Scaling the mountain again
Rolling through the Milwaukee Bucks' strong opening week to the 2021-22 season
The first week of the 2021-22 season is in the books for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Standing at 3-1 with wins over the Brooklyn Nets, San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers, the Bucks have come out of the gates with plenty of purpose, confidence and a level of assuredness in themselves. They are the defending champions, after all.
The lone slip up so far this year came last Thursday night where the shorthanded Bucks suffered a 42-point drubbing at the hands of the Miami Heat, marking one of the worst losses in franchise history.
If anything, the first week of the young season has offered the Bucks their biggest challenge in defending their title. That early adversity has come in the form of injuries, many at that and having struck key pieces. Jrue Holiday has been in and out of the starting lineup with a slew of leg injuries. Brook Lopez has missed the last three contests due to back soreness and we’re still waiting on the season debuts of Bobby Portis and likely rotation hopeful, Semi Ojeleye.
There’s good news on that front going into Wednesday night’s clash against the Minnesota Timberwolves for both Ojeleye and Portis, who are both listed as probable on the NBA’s injury report. That certainly boosts a Bucks frontcourt that simply needs bodies at the moment.
Milwaukee has largely been able to avoid large-scale injuries and/or absences to this point under the Budenholzer era, fortunately. Now, the accumulation of long playoff runs and short summers for all involved, and especially Holiday and Khris Middleton as both come off their gold medal runs in this year’s Olympics, will put the Bucks’ collective endurance to the test as they have their eyes on the prize once again.
With that said, the Bucks’ resolve has never been higher after bringing Milwaukee their first championship in 50 years. And as Bucks forward Khris Middleton discussed in a brilliant piece written by ESPN’s Jamal Collier, there isn’t anything new for the Bucks to go through that they haven’t already done after reaching the top of the mountain last season:
"We definitely have a lot more confidence in ourselves," Bucks forward Khris Middleton said.
"It's natural, we should. We are the champs. We've been through every type of situation you could go through. So at the same time, you know what to expect. There's no need to worry about failing because you know what you need to do."
What Middleton speaks to isn’t revelatory to any team fresh off a championship run. Yet, after being counted out endlessly over the last few seasons, and especially as they suffered through humiliating playoff collapses, it is certainly refreshing to see that undercurrent of confidence Middleton possesses come front and center for himself and teammates alike.
Rolling with these early season punches as the Bucks have done, combined with the experience of winning a championship, has made them that much more adaptable and flexible to the trials they will surely face in their quest to go back-to-back.
That flexibility has been on display as they plug in various players to fill the many holes in their starting lineup and overall rotation. It may not be to the level of small ball we saw from the Houston Rockets post-trade deadline during the 2019-20 season, but it’s certainly veered in that direction.
It’s surely to get harder from here and the breaks the Bucks got on their way to immortality may not be there for them this year. While the Bucks wait to return to full health, what can’t be replaced is the championship equity they’ve earned that will propel them moving forward.