Milwaukee Bucks complete rare run from worst to playoffs
By Phil Watson
The Milwaukee Bucks joined rare company on Sunday, blowing out the Brooklyn Nets at BMO Harris Bradley Center 96-73 to clinch a playoff berth.
The Bucks (40-40) will be the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs one season after finishing with the NBA’s worst record at 15-67, becoming just the ninth team to go from worst record to postseason berth.
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The Miami Heat in 2008-09 was the last team to turn the trick and the Bucks are just the second team to do so during the lottery era.
“To be honest, I always believed we could do better,” second-year forward Giannis Antetokounmpo told The Associated Press. “But I didn’t know if we could go from 15 wins to get 40.”
The Nets (37-43) got eight points from Brook Lopez in the first quarter and trailed just 26-24 after the opening 12 minutes.
But Milwaukee made some defensive adjustments, completely shutting down the pick-and-roll game and holding Lopez—who had averaged 26.2 points per game over his last 13 contests—to just 12 points in the game, four after the opening period.
“They do a good job of packing the paint,” Brooklyn guard Jarrett Jack said. “Showing our pick-and-roll didn’t really disrupt them in the lane.”
After the first quarter, Brooklyn shot just 18-for-63 (28.6 percent).
The Bucks broke the game open in the third quarter after leading 43-41 at halftime, opening the second half on an 8-0 run and later going on a 14-0 tear to take a 67-47 lead with 3:31 to go in the period.
Apr 12, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova (7) shoots the ball as Brooklyn Nets forward Earl Clark (55) defends in the third quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. The Bucks won 96-73. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Milwaukee took its biggest lead at 93-64 on Jorge Gutierrez’s jumper with 3:12 remaining.
Coach Jason Kidd didn’t make a big deal out of the fact that it was the Nets that the Bucks beat to get into the postseason. Instead, he was looking ahead.
“Hopefully that becomes the norm here, being able to achieve that goal,” Kidd told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “For the guys to sit in that room and make that a goal before we played one game just shows the confidence and they were willing to pay the price they did to achieve it.”
Veteran Jared Dudley said Milwaukee’s turnaround begins with Kidd, who became the first coach in NBA history to lead two different teams to the playoffs in his first two seasons as a head coach. Kidd took Brooklyn to the second round last year.
“I think it starts with Kidd,” Dudley said. “He should definitely be in the conversation for Coach of the Year.
“You lose Jabari Parker, you lose Larry Sanders for the season; Kendall Marshall gets hurt. Then there’s a midseason trade. We were above .500, then we went down after the trade and we’ve come back up. I just think that it is a testament to this team’s depth. I think different guys have gotten hot over different stretches.
“This is a true team where you’ve had one through 15 play throughout the season. I’m happy for everybody here.”
Ersan Ilyasova paced Milwaukee with 21 points. O.J. Mayo came off the bench to score 17 with three steals, Khris Middleton tossed in 16 points and had seven assists, Antetokounmpo went for 13 points, nine rebounds and seven dimes and Michael Carter-Williams scored 12 points and had three steals, hitting 6-of-9 from the floor.
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John Henson blocked three shots while putting up six points and five boards in 19 minutes and Miles Plumlee had a pair of blocks in his six minutes of court time.
Lopez finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets. Mason Plumlee had 11 points, as did Jack. Deron Williams, the former All-Star, had seven assists but scored just four points on 1-of-11 shooting.
Milwaukee will actually be in the playoffs for the second time in the last three seasons. The Bucks were swept by the Heat in the first round in 2013.
The Bucks—who will play either the Chicago Bulls or the Toronto Raptors in the first round—go on the road for the final time on Monday when they face the Philadelphia 76ers at 6 p.m. Central.
Milwaukee has taken the first three meetings with the 76ers (18-62) this season, including a 97-77 win at Philadelphia on Jan. 7. It will be Carter-Williams’ first game back in Philadelphia since the Feb. 19 trade that sent him to the Bucks.