Bucks coach admits to making big mistake during Game 5 loss
Mar 9, 2020; Denver, Colorado, USA; Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer during the second half against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer admitted to making a big mistake late in his team’s 128-126 overtime loss to the Miami Heat in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Wednesday night.
The Bucks were leading 118-116 with 2.1 seconds left and Miami ran an out of bounds play. They threw in to Jimmy Butler, who made an incredible shot while falling down that tied the game at 118.
The Bucks still had 0.5 seconds left and a timeout, which they could have used to advance the ball to set up a potential winning shot. But they forgot to use the timeout, and the game ended up going to OT.
Budenholzer admitted during his postgame media session that he should have called a timeout in that situation.
Shoutout @eric_nehm for asking the question about the TO in regulation. I honestly think Bud just realized it as Eric asked the question. The pause, the look on Bud's face & then the, "Yeah, we need to call a timeout there." Unbelievable stuff. Sick to my stomach. pic.twitter.com/XQ7ISEXu46
— Giannis Is Upon Us (@4ndrewBarnes) April 27, 2023
Perhaps they were just as stunned as all of us following Butler’s shot and forgot to call timeout.
Then in overtime, the Bucks got the ball down by two with around 10 seconds left. Budenholzer decided to trust his players and not disrupt the flow with a timeout. Things didn’t work out.
FINAL PLAY OF THE HEAT-BUCKS GAME 😳 pic.twitter.com/uFmDZy9wPr
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 27, 2023
If he knew that Grayson Allen was going to let time expire and not even take a shot, Budenholzer would have used a timeout there too.
What a disappointing playoff exit for Milwaukee, who effectively did not have Giannis Antetokounmpo for the first three games of the series.