While Tyrese Haliburton’s health certainly played a role in the effectiveness of the Pacers’ offense, the Bucks, under Rivers, showed far more resistance to one of the league’s best offenses. They did a better job limiting Indiana’s transition opportunities, even if there were still times when poor offensive execution allowed the Pacers to get out and run. Offensively, Milwaukee was worse under Rivers, posting the league’s 18th-best offensive rating, but the team spent most of its time trying to get Antetokounmpo and Lillard on the same page.
In fact, working on their connection took so much time that the rest of the team joked about practice possessions in which offensive action was called for another starter. Several scouts who spoke to The Athletic found it easier to prepare for the Bucks during the second half of the season because the team’s focus was on getting Antetokounmpo and Lillard more reps together, but that speaks to how well Rivers understood his job.
Rivers was going to do everything in his power to fast-track the connection between his two stars because if the Bucks were to have postseason success it was going to be on the backs of his two future Hall of Famers.
After all, he never got the opportunity to see if Antetokounmpo and Lillard could bring another championship to life, which is what the organization envisioned when Horst shocked the NBA world and traded for Lillard four days before the start of training camp.
Dame Lillard’s said
While Lillard’s happiness in Milwaukee has been discussed since the trade, he has repeatedly expressed his satisfaction with his first NBA home outside of Portland. He did the same on Thursday, even though the season had a disappointing ending.
“I’m extremely excited,” Lillard said of the prospects for his second season in Milwaukee. “I think, when things don’t go according to plan, as I’ve said before, I don’t say a lot. So, sometimes when people read, ‘Oh, Dame, he doesn’t look happy.’ I don’t think I’ve ever run around smiling on the court. That’s always been my nature, but I think, people will look at everything and try to make something out of everything.
“It’s been some tough times. I haven’t denied that once this year. Basketball and personally, it’s been some tough times, but that’s never been an issue with Milwaukee. I get the opportunity to play with Giannis. I’m playing with experienced players. I know what we’re playing for is just the opportunity to win a championship. And that’s why I decided to be a part of something like this. But I understand that the gossip and the gossip and all these things come with the territory. I know that, the criticism comes with being on a team with high expectations.
“And, for me, now that the season has come to an end, I’m looking at it and I’m excited that, me having the season that I had, I was almost 25 points a game, seven assists, we almost won 50 games given everything else and people just, you know, had a whole lot to say. And when I look at my performance, I know that I could have done a lot of things better. And I know that I’m going to have a full season of knowing the coach I’m going to be playing for, having a better idea of the guys that I’m going to be playing with. Being in Milwaukee, I’ve kind of settled into things here.
