So the Heat really did the thing, huh? Miami took out the No. 1 overall-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs.
This is the biggest upset we’ve seen in the NBA in — quite literally — a decade. The last No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 8 seed was Tom Thibodeau’s Chicago Bulls in 2012 when they lost to the Philadelphia 76ers.
This is history, man. Everyone is going to remember Jimmy Butler as the architect who made it happen. And, specifically, they’ll all remember Butler catching a lob on the final play of regulation but tossing the ball in the basket while also falling down.
It was an absolutely phenomenal play. I’ve never seen anything like this before, man.
JIMMY BUTLER SENDS GAME 5 TO OT 😱
HE'S GOT 40 PTS. UNBELIEVABLE.
📺: NBA TV pic.twitter.com/x9AGDSlxpC
— NBA (@NBA) April 27, 2023
But the thing about it is that, honestly, probably shouldn’t have happened. Give Miami all the credit in the world for absolutely making this happen. But there’s a series of coaching errors from Mike Budenholzer and the Bucks here that made this all possible.
Let’s take a look at them.
Mistake 1: Not calling a timeout to advance the ball after Gabe Vincent's 3
The Bucks had a 4 point lead with about 8 seconds left in this one. Gabe Vincent comes down and hits a huge 3-pointer to cut the lead to 1.
OK. Cool. Fine. Here’s what happens after that.
they called a foul on Kyle Lowry here?? pic.twitter.com/CvIuRzGtlg
— Ted Buddwell 🏀🏈 (@TedBuddy8) April 27, 2023
Disregard the fact that the officials called an erroneous foul on Kyle Lowry here. The Bucks actually tried to inbound the ball while the Heat were pressuring up — that’s how Lowry got in position to make a steal in the first place.
But the thing about this is Milwaukee actually still had a timeout. So it could’ve called it and actually advanced the ball into the front court instead of letting things devolve into chaos here.
Instead, what happened happened. Milwaukee luckily wins a jump-ball situation and gets the ball back. But Jrue Holiday goes 1 for 2 from the free throw line and gives Miami life.
Then, the rest of this happens.
Mistake 2: Subbing out Brook Lopez
Erik Spoelstra took Bam Adebayo out of the game for the final play to get more spacing on the court. On the surface, it seems like it’s because they’re going for 3. But, really, it was to open up the paint for this lob play.
Budenholzer took the bait, though. Instead of sticking with Brook Lopez’s size and defending the paint, Bud subbed him out.
The result was the lob play.
Erik Spoelstra puts Bam Adebayo on the bench, and so Mike Budenholzer counters by putting Brook Lopez on the bench.
As a result, a lob to the bucket is open …
And Jimmy Buckets delivers. https://t.co/SLzQFqSCHN
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) April 27, 2023
Brook Lopez is one of the best defenders in the league. He was 2nd in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Yet he couldn’t be on the court for this final possession
This just didn’t make a ton of sense at the time. It was a play where the Bucks were — quite literally — playing not to lose instead of playing to win. And, obviously, the results were what they were.
Mistake 3: Having Giannis Antetokounmpo pressuring the inbound pass
To start the play off, Antetokounmpo is pressuring Gabe Vincent on the sideline as he tries to enter the ball into play.
Under normal circumstances, this isn’t a bad move. Giving pressure on the inbound pass can lead to tips and turnovers, which is good. And, to be fair to Budenholzer, Antetokounmpo could probably be giving more pressure here.
But he’s also the biggest player on the court. The Heat needed a 2-pointer to tie the game. Why not have Antetokounmpo playing inside? Or at least stick him on Butler to give him a better contest. We all knew where the ball was going and the Bucks just kind of allowed it to get there.
Mistake 4: Pocketing a timeout with .5 left on the clock
This has to be the most baffling moment of all here. Butler makes that shot and there are .5 seconds left on the clock.
Instead of calling that timeout we mentioned a few mistakes ago, the Bucks actually just inbound the ball and let things go into overtime. Seriously.
The worst part is that Budenholzer actually admitted he should’ve called the timeout, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters they needed to call a timeout at the end of regulation with 0.5 seconds left. And he did not.
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) April 27, 2023
That’s wild.
Mistake 5: Not calling a single timeout in overtime
The Bucks sat on their 2 timeouts in overtime, too. Yup. Seriously. Here’s why, from Budenholzer himself.
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer admits he should’ve called a timeout before OT.
Here’s the logic on letting his guys play it out during OT despite having 2 timeouts.#FearTheDeer #NBAPlayoffs @620wtmj pic.twitter.com/6fz2ISDGd2
— Dylan Hunter Carter (@DylanHCarter) April 27, 2023
“Giannis [Antetokounmpo] attacked. Giannis got the ball to Khris [Middleton]. Khris attacked. That’s how we always play. It’s been very good for us. And we weren’t able to convert it tonight.”
Yikes.
Bonus: Not pushing the Giannis button on Jimmy Butler at any point.
I understand the logic behind not having Giannis Antetokounmpo guard Jimmy Butler for an entire game.
The Bucks like to have Antetokounmpo roaming the floor so he can get steals and blocks. That’s always been his role and, obviously, that’s what got the Bucks to the heights the team has been to.
But, at the same time, once Jimmy Butler got hot — again — there needed to be some sort of coverage change there. And that change probably should’ve been Antetokounmpo.
Giannis said he wanted the coach to make the adjustment and he just never did.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was asked if he wanted to guard Jimmy Butler more in the Bucks series loss to the Heat:
"Yes. Out of respect, you gotta let the coach make that adjustment. We have our best defender on him. There are conversations with Jrue. Whenever he gets tired, I can…
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) April 27, 2023
The adjustment never came. We’ll never know if it’d have worked or not. But it was at least worth a try.
Now the Bucks will have all summer to think about it.
