The Milwaukee Bucks entered the 2023 NBA playoffs looking like the presumptive favorites to win the NBA championship. and for good reason. After all, the Bucks won 16 straight games from mid-January to early March, overtaking the Boston Celtics for the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and overall homecourt advantage in the postseason. But there's simply no animal quite like the playoff alter ego of Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, regardless of how much he denies its existence.
In a series where not many pundits nor fans gave them much of a chance, Butler has willed the Heat into a position of needing just one more victory to advance to the second round — as the eighth seed, no less. The Heat star dropped a jaw-dropping 56 points in Game 4 to spearhead a spirited fourth quarter comeback and put Giannis Antetokounmpo and the vaunted Bucks on the brink of elimination.
The expectations for the Heat fell off a cliff when they lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in tournament. It dropped even further when they lost Tyler Herro, their best shot creator outside of Jimmy Butler, to a hand injury. Team morale could not have been great after they lost Victor Oladipo to yet another debilitating injury. So how in the world has a team as dominant as the Bucks have looked faltered against this barebones Heat team to this degree?
Giannis Antetokounmpo's absence certainly played a part in their Game 3 loss. But in Game 4, the Bucks had no such excuses. Even in an injured state, Antetokounmpo was still able to play well, even if it resulted in defeat.
Of course, it bears mentioning that playing the blame game isn't the best use of time. This Bucks core has been through adversity before, so they will not be rattled even with their season on the line. But at least for now, it's still worth discussing who the most responsible parties are for their disappointing showing against the Heat thus far.
Here are the three Bucks most to blame for their Game 4 loss against the Heat.
Mike Budenholzer
Mike Budenholzer does not have the best reputation as a playoff tinkerer. In both 2019 and 2020, it seemed like going another direction in the head coaching ranks was necessary for the Bucks to get over the dreaded playoff hump. Even in 2021, when the Bucks came within one defeat away from losing in the second round of the playoffs yet again. Budenholzer spawned a lot of talk regarding a Budenholzer-less future for the Bucks with killer lines such as “Play random.”
Winning a championship, however, bought Coach Bud a ton of goodwill in Wisconsin. But boy oh boy, did he try his best to relinquish all the good will he had established over the years with how he failed to make the requisite adjustments or even stop the bleeding as the Heat shaved one point after another off a double-digit lead late in the fourth quarter.
Budenholzer waited for the Heat to take the lead and take momentum for good in front of their home crowd. A 98-89 Bucks lead turned to a 102-101 deficit with nary a single timeout being called by the away team. Timeouts aren't the be-all, end-all of winning a basketball game, but surely he could have done something to stem the tide.
If the Bucks end up losing the series, Budenholzer could soon find himself on the chopping block, especially with a talented coach such as Nick Nurse available in the coaching carousel.
Jrue Holiday
There are no doubts anymore that Jrue Holiday is one of the best two-way players in the entire NBA. His work in the 2021 playoffs alone is the stuff only a few players who call themselves two-way studs can even dream of achieving. But in Game 4, Holiday struggled on both ends of the floor, as he wasn't able to stop Jimmy Butler at all from imposing his will on the Bucks in the final quarter.
Sure, Holiday got switched off of Butler a few times, but for one of the best defenders in the NBA, the Bucks floor general should have taken the matchup more personally and made life more difficult. Of course, that is easier said than done given how terrific Butler was, but Holiday definitely has it in him to play better than he did.
To top it off, Holiday shot poorly from the field, including a 1-6 shooting effort in the fourth quarter, to contribute to the Bucks' demoralizing meltdown.
The Bucks will need Holiday to play like his All-Star self in Game 5 so they could avoid the ignominy of being just the sixth one-seed to suffer a first-round defeat.
Khris Middleton
Jimmy Butler hunted Khris Middleton relentlessly in the fourth quarter, and to devastating effect for the Bucks. Middleton looked a step slow, and the Heat exploited that matchup over and over again.
Like Holiday, Middleton did not have his best offensive game as well, failing to give Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez the help they need.
For a player who missed a lot of time due to injury throughout the 2022-23 season and someone whose absence was pointed out by many to be the reason for the Bucks' seven-game series defeat, he will have to wake up for their season's sake.
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