Milwaukee Bucks: Are they on the cusp of their playoff breakthrough?

Every decision, addition and tactical change we’ve seen throughout Milwaukee Bucks season has been made based on what’s preceded this year.

The story is familiar to all Bucks fans at this point. Back-to-back regular seasons where the Bucks soared to the top seed in the East and earned the best record in the league gave way to stinging playoff collapses in each of the last two years. An identity crisis unfolded last offseason as the Bucks plunged into an offseason that hinged on improving their roster and the weighty decision of Giannis Antetokounmpo that eventually saw him sign his supermax extension before the start of the season.

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That vision carried over into the regular season as Milwaukee added to their base identity, though it wasn’t as seamless as any Bucks fan would like.

For all of that, though, the vision and evolution the Bucks laid out as an organization was certainly realized in the Bucks’ first round sweep of the Miami Heat. Rolling through the very team that dismantled them in last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Bucks exacted their revenge with a swift and decisive series victory over the Heat nearly nine months after their playoff collapse down in the bubble.

Ask Bucks forward Khris Middleton, though, and the Bucks’ sweep of the Heat was as much about the experiences and lessons the Bucks have learned in the playoffs over the last few years as Yahoo! Sports’ Vincent Goodwill relayed:

"“Each year, you find experience. Learn from it,” Middleton said. “But you don’t bring the past about losing or revenge. This series didn’t have anything to do at all with last year. They were the better team last year, this year I feel we were the better team.”"

Past playoff experiences and failures have sharpened the Milwaukee Bucks

That statement doesn’t come out of nowhere as this is the fifth consecutive playoff appearance the Bucks have made. While that bridges different eras and iterations of the Bucks’ roster and coaching staff, the pillars that remain, that being Antetokounmpo and Middleton, have seen it all as Milwaukee has elevated themselves to contender status over head coach Mike Budenholzer’s watch.

Again, much has changed from the time that Antetokounmpo and Middleton were scrapping against the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs and as the Bucks were looking to end their playoff series drought.

All of it, though, has been a natural progression for the Bucks as they have added to talent to their roster and has generally trended in the right direction towards accumulating those critical playoff experiences. It obviously hasn’t come without errors and struggles along the way.

Of course, dispatching the Heat as the Bucks did in four quick games is a good start, but they did that knowing greater tests lie on the horizon. That will come as soon as the Conference Semifinals where they will likely meet up against the loaded Brooklyn Nets team, who currently holds a 3-1 lead over the depleted Boston Celtics going into Tuesday’s Game 5 of that series.

Still, the Bucks have been battle tested by their playoff experiences and their focus and mission for postseason success is greater than it’s ever been as Budenholzer recently told Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press:

"“Certainly, this group’s been looking forward to the playoffs,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “All the teams that are competing this time of year, they understand what it takes to win. And you’ve got to take it to another level, both mentally and physically. I think the group’s been preparing for it. I think their focus is good. All that just is part of what makes us hopefully be prepared and have an edge and have a focus that you need this time of year.”"

Whether the Bucks can put together the lessons they learned from their past playoff experiences and put them into practice against what will be their greatest test yet remains to be seen. But as they say, what is past is prologue.