In recent days, the Milwaukee Bucks have made some strides to boost their chances of winning the NBA championship.
However, they haven’t forgotten the ill feelings that resulted from their epic collapse against the Miami Heat in last year’s NBA playoffs.
“In the weeks that followed the loss to the Heat, when the Bucks were convincing Giannis Antetokounmpo to sign his supermax extension while dissecting their own demise at the same time, sources say there was a great deal of frustration aimed at [Mike] Budenholzer that hasn’t been forgotten,” wrote Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic. “The perceived lack of adjustments was a focal point, with Budenholzer himself admitting that coaching mistakes had been made along the way. Yet from ownership on down, there was an acknowledgment that the uniqueness of the environment had made it extremely hard to evaluate the true meaning of it all.”
Milwaukee finished with the league’s best record in each of the past two seasons. In 2019, it blew a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals against the eventual world champion Toronto Raptors.
Last year, with the playoffs being held in the bubble site in Orlando, Fla., the Bucks were hoping that they would get over the hump.
Instead, the Heat produced one of the more inspiring upsets in recent memory, upending the Bucks in five games in the second round of the playoffs.
After a slow start to the season, Milwaukee has started to heat up. It is coming off back-to-back wins against the mighty Brooklyn Nets and is closing the gap between them and the Nets in the standings.
Without a doubt, the only satisfactory ending to the season for the Bucks would be a championship ring.