The Milwaukee Bucks have been one of the biggest surprises of the 2018-19 NBA season. While the Bucks were a popular preseason pick to finish in the top four in the Eastern Conference, they instead have grabbed the top overall spot in the East behind an MVP season from Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Milwaukee is coming off consecutive first-round playoff losses, and the franchise has not won a playoff series since losing to the Sixers in the 2000-01 Eastern Conference Finals.

But with the Bucks looking at home-court advantage through — at the very least — the first two rounds of the playoffs, general manager Jon Horst knows that another early exit would be unacceptable. Horst spoke to Sam Amick of The Athletic about playoff expectations:

“This is a time for us to take a step forward and to win a playoff series,” Horst told The Athletic. “Even though people are sleeping on the Bucks, I think if we bowed out in the first round, everybody would be like, ‘What in the hell happened?’ Me included. That would be a disappointment. But it would be a significant thing for us to advance, because we haven’t done it in so long and it would be a big step for this group. But I think the metrics line up where if we can do that and stay healthy, and stay together, have some lucky breaks along the way, I think the talent and the performance thus far would show you that we should be playing into June, hopefully.”

Milwaukee has a 2.5-game lead over the Toronto Raptors for the top spot in the East.