Milwaukee Bucks’ time to prove themselves has finally arrived
By Adam McGee
Fifteen months after they fell short at the Conference Finals stage, the Milwaukee Bucks are back in the playoffs with the chance to prove themselves.
When the Milwaukee Bucks reconvened back in October and settled in for their annual Media Day, much of the conversation reflected on the team’s six-game Conference Finals loss to the Toronto Raptors.
The questions weren’t just about what went wrong for Milwaukee, but also about how they could get back to that point and have an opportunity to right those wrongs.
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In essence, for all of the stellar play from the Bucks’ this season, and all of the unrelated drama that has led to the season still being played at this point of the year and in a neutral environment, this has been the only thing Milwaukee has really been playing for.
That chance to get back to the playoffs and advance further this time around has always been what it was all about, and that opportunity now seems even more precious given that it wasn’t very long ago that there was no guarantee that the season would be completed.
When the Bucks take to the court against the Orlando Magic at Walt Disney World Resort on Tuesday, their stellar overall record in the regular season will count for nothing, as will their recent struggles since moving down to Orlando.
Instead, when the records are set back to zero, the Bucks will have to rely on finding the best version of themselves once again, and taking care of business game by game and team by team.
That was certainly the sentiment shared by Giannis Antetokounmpo in speaking to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel over the weekend too:
"“I don’t think anybody on this team right now is thinking about if you’re 16 wins away from winning a championship, we just try to focus on ourselves,” Antetokounmpo said. “How we can get better? How can we play good basketball? …“We’ve got to go out there, we got to compete, we got to play hard, we got to take pride in what we’re doing and hopefully we can leave this place with a smile on our face.”"
For as much as the heartbreak of defeat to the Raptors may well linger, the Bucks also need to draw on the significant positives of their convincing series wins against the Pistons and Celtics last year too.
The Bucks’ ability to beat any team has long been established, and their overall credentials are far from in doubt at this point. There may well be room for some shocking upsets in this year’s postseason, given all of the irregularities at play, but the truth is there’s no reason why this can’t be the Bucks’ year to go and win it all.
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Milwaukee fans have waited a long time to see a repeat of the glory of 1971, and they’ve also had an unexpectedly long wait to see the 2019-20 season brought to its conclusion. Let’s hope both of those waits will come to an end in the best possible fashion over the next couple of months.