Milwaukee is one of the most rigid teams in the NBA, sticking faithfully to the same principles, regardless of who it is facing. It counts on the superior execution that comes with endless repetition of the same attack, ignoring the benefits that come from deploying a more varied approach. That works incredibly well in the regular season when teams don’t have the luxury of game-planning specifically for one opponent, and many don’t have the personnel to compete with the Bucks even if they did. But things change against other elite teams in the playoffs.
Title contenders should be preparing for a run in the playoffs instead of maximizing regular-season efficiency. No one hangs banners for margins of victory in January. Establishing a culture with firm principles on both ends of the floor might have been a worthy goal for a coach in his first season with a young team. But the second year should have been about preparing the team for exactly these kinds of desperate moments in the playoffs. Budenholzer thought short-term when he should have been thinking long. Now the bill is coming due.
The shocking part of what has happened over the past week is just how easy things have looked for fifth-seeded Miami. Milwaukee isn’t applying any pressure or providing any new looks. The Heat players seem so comfortable with the Bucks’ schemes that they could probably switch jerseys and run them themselves.
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