The Milwaukee Bucks were not what their record said they were. Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat proved that over and over this week, and decisively so in Game 5 Wednesday night, eliminating the Bucks in five games in their first-round series.
The record said the Bucks were the best team in the NBA; the former champs from two seasons ago who didn’t repeat because Khris Middleton missed last season’s playoffs; the 58-win team that went 26-7 after Middleton returned to the lineup in late January.
There’s surely context to be applied to their meltdown. But we should start with this: the numbers told us this Bucks team wasn’t as good as their record.