Mike Budenholzer is an NBA champion. Well, five-time NBA champion if you count his time as assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Popovich.
Before the Bucks’ run to the playoffs, he was often criticized for his lack of adjustments when the playoffs come. Even I, myself, did take part of my criticism as well as I thought that he couldn’t adjust. Oh, how wrong I was.
The previous playoff disappointments (that includes his time as the Atlanta Hawks’ head coach) set the stage for his adaptability and flexibility that the Bucks have seen on the way to reaching the big stage. The Bucks’ front office also put together better tools and made necessary additions to help Budenholzer. That also goes for the hirings of Mike Dunlap and Josh Oppenheimer to assistant coach positions. His growth was shown during the Bucks’ playoff run.
As Budenholzer is a disciple of Popovich, he showed the connection to a model organization that the Bucks have wanted to follow.
PJ Tucker noted that after the Bucks reached the Finals, he said that Budenholzer deserves the credit for allowing the Bucks to play with the freedom in their roles because of their improved personnel.
He said, “They've adjusted. He’s done more adjusting this year than he’s ever done before. Switching up our schemes and some of the things we're doing, he’s getting a little more adventurous and that’s good to hear because with our personnel, I think he gives us the freedom to be able to do that and it’s part of the reason why we’ve been so successful.”
Brook Lopez, who averaged 29 minutes per game during the playoffs, averaged 22.37 in Finals games played in Milwaukee. Giannis Antetokounmpo became the primary center, which gave them more versatility defensively, and allowing them to switch every matchup on the court that the Suns throw at them. That limited Chris Paul, who faced solid defender after solid defender, no matter the opponent, which had him averaging 14.5 points per game on 48.1% shooting, with 4.5 turnovers per game.
The Suns’ major weakness on offense is attacking the rim. They finished last in the league in frequency of attempts at the rim, with just 27.2% of their attempts within 4 feet. CP3 and Devin Booker barely challenged the rim, with CP3 taking just 62 attempts to the rim in total, and Booker taking just 24% of his attempts at the rim during the regular season.
The Bucks employed a small-ball strategy that exposes the Suns’ weakness that they dealt with during the season: Rim protection. They ranked 24th in opponent shooting at the rim, and they came into the NBA Finals allowing the 2nd-most shots within 4 feet in the playoffs. In Games 3 and 4, the Bucks shot 70% on 60 attempts at the rim and drew 14 shooting fouls. In those same games, they rebounded 32.1% of their missed shot attempts and scored 39 second chance points.
The Suns losing Dario Saric left them with few options to combat the Bucks’ strategy of playing Bully Ball that has them dominating the paint. Frank Kaminsky, the Suns’ other healthy center after Saric went down, is a defensive liability who had a -10 rating in four games played in this series.
Coming into the playoffs, Budenholzer’s future with the Bucks was brought into question. Rumors of Rick Carlisle coming to Milwaukee were brought to the surface.
But for Budenholzer’s flaws that he had in his coaching, it looks like his future with the Bucks is safe now.
The two-time Coach of the Year is on pace for the highest winning percentage in Bucks franchise history, at 71.4%, as well as the highest playoff winning percentage in franchise history, at 64.3%, along with the 5th-highest win total (162).
The Bucks have been dominant under Budenholzer. At times, it resulted in playoff disappointment, but through the highs and lows under his tenure, this is Budenholzer’s greatest moment of his coaching career, because it breaks the narrative that he can’t adjust when he has proven during the 2021 Playoffs that he can adjust.
Horst said of the Bucks’ head coach, “It’s incredible to have a partner in this business that cares about winning as much as he does that he’s willing to adjust and change and try things differently for the ultimate goal. … When the motivation and the mindset is not one of selfishness or lack of flexibility, it’s a true, genuine kind of partnership where we work together and try to figure out ways to do it better. … The things we’re doing offensively is an example of that. Different defensive strategies and philosophies are examples of that.”
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