To expect the Bucks to make the playoffs just one season after losing a franchise-worst 67 games would have been unfair when this season began, but the Bucks made it happen anyway.
Sunday, Milwaukee trounced the Nets, 96-73, to clinch an Eastern Conference playoff spot, becoming the first team since the 2008-09 Heat to reach the postseason a year after having the NBA's worst record. Perhaps even more impressive is that the Bucks accomplished the feat under new head coach Jason Kidd with a young roster that was in flux throughout the year.
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"To be honest, I always believed we could do better. But I didn't know if we could go from 15 wins to get 40," said Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo after Sunday's game, according to the Associated Press .
While Antetokounmpo may not have foreseen a turnaround this sharp, he and his teammates took aim at the postseason before this year's campaign began.
"Our goal was to go to the playoffs, from day one. Everybody believed in it. I started believing in it and we made it," Antetokounmpo said, per the AP.
The 6-foot-11 Greek forward has been a major part of the Bucks' quick resurgence. With lottery pick Jabari Parker sidelined this season, the long and athletic Antetokounmpo has embraced the starting small forward role, averaging 12.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in his sophomore season in the NBA.
With a playoff berth in hand, the Bucks will now look to solidify the No. 6 seed in the East. With two games to play, they have a two-game lead over the seventh-place Celtics, who are next on the schedule. If Milwaukee does hold on to the sixth seed, it will likely play the Raptors in the first round. Toronto currently occupies the No. 3 seed in the conference.