The disappointment that Giannis Antetokounmpo felt after the Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated by the Miami Heat might have played a huge role in the dramatic changes that the Bucks have made this season to their roster. As many fans will be aware, the Bucks acquired Damian Lillard this offseason after being eliminated from contention last season by the Miami Heat.
Since Giannis and the Bucks were the #1 seed in the conference while the Heat was the 8th seed, their loss brought on quite a lot of scrutiny from the NBA world. After all, a team with the best record in the league losing to a team that squeaked through the playoffs almost seems unimaginable.
Nonetheless, the Heat managed to do the unimaginable and move on to the NBA Finals after eliminating the Bucks. Although Antetokounmpo initially didn’t share his true emotions with the media, he recently revealed his honest feelings about the loss. Let us take a look at what he had to say.
Why did Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks lose to the Miami Heat?
Fans who have been following the NBA for several years will know that winning an NBA championship requires a fair amount of luck to go along with talent and skill. Although the Bucks had more talent in Giannis Antetokounmpo, he ended up getting injured and was clearly compromised for this series.
While this might sound like a justification, the Heat went through something similar after losing Tyler Herro and still managed to make it all the way to the NBA Finals. Since both sides had to fight through injuries, the losing side using it doesn’t seem fair. The Greek Freak shared his honest thoughts on after being eliminated by the Heat.
“Obviously, it was hard time for us having a good regular season and going the first round and ending our season like that…And it was just unfortunate because we couldn’t catch a break and I don’t want to talk about the excuses. But obviously, it wasn’t a good feeling for the team. Everybody was in disbelief when we [lost] Game 5 at home. We were looking at one another and we were like, ‘We just lost in the first round of the playoffs.”
Giannis initially claimed that there was no such thing as failure in sports and that there are just paths to success. However, falling devastatingly short of the same success filled him with disbelief and prompted the Bucks to make some big moves this offseason.