The Bucks’ first-round loss against the Miami Heat last season was among the biggest NBA upsets we’ve seen in a decade. The Bucks finished with the best record in the East that season before completely melting down against Miami, shocking both everyone within and outside the organization.
Bucks megastar Giannis Antetokounmpo was obviously struggling in the aftermath of the series, and he admitted in a recent press conference just how badly the loss stung.
“Obviously, it was hard time for us having a good regular season and going the first round and ending our season like that,” Antetokounmpo said, via Andscape. “And it was just unfortunate because we couldn’t catch a break and I don’t want to talk about the excuses. But obviously, it wasn’t a good feeling for the team. Everybody was in disbelief when we [lost] Game 5 at home. We were looking at one another and we were like, ‘We just lost in the first round of the playoffs.’”
The Heat would go on to play in the Finals a few weeks later, leaving Milwaukee to ponder just where it all went wrong. While some questions still remain unanswered on that front, Giannis and the Bucks have since come to grips with how it all panned out.
“At the end of the day, in life, sometimes that happens,” said Giannis. “And at the end of the day, what are you going to do about it? You’re going to sit down and just keep on whining about it and feeling bad about yourself, or you’re going to do something about it? And hopefully this year we can get back in this right position, same exact position, and power through that. We have to take it one game at a time, but when we get to the first round be better when we lose the first game, be able to respond when we face adversity. But it wasn’t a good summer. And sometimes it’s good to have summers like that, to have kind of like a bad taste in your mouth.”
Was Last Season A Failure For Antetokounmpo?
In a now infamous post-game presser, Giannis claimed that he didn’t see the season as a failure despite being bounced in the first round. Going so far as to compare himself to Michael Jordan, Giannis argued that there’s more to success than simply being the last team standing. At the time, those remarks got Giannis some major blowback and it’s not hard to see why.
Giannis hasn’t really mentioned those comments again recently, but there is no denying that the campaign was a total disaster for his legacy. As a 7x All-Star, 2x MVP, and 7x All-NBA player, everyone was expecting better from Antetokounmpo, but he’ll have another chance to make things right in this new season.
New-Look Bucks Could Control The East
Regardless of what happened last spring, the Bucks are looking forward now with a new duo in tow. In the aftermath of the playoffs, Milwaukee went all-in on bringing in a star, and they were able to net Damian Lillard for a relatively cheap price. Lillard joins the Bucks as a 7x All-Star, who is coming off the best season of his career with a stat line of 32.2 points per game on 46.3% shooting.
Together, Giannis and Lillard make up the best duo in basketball, and the combined efforts of those two, along with guys like Brook Lopez, Khris Middleton, and Bobby Portis, might be enough to bring another championship to Milwaukee. When/if that actually happens, Giannis can finally say he’s made amends for the 2023 playoffs.
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