We tip off our NBA season recap with the Milwaukee Bucks, who got eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semi-finals and failed to defend their title.
Back on July 21, 2021, the Bucks were named NBA champions for the first time in 50 years. They had just defeated the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 (105-98).
Giannis Antetokounmpo put up a great performance, scoring 50 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Khris Middleton was also a key factor for the Bucks the whole season.
Fast forward to today, Mike Budenhozer’s team was unable to even participate in the Eastern Conference Finals, after getting knocked out by the Celtics in Game 7.
The big question is how such a dominant team, which kept its core intact, managed to stay out of back-to-back championship contention so early in the playoffs.
Team Stats comparison
The Bucks finished third in the Eastern Conference standings for the second consecutive season. However, in 2020-21, they were better offensively than this season.
They were scoring 120.1 points per game, compared to this year’s 113.8. In addition, they were rebounding more than they have done this season (48.1 over 45.9).
Assist-wise, not much changed over these two years (25.5 per game in 2020-21 over 23.4 in 2021-22). This fact shows that the other NBA teams were more competitive, especially when facing the reigning champions.
In the playoffs, Milwaukee averaged 110.3 points, 49 rebounds and 22.8 assists last season. In 2022, they dropped to just 104.7 points per game.
Players Stats comparison
In the championship season, Milwaukee’s star player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, averaged 28.1 points, 11 rebounds and 5.9 assists in the regular season.
In the 2021-22 regular season, his stats did not significantly change (29.9 points, 11.6 boards, 5.8 assists).
Furthermore, the rest of the Bucks’ trio had similar stats in the last two seasons. Khris Middleton averaged 20.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 2020-21 and Jrue Holiday 17.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists, respectively.
This season, Middleton averaged 20.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists, whereas Holiday was slightly better (18.3 points, 4.5 boards and 6.8 assists).
Playoff comparison
Khris Middleton’s knee injury was the biggest difference for the Bucks between the last two seasons. He was out since Game 2 against the Chicago Bulls and missed the rest of the postseason.
Therefore, the team missed his 2020-21 playoffs stats (23.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists).
Furthermore, Giannis may have performed better in the 2022 playoffs (31.7 points, 14.2 rebounds. 6.8 assists), but he had more responsibilities throughout the two series against the Bulls and the Celtics.
Boston managed to contain the rest of the team. Giannis did his best, but was unable to defeat the Celtics all by himself.
In conclusion, I strongly believe that Middleton’s injury hurt Milwaukee and prevented a possible back-to-back championship run.
Next season
Milwaukee Bucks’ core has remained intact two years in a row. It is certain that things will not change next season as well.
Should everyone remain healthy during the preseason and the possible national teams’ call-ups, the Bucks will emerge as legit title contenders for another year.
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