Everyone blamed the Milwaukee Bucks for the Boston Celtics win.  See, it was their trade that made Jrue Holiday available to the Shamrocks. He became their defensive pivot, scoring important possessions to win games for the Celtics. The Bucks in return got Damian Lillard, a perennial scoring threat besides Giannis Antetokounmpo. The merging was meant to satisfy the Greek Freak, who expressed concern in regard to the organization. But the first season was turbulent.

With Holiday replaced by Lillard, it did inject a strong dose of offense. However, Lillard, an undersized guard also became the target for opponents. Rivals charged at him, seeing him as the attacking point. In return, the Bucks, with a compatible roster leaked the 9th most points in the NBA last season. And Steve Bulpett, a senior columnist found them to be like the Colorado Buffaloes.

“Thinking you’re going to bring in that kind of offense with Lillard. First of all, he’s got to be able to find a way to be complimentary with Giannis. Which is its own set of difficulties. Guys getting comfortable with each other et cetera even if they want to. And they wanted to. Both looked like they did… Then you look at it and say okay, how bad have we hurt ourselves defensively? That puts even more pressure on your offense. We got to score like every possession here. You kind of be like the Colorado football team,” he said on the Celtics Beat.

In their opening game of the season, the Buffaloes conceded 20 points in the first half. Their opponents held the ball for over 20 minutes, while they did just 8. In reaction, star QB Shedeur Sanders said “We’ve got to score every drive”. It wasn’t a dig at their defense, but rather he took the onus on himself.

Even then, the Buffaloes did know they had to change something. In the second half, the defense managed to do so, only allowing North Dakota to score a single touchdown and eventually winning the game 31-26. But the Bucks never got a second half like Colorado.

Milwaukee Bucks remain untested in the Lillard-Giannis era

In their first season, Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t seem to be flowing smoothly. They had their moments, however, as a tandem they lacked cohesion. In the pick and roll, Dolla found great success, scoring the fourth most points per game. But he couldn’t find a way to defer to Antetokounmpo. As the roll man, he got less than two possessions per game.

It was a challenge to adjust, with Lillard admitting to it. But they had a pivot in Khris Middleton, a proficient scorer who didn’t need the ball much. With all of them on the floor together, the Bucks had a net rating of 17.5. They played tight on either side of the floor. Unfortunately, due to Middleton’s injury, they only played 42 games together in the regular season.

He recovered in the postseason, but Antetokounmpo’s strained calf eliminated him from the playoffs entirely. With their most fierce player out, Milwaukee couldn’t match the intensity and pace of the exhilarating Pacers. Hence, the trio haven’t had a fair chance to showcase what they can do over the course of an entire season.

Yet, one thing is for sure, Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo need to be on the same rhythm. The viability of the team depends on them. If they find their mojo, maybe they won’t regret letting Holiday walk. If not, it could go down as the biggest mistake the franchise made in the Antetokounmpo phase.