Of course this had to be the year to become really good

Matt’s Bleacher Shots

Today is April 9, and the sports schedule shows, well, absolutely nothing as we all know.

Included in the would-have-been docket was a busy night in Milwaukee where the Brewers would have started a four-game home series with the New York Mets and the Bucks would have hosted the Brooklyn Nets in game 79 of the National Basketball Association’s regular season.

Just three games would have remained before the Bucks would have started the 2020 NBA Playoffs next weekend as the top seed in the Eastern Conference and, quite possibly, the top-seeded team in the entire league for the second straight year. The Los Angeles Lakers, however, would have had plenty to say about that in the season’s last month. The 49-14 Lakers only trailed the 53-12 Bucks by three games when the NBA season was suspended on March 11.

Wow, how many times can a person say “would have” in two paragraphs? Six apparently is still legal.

Don’t get me wrong, a lot of people have been robbed of much worse things during the great American shutdown, sponsored by COVID-19. Let’s never lose sight of that.

But in the little old world of sports, basketball fans in Wisconsin have to feel like the punch to their gut hit a little harder than it did in many other sports nations.

Fans of the Wisconsin Badgers will never know how the team’s story would have ended in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments. It was fun to see the Badgers win ESPN’s simulated national championship, though I don’t think I’ll be buying the commemorative T-shirt any time soon. I highly doubt the Badgers would have won the real title this past Monday night, but their battle through many adversities to win a share of the Big Ten regular season title was a great story. A shining moment indeed.

Fans of the Marquette Golden Eagles won’t ever know if their team’s all-time leading scorer Markus Howard would have caught fire in his swan song and led the Eagles to a deep post-season run. Marquette was nowhere near hitting its peak at the time the shutdown took hold (1-6 in last seven), but it wouldn’t have been the first time a team flipped the switch at tournament time and got hot.

The losses of the WIAA state tournaments were also heartbreaking for many Wisconsinites.

Back to the Bucks.

Of course this had to be the year where an unforeseen pandemic ruins Milwaukee’s chance to be on top of the world for once. Yes, it still could happen if the NBA does get back up and running with a revised format in late spring or summer. If so, a championship is still a championship and the Bucks and their fans will take it if they earn it.

But if the season can’t be resumed, what a disappointing end it would be to a tremendous season.

For a while, it looked like the Bucks were going to be the third team in NBA history to win 70 games. That dream faded in an injury-riddled three-game losing streak before the shutdown. They would’ve needed to finish 17-0 to do it.

But that wasn’t important. What was important was they were in line to have home court advantage throughout the playoffs for a second straight season. With a second chance to use that advantage, you had to think the Bucks would’ve been better prepared to do it.

The Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers were building momentum in the Eastern Conference. The second-seeded Raptors were 6.5 games behind and had 18 games to play. I suppose they could’ve made a late push for the one-seed. The fourth-seeded Miami Heat might’ve been a tough second-round foe as well having beaten the Bucks in the two regular-season matchups that were played.

A Finals matchups against the Lakers, LeBron James and the spirit of Kobe Bryant would have been tough to win in a seven-game series.

From this fan’s viewpoint, a playoff run, whether it’s a would-have-been or will-be proposition, would come down to three things.

One is health. The Bucks, under second-year head coach Mike Budenholzer, have become one of the many NBA teams that use rest opportunities to the fullest. If you’re dinged up in the regular season, take a night or two or three off. Be ready for the post-season. There were a lot of nicks and bruises at the time of the shutdown that had to be cleared up.

Two is shooting. The name of the game is basketball. Put the ball in the basket. It sounds simple right?

Shooting, it seems, has never been more important in the NBA in my lifetime than it is now. Everybody shoots 3-pointers. Everybody shoots and makes a lot of them. When the Bucks have shot them well, they’ve been unbeatable. When their opponents shot them well, the Bucks were quite vulnerable.

In the Bucks’ 12 losses, 3-point shooting has often been the key factor. Philadelphia made 21 on Christmas Day. Denver made 22 out of 46 in a come-from-behind win in Milwaukee on Jan. 31, while the Bucks were 12 of 40. Miami hit 18 of 37 on March 2, while the Bucks were a woeful seven of 34. Phoenix was 19 of 43 on March 8. The Lakers only made six of 32 long-range shots on March 6, but the Bucks were only 12 of 43 Overall in those 12 losses, opponents made 41.5% of their 3s. The Bucks made 31%. Playoff success will/ would have hinged on their ability to make shots and defend the 3.

The Bucks actually ranked second in the NBA in overall field goal percentage at the time of the shutdown at 47.7%, behind the Lakers (48.5%) and had hit the fourth-most 3-pointers with 893. Their 3-point percentage, however, ranked only 16th at 35.6%.

The Bucks also rank 27th in the league in free throw shooting, which leads to the third factor, Giannis Antetokounmpo. In last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, the Toronto Raptors figured the MVP out. Smother him, hack him, do whatever it takes to not let him breathe. It was starting to feel like other teams were suffocating him the same way in the last week or two before the shutdown. Regular season MVP Giannis has to become Playoff MVP Giannis for the Bucks to get it done. While there’s been a lot of talk about his improved 3-point shooting this year, 80% free throw shooting (he was at just 63.3%) in a playoff run would be huge.

Would have been, would be or will be? Who knows.

Matt Frey is the Sports Editor at The Star

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