The Milwaukee Bucks must implement the right game plan to repeat as NBA champions in 2022.
There are some pundits who quietly discredit Milwaukee’s run to the city’s first NBA championship since 1971. There are whispers that things may have been different if Kyrie Irving was able to suit up for the Brooklyn Nets. There have even been suggestions that the Los Angeles Lakers’ bevy of injuries are to blame for them not making it out of the Western Conference. Instead of giving the Bucks the credit they deserve, some observers have tried to explain away their triumph. That is completely unfair.
The Milwaukee Bucks are not the first NBA champions to experience this. In 1989, the Detroit Pistons reached the NBA Finals for the second consecutive season. The previous year, they lost a classic seven-game series to the Los Angeles Lakers. The second time around they would again face the Lakers, the major difference being that Detroit had homecourt advantage for the rematch. Superstar point guard Magic Johnson pulled his hamstring in the second half of Game 2 and did not play another minute of the series. Detroit would go on to win in a sweep, and the doubters would point to Johnson’s injury as the determining factor. After the Pistons repeated as champions in 1990, their detractors were finally silenced; it turns out the first time wasn’t a fluke after all.
The Milwaukee Bucks are bringing back a roster that is good enough to make another run at the NBA championship. They must be strategic for that to happen.
Next season, the eyes of the basketball world will be fixated on Cream City. Casual fans will overreact to every loss, especially when the team has an off night and loses to a team that is not playoff-bound. However, the Bucks are a team of veterans who have been through adversity together and are not easily rattled. Let’s take a closer look at the steps Milwaukee must take to repeat as NBA champions.