Milwaukee Bucks: What to expect from the Bucks in a must-win Game 3?
How will the Milwaukee Bucks look with their backs against the wall against the Brooklyn Nets in Game 3?
With their backs against the wall, the Milwaukee Bucks are going to need their best performance of the season to avoid falling into a death sentence of a 3-0 series hold against the Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
For this Bucks team, I simply don’t know what to expect from this team in Game 3. And that’s a big problem.
Even though the Bucks didn’t win at the same clip as they were winning in the regular season last year (before the pandemic), I don’t think anyone was arguing that last year’s version of the team was better than this year’s.
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After all, the Bucks had reshuffled their bench unit and added Jrue Holiday during the offseason – moves that suggested this team was all-in and ready to make a true run to the NBA Finals. And through the first round of the playoffs, in which they thoroughly dominated and beat the Miami Heat in four games while exorcising some personal demons, it finally seemed as if the Bucks had flipped a physiological switch.
The Milwaukee Bucks have looked outclassed by the Brooklyn Nets
However, against the Brooklyn Nets, the Bucks have looked far from the championship contender that many believed we would see. Even with the Nets missing James Harden in the lineup (who re-aggravated a hamstring injury minutes into Game 1), the Bucks have been outclassed in every possible way imaginable.
The Nets won Game 1 by eight points and then absolutely blew the doors open in Game 2 as they embarrassed the Bucks by 39 points.
The Bucks need a strong statement win on their home floor in Game 3 at the very least, but more than anything needs to prove to themselves that this is a team that they can not only win in a one-game sample but that they could beat in a series.
Right now, especially after their lackluster performance in Game 2, I’m not sure that’s something they entirely believe.
And maybe there’s simply nothing the Bucks can do against the Nets. Maybe Brooklyn is that much better than this team and, by proxy, the rest of the Eastern Conference. But that won’t be the narrative for Milwaukee, even if that is indeed the case, unfortunately.
The Bucks went all-in during the offseason (by emptying out their assets in acquiring Holiday) after losing to the Heat in embarrassing fashion in the bubble playoffs last season. Milwaukee built everything for this very moment.
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Should the Bucks lose (again) in the Eastern Conference semifinals, it wouldn’t be a great look – context aside. Giannis and the Bucks need to come through in Game 3. There’s so much possible fallout if they don’t.