Milwaukee (AP) — The Milwaukee Bucks entered the playoffs boasting the best record in the NBA and believed they had a great shot at winning their second title in three seasons.
Instead, they ended up ahead of May after suffering one of the most stunning first round losses in league history.
The seeded Bucks collapsed down the stretch for the second straight game and fell 128-126 in overtime against Miami on Wednesday, losing 4-1 to the eighth-seeded Heat.
When asked after the match if this early exit made the season a failure, two-time second-place finisher Giannis Antetokounmpo demurred at the question.
“There is no failure in sports,” said Antetokounmpo. “There are good days, bad days. Some days you can be successful. Some days you aren’t. Some days it’s your turn. Some days it’s not. That’s what sport is about. You don’t always win. Other people will.” And this year, someone else will win. Easy like that.”
The Bucks are the sixth No. 1 seed to lose to the No. 8 seed in the opening round. The previous five have won at least two games in their losing streak.
“There’s a lot of disappointment when your season ends, no matter how it happens,” said Bucks coach Mike Bodenholzer. “It feels hard. It feels disappointing. I believe in these guys and I trust them. We all have to be better.”
The way this season ended may make it particularly painful.
Milwaukee owned a 12-point lead in Game 4 before trailing the score 30-13 in the final six minutes of the game. 119-114 loss Miami’s Jimmy Butler scored 56 points. The Bucks blew a 16-point, fourth-quarter home advantage on Wednesday as Butler scored with half a second left to force overtime.
The Bucks shot 5-of-25 from the floor and 12-of-20 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and overtime on Wednesday.
“We had a lot of good shots, a lot of shots that we usually make,” said All-Star guard Jrue Holiday. “Sometimes they don’t fall.”
The Bucks had the ball while trailing by two in the final seconds of overtime, but the clock ran out before Grayson Allen attempted a punt.
Milwaukee had timeouts left when the game ended. Budenholzer said he did not regret not calling a timeout in the final seconds of overtime. He didn’t regret not connecting with one after Butler’s tied basket in the last second of the fourth quarter.
“We need a time out there,” Budenholzer said.
Budenholzer led the 2021 Bucks to the franchise’s first title in a half-century, but his tenure was also marked by plenty of post-season disappointments.
The Bucks have owned the NBA’s top seed three times during Budenholzer’s five seasons as coach. They didn’t even make it to the league finals in any of those years.
Milwaukee blew a 2-0 lead into the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals against the eventual NBA champion Toronto Raptors. The 2020 Bucks lost 4-1 to Miami in a second-round series that bore many similarities to this year’s matchup, with the Butler Heat winning.
This exit is the most disappointing of all, as the Bucks couldn’t get out in the first round.
The series started inauspiciously enough with Antetokounmpo coming off losing Game 1 with a bruised lower back. The MVP twice missed Games 2 and 3 before returning to score a triple-double in Game 4.
Antetokounmpo had 38 points and 20 rebounds on Wednesday, though he also shot 10-of-23 from the free throw line. He declined to comment on how much his back has bothered him in the last two matches.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Antetokounmo. “It’s over. We’ve lost the series.” ___
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