The Milwaukee Bucks, who were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, are suffering from the aftermath.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the situation with Milwaukee manager Mike Budenholzer is precarious.
Coach Budenholzer led Milwaukee to 58-24 this season to first place in the Eastern Conference. He recorded the highest win rate in the league and revealed his prospects in the playoffs after long-awaited 2021. However, Milwaukee had to pack up at the first gate of the playoffs.
What made this elimination even more shocking was that the No. 1 seed lost to the No. 8 seed for the first time since the play-in tournament was newly established. Miami was a team that finished the season in first place in the East last season, so it was not an easy opponent to watch. Still, the content of the game was not good. In the first game, they gave up 130 points and lost by 13 points, and in the third game, they lost by 22 points.
That wasn’t all. In the last Game 5, Milwaukee had a huge lead during the game. However, at the end of the 4th quarter, the score was tied, and the game was given up after that. Considering that the 5th game was held in the home and was leading, the shock of the defeat on this day was really great. Perhaps it was because they were overly optimistic that they could carry the series to the end, but Milwaukee couldn’t survive the end.
There is another reason that is even more shocking. Miami was not my strength from the beginning of this series. No matter how much I was a team that occupied the top seed last season, it was stained with injuries. During Game 1, Tyler Hiro, the team’s other scorer, was sidelined with a finger injury. In the middle of the series, Victor Oladipo, who led the offense off the bench, was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.
It’s going to be difficult for Hiro and Oladipo to play in this playoff, let alone the remainder of the series. Nevertheless, Mai Mae gave up the 2nd game and showed tremendous potential by winning 3 consecutive victories from the 3rd to the 5th game. In addition, Miami’s main center, Bam Adebayo, was fouled out in overtime in Game 5. Milwaukee still dedicated the game on this day.
In a way, it is only natural that there is a question of the future direction of director Budenholzer. Although he won the championship in 2021, he left a lot of regrets in managing a big game. Throughout this series, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the pillar of the team, was absent due to injury, and the aftermath was considerable. However, the somewhat helpless loss in the first round of the playoffs is painful in many ways.
Budenholzer has served as Milwaukee’s manager for five seasons until this season. During this period, he boasted a high win rate approaching 64% with 271 wins and 120 losses in 391 regular season games. He also had a good record of 39 wins and 26 losses in 65 games in the playoffs as well. However, excluding the last 2021 playoffs, which won the championship, there is a big difference from the existing win rate with 23 wins and 19 losses.
He also left a lot of question marks in management in the playoffs with the Atlanta Hawks before joining Milwaukee. He passed 50% in the regular season with 213 wins and 197 losses in 410 games over 5 seasons. However, in the playoffs, he went 17-22 and failed to pass 50%. The playoffs, in which players face off against strong players, are distinctly different from the regular season. 토토사이트
In 2021, he won his first championship as his manager, proving that he is also a leader who can win championships. As soon as he took the helm of Milwaukee in the 2018-2019 season, he led the team to 60 wins, but at that time Milwaukee only advanced to the second round of the playoffs. Even more so, he recorded a win rate comparable to this time, but he could not use his strength once.
Milwaukee’s aftermath of this defeat is expected to be really big. Throughout the season, he carried out reliable operation and management of existing players despite injuries to major players. Budenholzer, unlike other coaches, does not spend a lot of time playing. However, in the playoffs, the operation of the regular season was not significantly different. His remaining contract is two years and $16 million.