The Milwaukee Bucks cruised through the 2022-23 regular season with the clear expectations that an NBA Championship was the organization's primary goal. When the Miami Heat toppled the Chicago Bulls in the NBA play-in tournament, NBA fans felt the Bucks-Heat series would be over in a maximum of five games. Giannis Antetokounmpo sustained a lower back injury in Game 1, which forced him to miss Games 2 and 3 of the series.

Even if Milwaukee was down 2-1 and Antetokounmpo was returning for Game 4, the Bucks were expected to come raging back and fight back in the series. Unfortunately for the city of Milwaukee, Game 5 was the last contest they would watch this year, as they are headed home after a massive five-game upset of the Heat. Game 5 had one of the sloppiest clutch-time decision-making by a championship-contending franchise. 

Many individuals had their lapses and faults in the fourth quarter and overtime of Game 5, but the blame will be pointed at Milwaukee head coach Mike Budenholzer.

When will he use his timeouts?

After the Jrue Holiday three-pointer in the 7:08 mark of the fourth period, the Bucks made only two field goals the rest of the quarter. Before Budenholzer's timeout with 16 seconds left, the final ceasefire he called was at the 8:35 mark of the last quarter. For a squad sputtering down the stretch, one of the tasks of the head coach was to halt the momentum and regroup his troops.

The fourth-period run of Miami was one thing, but the worst thing for the Bucks' was the last few seconds of regulation and overtime. With the Bucks ahead by two points with 2.2 seconds left, Jimmy Butler converted an alley-oop to knot the game at 118. There were still .5 seconds left, but Budenholzer decided not to utilize his final timeout. With .5 seconds and Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez on his roster, anything could have happened if the Bucks formulated a play toward the rim.

It did not stop in the fourth quarter as the disastrous decisions continued in overtime. This time Milwaukee had two timeouts left in the last possession, meaning Budenholzer did not use any of it in overtime. Yes, some coaches decide to run it down after a missed shot from the opponent, but Milwaukee was in disarray while they were down by two markers, and Budenholzer allowed the time to wind down by not attempting a shot.

Questionable Bucks rotation and matchups

When Jimmy Butler started cooking in the fourth quarter of Game 4 and even in the latter part of Game 5, the Bucks did not double-team him a ton or blitz him in some of the schemes of Miami. It is rare for an NBA wing to be stronger than Jrue Holiday, but that has been the case for Jimmy Butler. He bullied the whole series and added some spicy trash talk to finish him off.

As the head coach, there were many questions on why Budenholzer did not decide to experiment with Giannis Antetokounmpo as the primary defender on Butler. It would have been a different look on him, and Holiday could still be an integral aspect of their defensive schemes as a guy who can double-team Butler when he attacks the rim.

Jae Crowder was a key mid-season acquisition barely utilized in this series. Joe Ingles played seven lowly minutes in Game 5. These two players may have been a better option than Grayson Allen, who was horrific in Games 4 and 5. Where was Brook Lopez in the final possession of regulation to guard the rim, prevent the casual lob to Butler, and force overtime?

Many of these decisions are easy to judge in hindsight, but the 2023 campaign of the Bucks was still a catastrophic failure for their organization.