It’s been a strange season for the Milwaukee Bucks. It goes back to Mike Budenholzer being fired last summer, replaced by Adrian Griffin, who was fired during the season (when the team was 30-13), replaced in the short term by Joe Prunty and in the long term by Doc Rivers. Then there was the addition of Damian Lillard — with the exit of Jrue Holiday, who ultimately lands in Boston — and trying to blend him into the team. Khris Middleton has also missed chunks of the season due to injuries.
Yet there are stretches of games under Rivers when the Bucks look like the one team in the East that can legitimately threaten Boston. It’s been a roller coaster of a season, which is why Giannis Antetokounmpo told Sam Amick of The Athletic that this has been his hardest season.
“I feel like for me, this has been the hardest season that I’ve played — not only physically, because I had the procedure done on my left knee in the end of June. And I had to get back to myself. I feel like when the season started, I wasn’t (myself). And the reason was that I hadn’t played basketball until like the second week of training (camp). I had to get back to being by myself. But emotionally, and mentally, it’s been draining. I’m not going to lie to you.”
Antetokounmpo is having another MVP-level season — he will finish in the top four in voting — averaging 30.8 points, 11.2 rebounds and 6.4 assists a game with 65.4% true shooting. He’s not likely to win MVP, but he talks with Amick about feeling how the award is voted on is a Matrix-like different reality.
“I’m never going to make myself look like I’m crying for a trophy,” said Antetokounmpo, sitting at his locker with both of his knees wrapped in mountains of ice. “One thing I’m never going to do is, I’m never going to fall into the bubble, (and) I believe this is a bubble. This is a matrix...
“I will never, never, in my life, fall into the bubble and say, ‘Yeah, I’m the MVP of the league’ and whine and cry or say, ‘Give it to me. I deserve it more.’ That’s not what I do, man. That’s not what I do. I don’t do that.”
Ultimately, this Bucks’ season will be judged on the playoffs. Fall short of the Eastern Conference Finals and it will be seen as a failure, with all the weirdness at fault. Make it to face Boston and push them six or seven games — or win outright and make the Finals — and the vibe is different. How that goes may come down to getting Middleton back (he has missed the last 16 games with a sprained ankle but Rivers said he is close to returning), integrating him and finding a way
However, the pressure will only mount as will turn 34 before next season — this team’s window, as constructed, is very short. The Bucks can’t afford to waste a season, no matter how strange it has been.
