Giannis Antetokounmpo has been told there is "something missing in his psyche" after the Milwaukee Bucks' season ended in "epic failure" on Wednesday.
The Bucks were the NBA's best team in the regular season, but a first-round hammering at the hands of Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat was completed in Wisconsin, with Antetokounmpo ice cold from the free-throw line The "Greek Freek" racked up 38 points and 20 rebounds, but he missed 13 of his 23 free throw attempts at Fiserv Forum.
Butler – who was in historic form throughout the series – went big again with 42 points as he inspired the Heat to a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback to force overtime before snatching a 128-126 victory in game five to clinch the series 4-1 – a huge upset as the number one seed was eliminated by a play-in team.
In the post-game press conference, Antetokounmpo hit back at The Athletic reporter Eric Nehm after he asked the two-time MVP whether he considered the season a "failure", but Undisputed pundit Skip Bayless believes there is no other way to describe the Bucks' shock first-round exit, slating the 28-year-old's for his costly missed free throws. And he believes Wednesday's performance was evidence of a missing killer instinct in the 2021 NBA champion's game.
"If I hadn't seen with my own two eyes that he hadn't made 15/17 in an NBA Finals game to close a team out, I wouldn't criticise him, I would say 'Well, he's just no good'," Bayless said. "But he showed you he is capable and that becomes and indictment of what you saw last night.
"You have got to give it up on him as the best player on the planet because you have to shoot a little bit, you can't do that. If you're Shaquille O'Neal and you can just crush the opposition with your sheer physicality and skill on two-point shots, but you can't go 1/9 in the fourth quarter because Shaq is not going to go 1/9.
"There is just something in his makeup that I don't love because he is a really good guy, he is one of the most likeable superstars we have ever had and yet there is something missing in the psyche, that killer will or whatever it is.
"After the game he said 'I don't consider this a failure', no, it was an epic failure, all-time. You were the best team in basketball in the regular season."
TNT pundit and NBA Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley shared a similar perspective, pinning the defeat on Antetokounmpo's series of bricks from the line.
"You can't miss that many free throws and win a close game," he said. "I mean, one or two free throws here or there, you expand your lead. But you miss that many free throws in a close game, that's just different."
The Heat booked a second-round clash with the New York Knicks which gets underway on Saturday after they took down the Cleveland Cavaliers in five.
