Giannis Antetokounmpo gave credit when it is due following the Milwaukee Bucks’ early downfall this 2022-23 season, commending the wonderful effort of the feisty Miami Heat to eliminate them in five games of their first-round series.
But for him, their exit could be much attributed to their forwarded thinking of attaining their primary goal, instead of focusing themselves first on the initial step of this year’ playoff pathways.
“They were playing to beat us and we were playing to win a championship,” said Antetokounmpo. “You could see they were playing with so much energy, so much passion. They’re playing together. … We were a little bit ahead of ourselves, to be honest.”
The Bucks have entered the playoff stage boasting the best record of the NBA this 2022-23 with a 58-win season. Even before the season started, many have regarded the club to still retain their place as one of the most terrifying title contenders in the league bannered by the current best basketball player in the world.
Milwaukee ended the regular season on a high note, thanks to Antetokounmpo’s another MVP-caliber campaign of averaging 31.1 points, 11.8 boards in 55.3 percent shooting. Jrue Holiday posted an All-Star appearance for the second time in his career, while Brook Lopez and Bobby Portia submitted their finalist entries for the Defensive Player of the Year and the best Sixth Man award, respectively.
All signs were pointing at another strong rally by the Bucks in the Antetokounmpo era, but they were pulverized to ashes by a Heat team that fought their way from scratch as a Play-in wildcard.
The Heat, runners-up of last year’s Conference Finals, struggled throughout the year because of injuries and inconsistencies. They qualified to the playoffs and occupied the last slot of the Eastern Conference bracket, matching themselves up against the heavily-favored Bucks team.
Amid odds and their level of disparity from the regular season achievement, Miami boldly stood up with a fight and wasn’t intimidated by the towering challenge imposed by Milwaukee. Behind their leader in Jimmy Butler, who dropped 42 points in their closeout victory which was highlighted by a spectacular circus clutch shot to force a five-minute overtime, the eighth-seeded club cemented one of the most remarkable first-round upsets in the 76-year history of the NBA.
The Bucks crumbled in five games of the first-round against the high-spirited Heat, an unbelievable turn of events…
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