What the Milwaukee Bucks can learn from watching the playoffs

The playoffs are like a magnifying glass over weaknesses, even when a team is sitting on the outside.

Jan 24, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst address the media after head coach Adrian Griffin (not pictured) was dismissed at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Some teams may be looking at situations like the Boston Celtics losing Jayson Tatum to a knee injury for Game 7 and the Orlando Magic taking a 3-1 lead over Detroit before going to a Game 7, as validation for the idea that anything can happen in the playoffs. It wouldn’t be a good thing if the Milwaukee Bucks were one of them because they would’ve never got that lucky this year. 

Such thinking would only delude them, and could potentially make them prolong what needs to be done: starting over. 

Yet, let’s play the hypothetical game, saying the Bucks squeaked in through the Play-In Tournament, and seized one of the last two seeds, setting them up with Detroit or Boston. They lacked the perimeter pressure to make them uncomfortable, and Kevin Porter Jr. is unproven as a secondary ballhandler in high leverage situations.

The Bucks don’t have the athleticism that Philadelphia plus Orlando possess and would have lost the series in five, even with Giannis Antetokounmpo going wild in large part because he would be the only capable of guarding Jaylen Brown or Cade Cunningham. Still, of the two, Boston would have been the preferable matchup because they lack an inside presence who can survive against Antetokounmpo in single coverage, which would have caused too much help, exposing the 3-point line.  

Consider how Antetokounmpo, Myles Turner, Bobby Portis and Kyle Kuzma were the only tested players in their rotation. On top of that, Kuzma’s game fell apart this season and couldn’t be counted on. 

The strong playoff teams can get nasty at the point of attack and ensure that the back line defenders don’t get put in too many scrambles. Keep in mind that Ryan Rollins is on the smaller side for a guard, which makes him exploitable by the bigger ball handlers. Sometimes a player will be in the right spot, but can’t help getting overpowered.

Think of how the Denver Nuggets, even with injuries to Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson, didn’t have enough horsepower around Nikola Jokić, who many would consider the best in the world, to take out the wounded Minnesota Timberwolves. That series is exhibit A because Minnesota’s defense was the main reason Jokić and Murray had the worst series of their careers. 

Those six games were further proof that stars can only make up for so much, and that they need a strong supporting cast. And on a bigger scale, the playoffs have shown yet again how much of a different game it is than the regular season, which should be problematic for the NBA because the first 82 games are a wash compared to this. 

The Bucks are far away from being real playoff threats — that will be more apparent as the rounds progress.