ORLANDO, Fla. — This season has been full of ups and downs for the Milwaukee Bucks.
There was always a negative element to every solid development in basketball. The Bucks can go from good to bad in a week, day, or even a quarter. In a 113-88 loss to the Orlando Magic that epitomized the Bucks' season, it took just half a minute for Milwaukee to show off the roller-coaster nature of its season for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. Ta. 2024 NBA Playoffs.
The Bucks played well offensively in the first quarter. They moved the ball, made quick decisions and exploited weaknesses in the Magic's defense. Just before everything started to go wrong, the Bucks showed just how well they were playing with a relatively simple inbounds play with 7:15 left in the second quarter.
With just 13 seconds left on the shot clock, Patrick Beverley sent the ball inbounds to Khris Middleton. Using his 2-inch height advantage over the 6-foot-5 Jalen Suggs, Middleton held the ball on the left wing and waited for his teammates to give him space.
As Middleton looked across the floor, Magic forward Paolo Banchero left Beverley in the right corner and ran toward Middleton for a double team. Middleton reverse-pivoted, briefly looked at Beverley cutting into the lane, then fired a pass to top-of-the-key Bobby Portis for a catch-and-shoot for three points. Portis' three points gave the Bucks an 11-point advantage.
However, at 7:05 a.m. the other side was visible. An overreliance on isolation attacks has been a common flaw in the Bucks' offense this season, and it sank them down again Sunday. He only scored three points for the Bucks in that time. The Magic missed their next 10 shots and committed three turnovers, outscoring the Bucks 25-12 in the second quarter and building a five-point halftime lead.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers said, “We thought too many isos. And not only did we do an iso, we picked the wrong player. Jonathan Isaac changed the game.” “We kept setting pick-and-rolls with him instead of other players because he was tall and effective. But it was a good lesson.
“But we're not a good ISO team. I think we've proven that all year long. Sometimes we do, but we're up by nine points and we've had 10 or 11 consecutive possessions, and we've had one. We could have scored. None of us could have scored. That's something we have to look at ourselves, as we talked about at halftime and before the game. We have to be better at that.”
It started with this play after a timeout (ATO), where Isaac, a 6-foot-10 center with quick feet and long arms, defended the Bucs' two-man game and ended up knocking a lob attempted by Middleton to Brook. did it. Lopez.
The Bucks then ran a double ball screen action on Damian Lillard, forcing Magic into two rotations. But the Bucks didn't punish the switch, and Lillard only tried to go one-on-one with Isaac for the final 13 seconds of the possession.
Two possessions later, the Bucks tried the same thing, with exactly the same result. Lillard attacked Isaac one-on-one but was unsuccessful.
“The smart thing to do is try to find the weaknesses,” Lillard said of the Bucks' repeated isolation against Isaac. “When I'm on the floor and I start pointing things out and trying to get my point across, the other team is always pointing guys up, switching guys around, things like that, and I don't get to the end. I think I might end up like that myself.'' It's a race against time.
“I think that's one thing, but I think we need to be more proactive about it. During free throws, we need to stay flat with our players and be more aware of who we want on certain actions.” Just communicating clearly. So instead of just scoring off guys, just getting into the paint and making the defense react.”
Lillard has been a talented scorer throughout his career and one of the most efficient isolation scorers in previous seasons, but that hasn't been the case this season. According to Synergy Sports, Lillard is averaging 0.97 points per isolated possession this season, which ranks 28th among players with at least 100 isolated possessions. In a small sample size, Middleton has been better in isolation situations, scoring 1.15 points per possession in those situations, but overall his isolation possessions have not translated into good offense for the Bucks.
“They started putting pressure on us,” Middleton said. “It got us up off the set. And after that, we just broke down. I think the spacing wasn't right. After that first quarter, there were no executions. . We have to be better in that area.”
Things didn't improve much in the second half, with the Bucks unable to gain any foothold on offense and the Magic putting together a comprehensive beatdown with Rivers leading the charge with just over seven minutes remaining.
It should come as no surprise that the Bucks' loss in the final game of the regular season was due to the offense relying too much on isolated shot creation. Throughout the season, regardless of the coach or the players on the floor, the Bucks continued to struggle with the same question on offense and defense and couldn't find an answer.
Offensively, when the Bucs lose games, it's often because of poor ball movement and the ball being “too sticky” on multiple possessions. Defensively, this is often due to poor defense at the point of attack and struggling to come back in transition. Ultimately, these issues resulted in a 49-33 record, the first time the Bucks had fewer than 50 regular-season wins (or the equivalent number of wins in an abbreviated schedule) since the 2017-18 season.
Although the Bucks still managed to win their sixth consecutive Central Division title and earn the No. 3 seed in the East, the team's regular season would be seen as a disappointment both inside and outside the organization. Their regular season reward is a first-round matchup against the Indiana Pacers, a team the Bucks struggled mightily with in the first half of the season.
“Indiana State has had our number all year long, so it's the perfect opponent,” Rivers said. “Listen, we have to play somebody, and they're tough. They played great against us. They probably have a lot of confidence in us. We will have great focus because we need to do that.”
This season, the Bucks are 1-4 against Central Division opponents, including a loss in the in-season tournament semifinals. The Bucks' only win came on Dec. 13, when Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a franchise-record 64 points. Even that night was a bit of a bittersweet memory for the Bucks, as the drama surrounding the game ball drew negative national attention for Antetokounmpo.
The Bucks struggled against the Pacers in the regular season, but the fact that Rivers wasn't on the sideline for that loss should take some solace. One of Rivers' top priorities as a coach will be cleaning up the Bucks' transition defense, and that focus will be, at least in part, against the Bucks' fast-paced Pacers, who finished the regular season in second place. It was born out of the fact that people had a hard time fighting back. aggressive evaluation.
The Bucks will spend much of this week preparing for Game 1 on Sunday. This will be a big week for the Bucks, as Antetokounmpo continues to work on recovering from a torn left sole muscle he suffered in Tuesday's game against the Boston Celtics in order to play in Game 1. But it will also be important for the rest of the games. The Bucks are looking to rebuild after losing eight of their last 11 games, including two of their last three without Antetokounmpo.
“It's a new season with the postseason on the horizon, but at the same time we don't want to leave behind (losing eight of the last 11 games),” Middleton said. “You want to look at those games and consider what went wrong and correct those (mistakes).”
The Bucks still have home court advantage in the first round and sit on the opposite side of the Celtics in the East bracket, but it has been the most frustrating season for the team in recent memory. The only way to forget these hardships is to perform well in the postseason. The Bucks' recent play suggests that may not be the case, so they'll need to take next week seriously if they want to change the direction of this season and put themselves in a good position.
“We're going to work hard,” Rivers said. “I need to work, but I might not be able to play until Sunday, so I'm going to take some time off. If that's true, it will give us a lot of time to prepare.”
(Photo of Damian Lillard: Stephen M. Dowell / Orlando Sentinel/ Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
