GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO sat at his locker inside Bankers Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, his head down, with one hand on his cellphone and the opposite on his brow. As he sat in silence, sporting a magenta sweatsuit, the remainder of his Milwaukee Bucks teammates obtained dressed round him, the dialog within the room diminished to murmurs.
Earlier that morning, Antetokounmpo went via a exercise to rehab his strained left calf, hours earlier than Sport 4 of a first-round collection he would by no means seem in. The 2-time MVP was restricted to cheering on his teammates from the sidelines. However his progress after the exercise gave Bucks coach Doc Rivers the idea that Antetokounmpo may probably return to face the Indiana Pacers.
What was left unsaid was how lengthy the Bucks must lengthen the collection for that to occur. Antetokounmpo was relying on his teammates to win a number of video games, a job made tougher when his co-star, Damian Lillard, was sidelined by an Achilles damage in Sport 3.
Even from the sidelines, Antetokounmpo tried to will the Bucks to victory.
Throughout a timeout with 7:04 remaining within the first quarter, Antetokounmpo was the primary to talk to the group within the huddle, changing into animated as he addressed Patrick Beverley and Malik Beasley earlier than strolling over to the scorer’s desk and whispering to Brook Lopez as he waited to test in.
Even with out their two stars, the Bucks had been tied after the primary quarter, regardless of Bobby Portis being ejected over a scuffle with Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard. Nonetheless, the Bucks didn’t have sufficient to beat lacking three of their greatest gamers and dropped Sport 4, placing them behind 3-1 within the collection.
The Bucks had been in a position to lengthen the collection to 6 video games with an impressed victory in Sport 5, however they nonetheless fell quick with out their greatest participant and had been eradicated in Sport 6.
Antetokounmpo was in an analogous state of affairs final season when an damage compelled him out of two video games within the 2023 NBA playoffs. He got here again in that first-round collection, however the Bucks nonetheless misplaced to the lower-seeded Miami Warmth in 5 video games, a loss that triggered a systemic shift within the group over the previous 12 months.
The Bucks fired their championship coach to usher in a brand new voice for the locker room; acquired one other all-time nice celebrity to pair with Antetokounmpo; fired the brand new coach when he failed to succeed in the locker room; and introduced in a well-known, veteran coach midseason hoping he would higher join with their stars and save a yr of their championship window.
However in the end, the Bucks fell quick in the identical spot, within the first spherical in opposition to a decrease seed, and are going through questions on the place they go from right here.
ON HIS WAY to the Kia Middle in downtown Orlando, Florida, for the regular-season finale on April 14, Lillard stopped for a second to replicate.
He thought again to 6 months earlier, making an attempt to summon his emotions earlier than the primary recreation of the common season. It appeared extra like a street recreation coming into the world in Milwaukee that day, but he nonetheless felt the thrill of enjoying for a group with reliable championship aspirations.
“I am right here in the end for this chance,” Lillard mentioned after the Bucks misplaced to the Magic 113-88. “You may have all these ups and downs, the season wears on you bodily, emotionally; typically we neglect how treasured the state of affairs we’re in is.”
Lillard knew the Bucks can be with out Antetokounmpo for at the least the beginning of the postseason, however he had confidence in his group’s capability to develop collectively earlier than Antetokounmpo returned to the lineup. However throughout the second quarter in opposition to the Magic, Lillard mentioned he started feeling discomfort in his proper Achilles. Rivers tried to take him out of the sport, however with the Bucks preventing for postseason seeding, Lillard toughed it out, enjoying half-hour.
He rested for the subsequent few days and began the playoffs feeling refreshed. He stormed out to 35 factors in his first half of playoff basketball in a Bucks uniform. However in Sport 3, Lillard aggravated the damage and missed the subsequent two video games. He returned in Sport 6 however couldn’t carry the Bucks to a collection comeback.
The commerce that introduced Lillard to Milwaukee despatched shock waves all through the NBA — he and Antetokounmpo had been billed as a dream pick-and-roll combo. But, nearly instantly, the unintended penalties of that commerce started to backfire on Milwaukee.
The Bucks traded All-Star guard Jrue Vacation to Portland to amass Lillard, however the Blazers had been targeted on a youth motion and redirected Vacation to the Boston Celtics, the group proper behind Milwaukee for essentially the most wins within the NBA prior to now 5 common seasons (Bucks 260, Celtics 256).
Vacation match seamlessly with the Celtics’ core, and Boston had one of the best file within the NBA this common season at 64-18.
In the meantime, Lillard wanted time to regulate to Milwaukee after 11 seasons in Portland. He acknowledged it was a problem off the court docket being removed from his family and friends, particularly his three kids.
