The Milwaukee Bucks passed their first test in their playoff run this year with flying colors following their first round sweep of the Miami Heat.
Getting their playoff revenge over the Heat, the very team that ended their campaign last year, and in decisive fashion catapulted the Bucks past their playoff foe and set them up for a lengthy break as they await their next test. It also served as vindication for Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had to get past a Heat team that has historically given Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee plenty of problems.
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There was no better example of that than last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals. Before Antetokounmpo’ own series ended in injury after suffering a sprained ankle in Game 4, the reigning MVP was bottled up by the wall that has been his Achilles heel throughout his career.
Miami incorporated same foundation and strategy that helped the Toronto Raptors slow down Antetokounmpo and the Bucks during the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals and ultimately led to their demise in that series after holding a 2-0 lead.
Despite the many individual accolades that Antetokounmpo has compiled throughout his time in Milwaukee and the league as a whole, these slip ups on the big stage haven’t gone unnoticed. It’s certainly fed a criticism that has followed Antetokounmpo and whether he has the requisite skills to break through that vaunted wall.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is the key to the Milwaukee Bucks’ playoff success
By any indication, Antetokounmpo’s own series against the Heat this year wasn’t a convincing answer to the question of whether he has mastered the wall that continues to be built up in each successive postseason.
After all, while Antetokounmpo’s raw counting stats were greater than his output during last year’s Conference Semifinals, his efficiency was down year over year. The Greek superstar averaged 21.8 points on .508/.214/.537 shooting, 11 rebounds and 5.3 assists last season against the Heat. This time around, Antetokounmpo averaged 23.5 points on .450/.063/.636 shooting, 15 rebounds and 7.8 assists.
There are the obvious and same deficiencies that has bogged Antetokounmpo down in the playoffs. Per NBA.com/stats, Antetokounmpo shot 3-for-27 on jump shots in the Bucks’ sweep of the Heat and those struggles have done very little to quell the same gambits that opposing teams will deploy in packing the paint and forcing Antetokounmpo into beating them from the outside.
Although Antetokounmpo’s shooting effectiveness remains an ever-present issue, he’s gradually making progress into mitigating that by bolstering other areas.
First, there was the constant probing and playmaking that Antetokounmpo expertly deployed that was best seen in his triple-double performance in the Bucks’ Game 4 victory over the Heat. Plays like this one that features Antetokounmpo’s short roll passing simply aren’t passes that he was regularly making in previous years.
The same goes for the hounding one-on-one defense that Antetokounmpo put in to slow down Miami wing Jimmy Butler all series long. Butler finished the series scoring nine points on 3-for-12 shooting (1-for-3 from three), 10 assists and four turnovers across 78.3 partial possessions and was incredibly crucial in quieting down Butler and finishing the Heat’s season in convincing fashion.
Perhaps most importantly was the fact that Antetokounmpo was fully unleashed and wasn’t hampered by foul trouble, despite the Heat’s efforts and that dreaded wall.
Of course, all of this doesn’t happen without the many personnel and tactical changes that the Bucks incorporated into their strategy under head coach Mike Budenholzer, all of which was made after those previous playoff disappointments. Antetokounmpo mentioned all of these developments that only come with accruing all of the playoff experiences he’s gathered in recent years as Yahoo! Sports’ Vincent Goodwill relayed following the Bucks’ series sweep:
"“It’s growth in basketball, you know, I tried to affect the game in any way I can,” Antetokounmpo said. “And I’m blessed enough to — I can affect the game defensively, I can pass the ball, there’s going to be days I’m going to be dominant. And I’m mature enough to understand that there’s gonna be days I’m able to do it and in some days, I’m not gonna be able to [dominate].”"
Antetokounmpo surely showed that as the Bucks dismantled the Heat in the first round. The challenges that Antetokounmpo faced against Miami won’t be easily replicated in future playoff tests and opponents, but the MVP is showing definitive progress in conquering those playoff pitfalls, just as the Bucks are as a whole.