The Milwaukee Bucks just ripped defeat from the jaws of victory.
Despite being up 118-111 with 40 seconds remaining in overtime, the Bucks suffered a Game 5 loss to the Indiana Pacers and will go home in the first round for the third consecutive year. Now, all of the focus shifts to the offseason and how to improve the roster. Only time will tell how things shake out regarding Giannis Antetokounmpo, but if he does indeed return, this game showed it's obvious what direction this team needs to go in moving forward as they build around him.
The Bucks must fully embrace getting younger, more athletic
In a move that Milwaukee Bucks fans had been begging for over the last several months, Doc Rivers finally went all in on his young, athletic players. That involved starting Kevin Porter Jr., Gary Trent Jr., AJ Green and Bobby Portis next to Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even without Damian Lillard, lost due to an Achilles tear, the Milwaukee Bucks put up a great fight until the final buzzer, and some of their late struggles were certainly due to them being gassed because other personnel couldn't be trusted.
Whenever Taurean Prince or Brook Lopez, usual starters, checked in, it felt like they were immediately picked on by the Pacers to the point where keeping them in would have been a death sentence. In the playoffs, that is simply inexcusable.
Lopez played under eight minutes, while Prince played four. It's more understandable with Prince, as he's an expendable veteran minimum contract. However, it's absolutely a detriment when Lopez gets played off the floor when he's making $23 million annually. As they brace for an eventful offseason, the Milwaukee Bucks must embrace going all in on athletic players who can be on the floor when teams like the Indiana Pacers are on the schedule.
Some of Milwaukee's best minutes in this series came when Jericho Sims, the athletic big man who came to the Bucks at the deadline, was on the floor. Doc Rivers never fully trusted him, leaning more on Bobby Portis and Lopez prior to Game 5. Portis, though not some athletic marvel himself, was a better matchup than Lopez in this series, but even he had his struggles. Sims isn't perfect, but he showed that simply being young, mobile and full of energy can help on any given play.
Lopez, 37, and Prince, 31, two veterans who lacked those traits in this series, will likely be among the first to go in NBA Free Agency.
For now, all the Milwaukee Bucks can do is suffer. That loss will undoubtedly sting. Over the next few weeks, conversations surrounding the futures of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Doc Rivers will be the main topics of conversation, and rightfully so. This heartbreaking collapse should be the final time several personnel members don the Bucks logo.
Let's hope a new era of Milwaukee Bucks basketball is on the horizon.
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