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The last time the Milwaukee Bucks were the top seed in the playoffs, the ending was a bitter one. The Bucks are the number one overall seed again this year, but this time, they want a better ending.

It was in the 2020 season when the Bucks wound up as the overall top seed after ending the season with 57 wins and 16 losses. It was the season that the NBA adopted a bubble tournament due to the havoc caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bucks cruised in the first round, needing just five games to dispatch the Orlando Magic in their best-of-seven series. Milwaukee lost the series opener against Orlando but won the next four to advance to the second round of the playoffs.

Running into a brick wall

Milwaukee would face the Jimmy Butler-led Miami Heat in the second round, which was a disaster.

The Bucks dug themselves a hole that later proved to be too deep to overcome when they lost the first three games of the race-to-four series.

Milwaukee stopped the bleeding when it won Game 4, 118-115. The Heat wasted no time finishing off the Bucks as they came away with a 103-94 win in Game 5 to win the series.

Familiar foe next in line

For this year, the Bucks advanced to the playoffs as the top seed in the playoffs after ending the regular season with an NBA-best 58-24 record.

Interestingly, Milwaukee will face the Heat again, as they managed to beat the Bulls in a do-or-die game to come out of the play-in tournament.

The win by the Heat means that the Bucks’ attempt to rewrite history will be against the same team that ruined their campaign during the last time they were the top seed in the postseason.