The Milwaukee Bucks had the best record in the NBA during the regular season and entered the playoffs with the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, along with the #8 seed Miami Heat.
After five games, Milwaukee found itself on the losing end of the series 4-1 and out of the playoffs. From a potential contender for NBA champion to a first-round rebounder, it’s hard to see this playoff run as anything but a fiasco for the Bucks.
Well, it’s hard to see it as anything but a failure unless you’re Giannis Antetokounmpo, who ran hairs after the match about the trajectory of being champion and how it’s not always a straight line process.
“It’s not a failure, it’s steps to success,” Antetokounmo said. ESPN. “There are always steps to that. Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championships. The other nine years were failures? That’s what you tell me?”
“It’s the wrong question; there is no failure in sports. There are good days, bad days. Some days you can be successful, some days you can’t. Some days it’s your turn, some days it’s not. That’s what it’s about.” Sports. You don’t always win. Sometimes other people win. And this year someone else will win, as simple as that.”
While that’s certainly an optimistic way of looking at it, and Giannis earns that right as a former NBA champion and one of the best players on the planet, championship-hopeful Bucks fans will likely disagree with his sentiments.
In Game 5, the game the Bucks needed to survive the postseason, Milwaukee blew a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter, allowing a molten Jimmy Butler to tie the game with half a second left in the fourth quarter. Antetokounmpo scored 38 points of his own to grab 20 rebounds, but was only 10 of 23 on his free throw attempts.
He also only shot 1-of-9 in the fourth quarter, which played a huge role in allowing the Heat to return to the contest. Giannis may not like the characterization, but this was a failure by Bucks in almost every way.