The Milwaukee Bucks' second-round tilt against the mighty Brooklyn Nets was supposed to be a battle of Goliaths and perhaps one of the best series of the entire playoffs. The Bucks annihilated the Miami Heat in the first round and seemed primed to give the Nets their best shot with this upgraded roster after their playoff collapses in recent years.
And this was before James Harden hurt his hamstring at the outset of Game 1.
Now after two games, Milwaukee is looking fraudulent and completely pathetic. It would be one thing to just lose normally to the Nets, who have the most talented roster in the NBA with Harden and still an incredible one without him. But to get completely and thoroughly decimated through two games without Harden on the court is extremely painful. TNT's Charles Barkley said he thought he saw “panic in their eyes” in Game 2, and that's an apt description.
The Bucks don't seem to know what the hell they're doing out there. They're jacking up horrible shots on isolation possessions, getting way too stagnant offensively and bricking 3-pointers. Khris Middleton looks like he forgot how to play basketball. Jrue Holiday, the key offseason acquisition, looks like just another guy. P.J. Tucker, the key midseason acquisition, is out there running laps. They have no prayer defensively and were even trying to run zone at times against an elite shooting team.
Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo also deserves blame for poor shot selection and an inability to get his team going on either end of the court. Settling for jumpers with Blake Griffin guarding him is a crime against basketball, and the dude is embarrassing at the free-throw line. The Greek Freak is an incredible e player, but this is just another year of his limitations being exposed in a big way in the playoffs. As Draymond Green recently said, Milwaukee needs to do a better job of putting him in positions to succeed instead of trying to force him into doing too much creation against a set defense in a half-court setting.
Some of this falls on Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer, who has no answers and should be getting his resume ready at this rate. While it likely wouldn't matter who was coaching this Bucks team against the Nets in terms of final outcome, it's inexcusable to get punked like this without Harden and have no answers or adjustments for anything. Sure, some of this is just on the players for playing like crap, but Bud has a history of poor coaching in the playoffs. He's not exactly covering himself in glory so far this series.
Now, this series isn't over yet. We just saw the Los Angeles Clippers erase a 2-0 series deficit after looking terrible in their first two games at home. We saw multiple 3-1 comebacks last year. Perhaps getting back to Milwaukee in front of their home crowd will rejuvenate the Bucks.
Of course, these Nets are not the Dallas Mavericks or those other teams that collapsed. This Nets team has Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving firing on all cylinders and Blake Griffin looking like he took a swan dive into the Fountain of Youth. Nets head coach Steve Nash is pushing all the right buttons, though it's admittedly much easier when you're coaching such a talented roster that's shooting the lights out and moving the ball so well.
It's going to take a monumental turnaround for Milwaukee to win this series, or to even make it competitive. And don't forget, Brooklyn still has Harden waiting in the wings, though the team will surely be even more cautious with his health now that this cushion is in place.
Whatever the case, let's hope the Bucks at least show a little more fight the rest of this series. Even if they don't win, going out sad would be a tough pill to swallow.
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