Milwaukee Bucks: Mental strength missing in action

The Milwaukee Bucks need to find their mental toughness in order to rediscover who they really are on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.

Great NBA teams have a specific mental capacity that allows them to raise their game under the bright lights of the playoffs. There are examples littered throughout NBA history with great teams that relied on this toughness, forged throughout the season, to win in the playoffs.

This strength would not fail them in the playoffs, and it could be depended on in the fourth quarter of a Game 1 or a Game 7. That finite ability to “move to another gear” and win the game, and demonstrate the mental (and physical) dominance over their lesser opponents.

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Unfortunately, to date, this has not been the case for the No. 1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks, who are anything but great presently.

The Bucks were a top defensive team all year: nobody scored inside, and they were willing to live with lower percentage threes. The Bucks were also a top offensive team all year: spreading the court for Giannis Antetokounmpo’s drives, finding open shooters, moving the ball. Rinse and repeat. These Bucks, who played hard on almost every possession up until they arrived in Orlando for the season’s resumption, are missing in action.

The Bucks have somehow lost five straight playoff games now too. After barely losing a difficult Game 3 two springs ago, they then got swept by the Toronto Raptors.

On that occasion, challenged for the first time in the playoffs by the Raptors (outside of Game 1 of the second round by a dysfunctional Boston Celtics team), the Bucks were unable to adjust and match the Raptors schematically, physically, and mentally.

Fans hoped the Bucks would show the necessary mental toughness they lacked fifteen months ago in this year’s playoffs. We had to wait a few more months for the playoffs, but after one game, the result has not changed. Now they are down 1-0 in a first round series to a lesser opponent: a team missing three key players, and who had looked ripe for a sweep.

Do these Bucks have the mental fortitude to rediscover themselves in these playoffs?

The Milwaukee Bucks have struggled in the bubble so far. We could say it was players coming late into the bubble (Eric Bledsoe, Pat Connaughton). We could say it was a case of getting their legs back. We could say it was a case of resting players. But, most true Bucks fans have watched these games and did not see the Bucks of 2019-20. That defensive rotation that made a player miss the corner three? That defensive hustle for a loose ball? The extra passes on offense? The inner fortitude of a winner? Missing in action. Where are the Bucks we know?

This team – this bubble team – has at times been difficult to recognize. It is laboring on defense, playing in slo-mo. On offense, this team is playing too much one-on-one, missing contested and open threes, and relying too heavily on their MVP. Turnovers reign. Some players have not regained their pre-bubble form (Donte DiVincenzo). The Bucks have looked disinterested, and worse, mentally frustrated. From Giannis’ head butt, to his fourth quarter frustrations in Game 1, to Brook Lopez kicking the chair, and to multiple players’ heads being down as another opposing player makes a wide open three.

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So, I repeat, do they have the mental strength to turn it around? We are about to truly discover who this Bucks team is in Game 2 and beyond. This team that dominated the league all year. It’s time to remember who they are.

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