After coming off of a disappointing finish to last year’s season, the Milwaukee Bucks find themselves right back in the conversation of competing for a world title. The team is on the verge of closing out one of its best regular seasons in franchise history.
However, will this team become vulnerable once the playoffs start next month? During the playoffs, it’s all about the matchups combined with the team that can control the momentum for at least a seven-game series.
We saw how the Bucks unraveled after going up 2-0 on the Toronto Raptors in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals. The loss to the Raptors was viewed as a learning experience for the upcoming Bucks at the time. But within two years, the team has the best record in the league once again.
Their top player Giannis Antetokounmpo is having another massive year as he leads the Bucks into the postseason. They have the right ingredients to compete for a title, but as stated before, will they get into a situation where they become vulnerable? At the moment, there’s at least one team that can become a matchup problem for the Bucks right now. The team that we are talking about is the Miami Heat.
At the moment, the Heat is projected to become the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. If it comes to a point where the Bucks run into the Heat in a seven-game series, it may become a problematic matchup for Milwaukee. ESPN’s First Take co-host Stephen A. Smith elaborates on the possibility of the Heat becoming the Bucks’ biggest threat in the postseason.
What Smith identified as the Heat’s formula for success can be used to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks if they have to face each other in the postseason. Miami has the personnel with playoff experience along with guys that are proficient at shooting the three-point shot.
Outside of containing the “The Greek Freak”, you must counter their offensive onslaught by being able to shoot from behind the three-point line. Also, do not forget about veteran forward and three-time world champion Andre Iguodala.
Iguodala has demonstrated in the past that he can perform exceptionally well on the league’s biggest stage, such as the NBA Finals. Iguodala is also a solid defender that may be able to disrupt what the Bucks can do offensively. In regards to the Boston Celtics, they do still not have to personnel to deal with the challenges of facing Milwaukee in a potential seven-game series.
It does not happen a lot, but we have witnessed teams in the past that have gotten off to fast starts only to have gone home early in the first round or barely get by opponents once the playoffs begin. The most notable team to experience this type of letdown was the 2006-2007 Dallas Mavericks. During that season, the Mavericks posted a league-best 67-15 record and was the number seed in the Western Conference.
The result would be the Mavericks being eliminated 4-2 against the eight-seed Golden State Warriors. Similar to the Mavericks, the Bucks have a player that is projected by many to win the league’s MVP award Giannis Antetokounmpo. Not saying that the Bucks will have a similar outcome as the Mavericks did in 2007, but the optics are there for the team to have a potential meltdown. A heightened sense of urgency will be beneficial for this team once the playoffs start.
Photo courtesy of Mike Roemer/AP.
