Coach Budenholzer is also largely responsible for the Milwaukee Shock’s elimination from the playoffs.
The Milwaukee Bucks lost 126-128 in a game against the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the 1st round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs held at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA on the 27th (Korean time). With this loss, Milwaukee went 1-4 and was eliminated from the playoffs.
It is an incredible early elimination of Milwaukee, who was evaluated as the strongest candidate for the championship this season크크크벳. Milwaukee was the team with the most wins this season in the NBA. Such a team was eliminated after being defeated by a team that managed to make it to the playoffs through a play-in tournament. The shock can’t be too great.
Of course, Miami’s potential was great. Under the action of Jimmy Butler, who showed the best performance ever, Miami showed what fighting spirit was by uniting the entire team as one. On the other hand, in Milwaukee, the atmosphere was completely over while ace Giannis Antetokounmpo missed two games due to injury, and even after Antetokounmpo returned, he could not bring the atmosphere and was eliminated.
On this day, Milwaukee in Gyeonggi-do took the lead in the early stages. The problem was the concentration of the winner. Milwaukee, who started the fourth quarter with a 16-point lead, allowed Miami to pursue even though Butler took a break, and when Butler was put in, it became a pretext for a tie. And with the last 2.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Butler received an alley-oop pass and finished it, tying the score at 118-118.
This is where manager Mike Budenholzer made a fatal mistake. The remaining operation time was not used. Butler’s alley-oop scored with half a second remaining. It was time to make a shot with tactics after enough operation time.
However, Milwaukee proceeded with an attack without an operation time, and of course, it ended without even attempting a shot. In the end, Milwaukee tasted humiliation by losing to Miami in overtime.
In an interview after the game, coach Budenholzer also admitted his mistake. “We should have called the timeout with half a second left, but we didn’t. It was my mistake,” Budenholzer said.
It was a very painful mistake for Milwaukee. If coach Budenholzer had created a shot opportunity through tactics after the operation time, the game could have been different. It’s a stark contrast to Miami coach Eric Spoelstra’s tactics giving Butler the perfect scoring opportunity with 2.1 seconds remaining.
Coach Budenholzer has been in charge of Milwaukee since 2018 and is a mastermind who has won one NBA championship. However, this season will be remembered as the worst season for coach Budenholzer.