“I moved my life and moved my profession and did all of this stuff that type of made my life slightly bit more durable away from basketball for this chance,” Lillard mentioned after Sport 1 of the collection. “Coming into it, in my thoughts and in my coronary heart, I used to be like, ‘I am unable to come this far with out at the least making an attempt to place every thing into it and put my greatest foot ahead.'”
And there was an adjustment on the court docket. Lillard and Antetokounmpo’s chemistry did not come as easily as predicted. Lillard at all times knew it could take time for the 2 stars to mesh on the court docket after spending their careers enjoying in offenses that revolve round them — however that did not make the method any simpler.
It was an up-and-down season for Lillard, who averaged 24.3 factors on 42% taking pictures (35.4% from 3), down from his ultimate yr in Portland however to be anticipated enjoying alongside Antetokounmpo, together with his lowest utilization price (27.4%) since 2014-15. Lillard performed 73 video games, his most because the 2018-19 season, and he ranked third within the league in clutch scoring, behind Stephen Curry and DeMar DeRozan.
But, as his first season in Milwaukee got here to an in depth, Lillard entered the playoffs targeted on the principle cause he requested out of Portland within the first place: a shot at a championship. That is why he cleared the air and reiterated that though Milwaukee won’t have been his preliminary alternative, he was excited to compete for a title.
“I noticed anyone say, ‘Dame’s not comfortable in Milwaukee’ or one thing like that,” Lillard mentioned the week earlier than the playoffs. “I do know the reality.
“I really like the state of affairs that I am in.”
THE BUCKS TRIED to save lots of their season in January with a virtually unprecedented midseason teaching swap.
On Jan. 23, the Bucks fired first-year head coach Adrian Griffin, who had gone 30-13 and had Milwaukee in second place within the Japanese Convention. Per week later, they employed Doc Rivers for his repute teaching star gamers, believing he was higher suited to assist the group attain its potential.
Rivers was open in regards to the difficulties of taking up a group with championship aspirations midseason, understanding that follow time was restricted. Rivers additionally inherited a training workers he has all however signaled he’ll make modifications to over the offseason. He introduced in a number of assistants he has labored with prior to now, however with holdovers from the staffs of each Mike Budenholzer and Griffin, the Bucks have 10 assistant coaches on the bench each recreation.
In 36 video games below Rivers, the Bucks went 17-19.
“I’d have favored our file to be higher for certain,” Rivers mentioned in Orlando. “We had lots of stuff thrown at us, and that is simply the way in which it’s. However I believe we’re in the best place the place we must be going into the playoffs, I would say that. We all know who we’re.”
Rivers was tasked with enhancing the group’s protection. And whereas he cleaned up some simple fixes — enhancing the transition protection and getting the gamers unified below an identification — there have been solely modest positive aspects. The Bucks rose from twentieth in defensive effectivity in video games below Griffin to fifteenth in video games below Rivers.
Rivers additionally emphasised the necessity for a stronger pick-and-roll connection between Lillard and Antetokounmpo. He started practices with each stars on one aspect of the court docket, with the opposite starters on the alternative aspect, forcing the duo to set and reset picks for one another from completely different spots on the ground.
Earlier than Rivers arrived, the Bucks ran 17.2 on-ball screens per 100 possessions with Lillard because the ball handler and Antetokounmpo because the screener. Below Rivers, that quantity jumped to 24.5, in response to analysis by ESPN Stats & Info.
Nonetheless, the Bucks’ three stars did not spend a lot time on the ground collectively. After Rivers started teaching the group Jan. 29, Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Khris Middleton had been within the beginning lineup collectively for a complete of eight video games. Lillard might be 34 in July. Middleton might be 33 this summer season. And Antetokounmpo will flip 30 subsequent season.
The Bucks dipped into their future final season to amass Lillard and are projected to pay the luxurious tax for a fifth straight season, limiting the group’s choices going ahead. The Bucks can commerce their 2024 and 2031 first-round picks beginning on the evening of the draft. Nonetheless, with such a small pattern of seeing their greatest gamers wholesome and on the court docket below Rivers, it is unlikely the entrance workplace will make main modifications to the roster regardless of a second straight first-round exit.
“It is robust anytime you attempt to join issues collectively and you do not have an opportunity to do it in stay motion sufficient occasions,” Lillard mentioned.
The assertion was emblematic of the Bucks’ season. For the third straight yr, together with 2022 when an MCL sprain stored Middleton out of 10 video games, the Bucks didn’t have their greatest gamers on the ground for the playoffs.
“It has been a loopy yr, man,” Portis mentioned after Sport 5. “We have had three coaches. Began off the season nice. Did not finish the season nice, had a foul skid in April. It has been ups and downs, guys out and in the lineup.
“We went to Vegas,” Portis continued with fun.
“We did every thing.”
