The Milwaukee Bucks kicked off their frenzied and final week of their 2020-21 regular season with quite the speed bump.
Being thumped by the San Antonio Spurs in a 146-125 defeat Monday night not only saw an end to their five-game winning streak, but it resulted in their worst defensive performance this season. Per NBA.com/stats, the 140.4 defensive rating the Bucks allowed to the Spurs is the highest mark they’ve set for a single game this season and the same goes for the 68.6 opponent effective field goal percentage, with both marks coming at a wide margin.
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If that was bad, the implications of what this loss could mean for the Bucks’ seeding chances appear to be even worse.
After having taken their season series with the Brooklyn Nets last week, the Bucks ramped up their push and even eclipsed the Nets to briefly hold the second seed in the East over the weekend. With their tiebreaker in hand, the Bucks controlled their own destiny to hold home court over the prohibitive favorites to come out of the East.
Now after the Nets came back to defeat the Denver Nuggets over the weekend and the Bucks’ aforementioned loss to the Spurs, Milwaukee stands a full game back of the Nets in third place going into Tuesday’s games. Per Basketball-Reference, the Bucks have a 64.8 percent chance to finish as the third seed in the East.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ push for the second has been impacted by their loss to the Spurs
No longer controlling their own destiny when it comes to potentially eclipsing the Nets again for the second seed, the Bucks have their slate full when it comes to finish out their season on a high note. With meetings against the Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls, the Bucks’ four games in the final six days of the season will certainly test them to finish things on a high note and improve their playoff positioning.
Brooklyn, meanwhile, has more of a cupcake schedule to finish out this 2020-21 season as they’ll go up against the likes of the Chicago Bulls in two separate occasions, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Antonio Spurs over the next six days. More importantly, however, they’re on the verge of having the final player of their three-headed monster back in action as James Harden is reportedly nearing his return after having been sidelined with a strained hamstring for some time now.
As @wojespn reported on SportsCenter, the earliest date that James Harden may return for the Nets is Wednesday against the Spurs — that isn’t a certainty, but Harden is getting close to returning.
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) May 10, 2021
That will surely be what the Nets need in doing some final fine-tuning before gearing up for their own playoff run and Milwaukee stands directly in their path as both sides are slated to meet in the Conference Semifinals, should that come to fruition.
As has been in the case as we draw closer to the end of the season, there will be a lot of scoreboard watching as it relates to the Bucks’ final seeding over the final several days. Of course, it didn’t have to be this way for the Bucks and time is running out on salvaging what they can to further improve their playoff positioning.