The Milwaukee Bucks, who were at one time among the most dominant teams in the NBA, are limping into the 2024 NBA Playoffs. They did just enough to hold onto the No. 3 seed but were jumped on the final day of the regular season by the New York Knicks, who earned the No. 2 seed.
The Bucks will now face off against the Indiana Pacers, who earned the No. 6 seed. It is a tough matchup for Milwaukee, as they went 1-4 in the regular season against their Central Division rivals.
With Giannis Antetokounmpo injuring his calf on April 9, the end of the regular season was a real struggle for the Bucks. Without their best player, they suffered losses against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Orlando Magic, which attributed to their slide in the standings.
The Pacers are such a difficult matchup for the Bucks because of how efficiently they play on offense. Indiana was setting records with their offensive production and Milwaukee was playing inconsistently all season on defense.
That, in the opinion of one NBA analyst, makes the Bucks rip for an upset in the first round. During an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up, former sharpshooter Tim Legler revealed that he believes Milwaukee is in big trouble against Indiana.
Legler’s prediction of Milwaukee being in trouble was given more legitimacy with the news that Antetokounmpo would not be available at the start of the series. However, Legler believes that Indiana is such a bad matchup for Milwaukee that even if the Greek Freak was healthy, they would be on upset alert.
Given how good the Pacers are on offense, they could run the Bucks off the court early in the series, especially with Antetokounmpo sidelined. Alas, this is the exact kind of thing that the Bucks acquired Damian Lillard for during the 2023 NBA offseason.
Lillard has experience carrying teams throughout the playoffs as the No. 1 option and he will be tasked with doing that again this year for Milwaukee. For as long as Antetokounmpo is sidelined, pressure will be on Lillard to keep the Bucks afloat.
More must-reads: