Milwaukee Bucks: Season simulation ends in Game 7 Finals loss
By Adam McGee
Sports simulator Strat-O-Matic finished its run through the 2019-20 NBA season, with heartbreak for the Milwaukee Bucks in a Game 7 Finals loss.
If the current NBA season does manage to resume in Walt Disney World next month, the Milwaukee Bucks will certainly be hoping for a much better outcome than a notable sports simulator offered up on Sunday.
Fantasy sports and sports simulation site Strat-O-Matic has been running simulations for a variety of major sports since the coronavirus first stopped play, and on Sunday its NBA sim reached its conclusion.
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The good news for the Bucks is they made it to The Finals, going a step further than they did in reality in 2018-19.
The bad news is that they once again lost out to Kawhi Leonard as the LA Clippers bested them in a heartbreaking seven-game series.
Taking a wider view of the simulated playoff run to begin with, the Bucks managed relatively smooth and safe passage through the first two rounds.
Facing off against the Brooklyn Nets in the first round, Milwaukee advanced in five games via a gentleman’s sweep, with their sole loss coming in overtime in Game 4 at Barclays Center.
The second round would prove to be even more routine, with the Bucks facing off against the Indiana Pacers and their former player Malcolm Brogdon. The Bucks were simulated as sweeping the Pacers in four games, with every game decided by at least a double digit margin in Milwaukee’s favor.
Moving on to the Conference Finals, it wasn’t a rematch with the Raptors that awaited the Bucks, but meeting with the Boston Celtics, the team that vanquished Toronto in six games in the second round.
Of course, the Bucks have faced off with the Celtics in the past two postseasons in real life, building on the rich shared postseason history between the franchises.
On this occasion, the simulation saw the Bucks advance in a truly hard-fought seven game battle, edging out Boston with a commanding 124-106 victory in the decider.
With the Clippers cruising past the Lakers in five games in the Western Conference Finals, that set up a playoff reunion between the Bucks and Leonard, albeit one that Milwaukee would like to forget.
After leading 3-2 and finding themselves just one win away from a second franchise in championship history, the Bucks dropped the last two games to instead end up with another Finals Game 7 loss to join the defeat at the hands of Boston from 1974.
A seven game loss would leave little doubt over Milwaukee’s ability to go all the way, but the pain of falling short on this occasion, and to Leonard again, would be incredibly tough to swallow.
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Let’s hope any real conclusion to the season would prove more favorable for the Bucks.