Here Stands the 2023-24 Milwaukee Bucks

Heading into a do-or-die Game 5 against Indiana, the Milwaukee Bucks stand on their last legs.

For the second straight April, the Milwaukee Bucks are on the brink of elimination as we see a playoff run that could be extinguished before the flame was even set.

At this time one year ago, the Bucks were reeling from an epic first round playoff defeat. It was defined by a certain shock and awe, in that they were thoroughly outplayed, outwitted, and outmatched by the Miami Heat. That has served as a line of demarcation, by which the decisions the organization has made over the last 12 months has prioritized being able to play their best basketball when their season is literally in the line.

The collateral damage of losing to Heat led to a championship coach in Mike Budenholzer being painfully dismissed. A highly-valued and dependable guard in Jrue Holiday getting dealt for one of the best scorers the NBA has ever seen. Big shakeups reset the table, and eventually did away with all of the uncertainty surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo in the face of his greatest defeat, and whether he would ever have a wandering eye for greener pastures.

In reality, the collateral damage hasn’t stopped. Every reaction the Bucks have made has had an adverse reaction. Adrian Griffin has long left Milwaukee at this point, but the undercurrent of his hire and why things didn’t click still remain. Doc Rivers was assigned to be the caretaker, to right the ship before it took on too much water. Unfortunately, this boat is leaking at all sides.

It’s painfully obvious why the Bucks are staring at their demise. For starters, if you had been told that Thanasis would be the Antetokounmpo to have played any minutes this series, you would have thought the Bucks didn’t have much of a chance. Similarly, Damian Lillard’s first season in Milwaukee appears to end in uncertainty and disappointment after he, too, succumbed to a litany of injuries that forced him out of Game 4 and is on track to do so for Game 5, same with Giannis.

It has been truly numbing to watch the Bucks go out this way. The series with Indiana has been a microcosm for the season as a whole. Damian Lillard’s 35-point first half in Game 1 set off a grand finale’s worth of fireworks just as everyone was settling in for the show. For only to see that a series that didn’t start with Antetokounmpo, likely will end without Lillard, and have Khris Middleton soldier on through his own set of injuries and with a supporting cast that will do the best with what they have been given.

For a team that has increasingly shown its age and its fragility, this series has been a stark reminder of the contending cycle the Bucks have been in for the last half-decade. Since winning the NBA championship nearly three years ago, the Bucks have dealt with injuries to key members of their core between Antetokounmpo (twice), Middleton, and now Lillard during the postseason.

Milwaukee is not getting any younger, and while injuries have only exacerbated that, Indiana’s youth, athleticism, and mobility has and would have driven that home further in this series if the Bucks were fully healthy.

More than anything, the fortune, and the breaks that broke the Bucks way on as they marched to that title fortified that group to run through a true playoff gauntlet. Yes, even when it appeared when Antetokounmpo had suffered a major injury during that Conference Finals series against the Hawks, the Bucks responded by coming together as a team when the moment called for that.

Now, the circumstances appear to be more insurmountable for the Bucks. Injuries to Antetokounmpo and Lillard have surfaced at the most inopportune times, but it shouldn’t mask the fact that the Bucks were trending downward in their performances at the end of the season. You have to ask yourself this question: Was this a team that truly came together for any extended stretches this season?

Deep down, we all know the answer. To be fair, firing your coach midway through the season signals some level of discord that will make it hard to cover up. Whether it was under Griffin or Doc, though, the Bucks couldn’t find their equilibrium as they sprinted, stumbled, and scurried through a season that didn’t see them meet the supersized expectations they’ve faced, to say the least.

The fans at Fiserv Tuesday night will do all they can to make sure Game 5 does not feel like a funeral, even as the Bucks look to be the walking wounded. There is still pride to play for, to not go out in disgrace in front of your fans. Just like they did last year.

But for all that could be said about how the Bucks went out last year, this time around does not feel the same. To see that, for all that has changed from the last Game 5 they played in Milwaukee, they stand in the same exact spot they stood in 12 months ago — mitigating factors be damned — might be the bleakest reality any Bucks fan could have imagined.

This season has been a race against time, and nope, not even Dame Time can save the Bucks now.