The Bucks published the most combined regular-season and playoff wins of any group throughout Budenholzer’s period and had the league’s finest regular-season record in 3 of his 5 seasons on the job. He published a 271-120 regular-season record and 39-26 playoff mark in Milwaukee.
With a lineup including two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, Budenholzer’s Bucks skyrocketed to heights the franchise hadn’t reached given that Wilt Chamberlain was using a Milwaukee uniform in the early 1970s.
But with the significant exception of that 2021 champion season, the Bucks couldn’t match their regular-season success in the postseason.
The Bucks didn’t reach the NBA Finals throughout any of the 3 seasons in which they had the league’s No. 1 playoff seed. They had a 2-0 lead over Toronto in the 2019 Eastern Conference finals prior to losing 4 straight. They lost 4-1 in the 2nd round to the Miami Heat in the 2020 East semifinals at the Walt Disney World playoff bubble.
This year’s playoff exit was especially destructive.
The Bucks suffered fourth-quarter collapses in each of their last 2 video games and lost 4-1 to the eighth-seeded Heat. They were simply the 6th No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 8 seed in the opening round, and the only No. 1 seed that stopped working to win more than one championship game.
“There’s a ton of disappointment when your season ends, no matter how it happens,” Budenholzer said later. “It’s a hard feeling. It’s a disappointing feeling.”
Milwaukee owned a 12-point lead at Miami in Game 4 prior to getting outscored 30-13 over the last 6 minutes of a 119-114 loss in which the Heat’s Jimmy Butler scored 56 points. They were up 16 at home to start the 4th quarter of Game 5 however lost 128-126 in overtime after Butler made a connecting basket with half a 2nd left in policy.
Budenholzer, 53, acknowledged the Bucks ought to have called a timeout after Butler’s connecting basket, providing an opportunity to make a buzzer beater that might have avoided overtime. The Bucks likewise decreased to call a timeout when they got the ball back while tracking by 2 points in the closing seconds of overtime, and they weren’t able to try a shot prior to the video game ended.
Antetokounmpo said after the video game the Bucks didn’t make adequate modifications in how they protected Butler, who balanced 37.6 points in the series.
Antetokounmpo, who was having fun with a bruised lower back, said he would have liked more opportunities to guard Butler.
The elimination of Budenholzer comes as the Bucks get in a vital offseason. Brook Lopez, a finalist for the NBA protective gamer of the year award this season, is a totally free representative. Three-time All-Star Khris Middleton might end up being a totally free representative also if he doesn’t get his $40.4 million gamer choice for 2023-24.
Budenholzer’s groups had some misfortune with injuries throughout the postseason.
Middleton sprained his left median security ligament in Game 2 of an opening-round series with the Chicago Bulls in 2015 and missed out on the remainder of the playoffs as the Bucks wound up losing their second-round match with the Boston Celtics in 7 video games.
Antetokounmpo sprained his ankle in Game 4 versus Miami in 2020 and missed out on the rest of that series, though the Bucks already tracked 3-0 when he got hurt. Antetokounmpo left Game 1 of this year’s Heat series with the back problem that triggered him to miss out on Games 2 and 3. The Bucks won the 2021 title despite the fact that a hyperextended knee avoided Antetokounmpo from playing the last 2 video games of the Eastern Conference finals with the Atlanta Hawks.
It’s worth keeping in mind the Bucks likewise gained from injuries to challengers throughout their 2021 title run.
James Harden missed out on almost all of the very first 3 video games and Kyrie Irving remained the last 3 video games of the Brooklyn Nets’ second-round loss to Milwaukee that year. Atlanta’s Trae Young missed out on 2 video games of the 2021 East finals with a bone swelling in his ideal foot.
Budenholzer pertained to Milwaukee after going 213-197 in 5 seasons with Atlanta. He was an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs from 1996-2013 and was on Gregg Popovich’s staff for 4 champion seasons (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007).
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Steve Megargee, The Associated Press
