Milwaukee Bucks did not play very well in the eight games leading up to the playoffs. Most of us, including the guy writing, thought that it wasn’t a big deal. Milwaukee would figure things out come playoff time, and they would make a significant push starting on Tuesday afternoon. That didn’t happen. Milwaukee led 10-9, and that was the last time they led for the remainder of the game. Bucks fall to the Orlando Magic, 122-110. Bucks are now 3-6 in their last nine games. Something is wrong with Milwaukee and they need to be fixed immediately.

It is probably not worth doing a player of the game or the recap stuff at this juncture. Rather, trying to problem solve what’s going wrong with the Bucks. I can admit that Nikola Vuvecic played well and that with Aaron Gordon off the court, the spacing is there for this Orlando team. Gordon might make a mess of things of here which should weirdly scare me if I’m Orlando.

Mike Budenholzer has a history of being stubborn, and if he continues to be stubborn, the early exit is going to happen for Milwaukee. They cannot play a 10-man rotation. That is too many guys. Yes, Giannis can wear out in a game playing closer to 40 minutes, but you hope there will be games where he gets to rest based on blowouts. This also doesn’t have to be the same eight or nine guys. If Pat Connaughton is the better player for this team versus Donte DiVencenzo, go that route. If Bucks need a spark and Kyle Korver is hitting shots, go that direction. Robin Lopez needed for size, sure why not. Bud feels the need to put all of these guys in and it is costing him dearly. If not for George Hill, the Bucks bench was awful last night.

Budenholzer also has to fix his defense. Bucks cannot play their defense of giving open looks and keeping the inside impossible to penetrate. This is a good shooting gym. Shooters are going to make open looks. Magic are not a good 3-point shooting usually, but they have confidence against the Bucks now. Milwaukee needs to overplay on the three-pointer and if they get burned in the paint, that’s fine. Trade more threes for twos in the coming games.

This is a major wake-up call for Milwaukee. And if it is not, real questions need to be asked about the maturity of this team. I hope it will be, but if it’s not, there are a lot more questions to be asked. We’ll see y’all on Thursday night.

Charlie.