guest on The Duncan Robinson Podcast, Pat Connaughton spoke regarding Milwaukee’s disappointing campaign in the last playoffs. NBA champions, the Bucks came up once morest Boston, future finalist, at the end of a breathless conference semi-final which was until Game 7.
For the Bucks joker, who extended for three years last month, the absence of Khris Middleton necessarily weighed, but the chances of reaching the conference final were very real.
“Injuries are part of the game”, did he relativize. “Every year, there are teams that can probably say to themselves: ‘If so and so had been in good health, we would have had a much better opportunity. Of course, this is the easiest thing to point fingers for us. We went to Game 7 once morest Boston without Khris Middleton. What would we have done if he had been there? Unfortunately, the NBA is like that and it’s also for this season that it’s so hard to win a title. It’s not just regarding being the best team, there’s a bit of luck involved too. On injuries and a whole bunch of things. Despite that, I think we still had an opportunity. We manage to move to 3-2 by taking Game 5 in Boston. Game 6 is a game we have to win. We will learn from this failure, use it as motivation this summer, and it will make us better, because of the defeat. Because I think you learn more from a defeat than a victory, unfortunately.
Less control in key matches
On several occasions, Milwaukee notably succeeded in tilting the series on its side, but came up once morest two extraordinary individual performances, with Al Horford in Game 4 and Jayson Tatum in Game 6, which each time beat the cards.
The key matches that had tipped in their favor during the 2021 playoffs this time slipped through their fingers.
“We were lucky to be on the other side of the fence when we won the title in 2021 in terms of momentum. We won the games we had to win and the important games. The momentum in the NBA is really fragile in the playoffs. This year, we had less success,” he remembered. “The series once morest Boston was just a story of momentum. We win Game 1 there, we lose the second, OK it’s 1-1. I’m not saying that the momentum is changing, but the series is still in our favour. We win the third, we lose the 4th at home with Al Horford who plant 30 points. The momentum then switches immediately. We have the possibility of going to 3-1 at home and finishing the series on the remaining matches (…). We get it back by winning Game 5 there, and we lose it the next game. It was an emotional roller coaster.”
For Pat Connaughton, this setback is a good lesson for next season in how to understand and try to maintain momentum.
“In the NBA, you really have to be careful not to project yourself too much. When the momentum shifts from team to team, that’s what happens. Teams tend to project themselves (…). We have to remember the lesson of this year, where we often found ourselves on the wrong side, to say to ourselves: “We have to take each match one following the other”. Otherwise, the situation can quickly escape you”.
| Pat Connaughton | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saison | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Fte | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2015-16 | BY | 34 | 4 | 26.5 | 23.8 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.1 |
| 2016-17 | BY | 39 | 8 | 51.4 | 51.5 | 77.8 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 2.5 |
| 2017-18 | BY | 82 | 18 | 42.3 | 35.2 | 84.1 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 5.4 |
| 2018-19 | MIL | 61 | 21 | 46.6 | 33.0 | 72.5 | 1.0 | 3.2 | 4.2 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 6.9 |
| 2019-20 | MIL | 67 | 19 | 45.5 | 33.1 | 77.5 | 0.9 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 5.4 |
| 2020-21 | MIL | 69 | 23 | 43.4 | 37.1 | 77.5 | 0.9 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 6.8 |
| 2021-22 | MIL | 65 | 26 | 45.8 | 39.5 | 83.3 | 0.7 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 9.9 |
| Total | 417 | 19 | 44.5 | 36.5 | 79.7 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 5.9 | |
