Milwaukee has had a shocking series.
The Milwaukee Bucks lost 126-128 to the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the 1st round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs held at the Milwaukee Fiserv Forum on the 27th (hereinafter Korean time).
Prior to the series, few doubted Milwaukee’s victory. The topic of the Milwaukee and Miami series was not predicting the winning team, but how soon Milwaukee would finish the series.
That’s how big the difference in strength between the two teams was. Milwaukee was the No. 1 seed in the East with the best performance out of the 30 teams in the regular season, while No. 8 seed Miami looked precarious going into the play-in tournament.
Milwaukee took a blow by giving up the first game, but caught the second game right away. The gap between the two teams seemed to be very real as the victory was won without super ace Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was injured in the first game.
However, Milwaukee fell victim to the upset by losing all three games that followed like lies. There were only five cases where the NBA’s No. 1 seed lost to the No. 8 seed before this playoff. The most recent was the upset Philadelphia made against Chicago in the 2012 playoffs.
Antetokounmpo made a comeback in Game 4, but could not prevent Milwaukee’s downfall. Antetokounmpo’s performance was also great, but Miami ace Jimmy Butler shone even more in this series.
Milwaukee collapsed in vain, allowing Butler 56 points in Game 4 and 42 points in Game 5. The problem is that both games could not maintain a relatively comfortable lead until the third quarter. It’s true that Butler’s performance was phenomenal, but the Milwaukee players’ fourth quarter performance was also not like a No. 1 seed.
It was a come-from-behind defeat with no excuses. The players’ complacency eventually led to a shocking dropout. It’s hard to imagine a No. 1 seed going 1-4 to a No. 8 seed team.
Antetokounmpo, the center of the team, also poured out 38 points and 20 rebounds in the 5th game, but it was regrettable. He missed a series of important free throws, and committed a fatal foul on Max Strauss in the last minute of extra time giving up three free throws.
Antetokounmpo, who met the shocking result, reflected, “Miami fought hard to win the series against us, and we went into the game thinking of winning. To be honest, we were conceited.”
However, Antetokounmpo did not conclude that this season was a failure. When asked a related question, he said, “Michael Jordan played 15 years in the NBA and won six championships. So was the other 9 years a failure? Was it a 50-year failure that we didn’t rise to the throne for 50 years until we won the championship two years ago? “, he asked, retorting.
In the end, the biggest reason Milwaukee lost this series was not controlling Butler. Although Zhuru Halladay, who is regarded as the best defender in the league, was mainly a dedicated defender, he could not stop Butler.ㅋㅋㅋ벳
Antetokounmpo reviewed the series saying the team didn’t make enough adjustments to stop Butler. When asked if he thought he should have stopped Butler more, he said “yes”.
Milwaukee was the team that was considered the most likely championship candidate along with Boston before the start of the playoffs. When Milwaukee unexpectedly exited in the first round, the playoff game was greatly shaken. This is by far the biggest surprise in the playoffs.