Bucks Zone

Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer regrets not calling a timeout at the end of regulation

So many things went wrong for the Milwaukee Bucks, but these may have been the biggest mistakes.

Jonas Panerio

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The offseason has come earlier than expected for the heavily-favored Milwaukee Bucks. And with it comes plenty of time to reflect on the things that went wrong and what could have been done differently to avert the disastrous upset loss at the hands of the eighth-seeded Miami Heat.

Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer, though, didn’t need much time to identify what he would have done differently. Immediately after the season-ending 128-126 loss in Game 5, Budenholzer lamented not calling a timeout when his team had the ball and a chance to draw up the last play of regulation.

Plenty of time to get up a quality shot

The game was tied at 118-all after Heat superstar Jimmy Butler scored an improbable bucket off an alley-oop pass by Gabe Vincent. However, there was still 0.5 of a second left on the clock—an eternity of basketball to get up a quality shot that could have won the game and saved the Bucks’ season. However, Budenholzer didn’t call one and left Giannis Antetokounmpo to freelance, resulting in a hail mary that missed the mark.

"Yeah, we needed to call a timeout there," Budenholzer said after the game.

Lightning struck twice

Bud had a chance to redeem himself in overtime after Giannis grabbed the rebound with nine seconds remaining and the Bucks down two, 128-126. However, Bud elected to let Giannis and the Bucks play it out to disastrous results, as Grayson Allen wasn’t even able to attempt a shot before the buzzer sounded.

"Giannis attacked," Budenholzer said. "Giannis got the ball to Khris. Khris attacked. That's how we always play. It's been very good for us. And we weren't able to convert it tonight."

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Jonas Panerio
JONAS PANERIO