What was left unsaid was how long the Bucks would have to extend the series for that to happen. Antetokounmpo was counting on his teammates to win several games, a task made more difficult when his co-star, Damian Lillard, was sidelined by an Achilles injury in Game 3.

Even from the sidelines, Antetokounmpo tried to will the Bucks to victory.

During a timeout with 7:04 remaining in the first quarter, Antetokounmpo was the first to speak to the team in the huddle, becoming animated as he addressed Patrick Beverley and Malik Beasley before walking over to the scorer’s table and whispering to Brook Lopez as he waited to check in.

Even without their two stars, the Bucks were tied after the first quarter, despite Bobby Portis being ejected over a scuffle with Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard. Still, the Bucks did not have enough to overcome missing three of their best players and dropped Game 4, putting them behind 3-1 in the series.

The Bucks were able to extend the series to six games with an inspired victory in Game 5, but they still fell short without their best player and were eliminated in Game 6.

Antetokounmpo was in a similar situation last season when an injury forced him out of two games in the 2023 NBA playoffs. He came back in that first-round series, but the Bucks still lost to the lower-seeded Miami Heat in five games, a loss that caused a systemic shift in the organization over the past 12 months.

The Bucks fired their championship coach to bring in a new voice for the locker room; acquired another all-time great superstar to pair with Antetokounmpo; fired the new coach when he failed to reach the locker room; and brought in a famous, veteran coach midseason hoping he would better connect with their stars and save a year of their championship window.

But ultimately, the Bucks fell short in the same spot, in the first round against a lower seed, and are facing questions about where they go from here.

ON HIS WAY to the Kia Center in downtown Orlando, Florida, for the regular-season finale on April 14, Lillard stopped for a moment to reflect.

He thought back to six months earlier, trying to summon his feelings before the first game of the regular season. It seemed more like a road game entering the arena in Milwaukee that day, yet he still felt the excitement of playing for a team with legitimate championship aspirations.

“I’m here ultimately for this opportunity,” Lillard said after the Bucks lost to the Magic 113-88. “You have all these ups and downs, the season wears on you physically, emotionally; sometimes we forget how precious the situation we’re in is.”

Lillard knew the Bucks would be without Antetokounmpo for at least the start of the postseason, but he had confidence in his team’s ability to grow together before Antetokounmpo returned to the lineup. But during the second quarter against the Magic, Lillard said he began feeling discomfort in his right Achilles. Rivers tried to take him out of the game, but with the Bucks fighting for postseason seeding, Lillard toughed it out, playing 30 minutes.

He rested for the next few days and started the playoffs feeling refreshed. He stormed out to 35 points in his first half of playoff basketball in a Bucks uniform. But in Game 3, Lillard aggravated the injury and missed the next two games. He returned in Game 6 but could not carry the Bucks to a series comeback.

The trade that brought Lillard to Milwaukee sent shock waves throughout the NBA — he and Antetokounmpo were billed as a dream pick-and-roll combo. Yet, almost immediately, the unintended consequences of that trade began to backfire on Milwaukee.

The Bucks traded All-Star guard Jrue Holiday to Portland to acquire Lillard, but the Blazers were focused on a youth movement and redirected Holiday to the Boston Celtics, the team right behind Milwaukee for the most wins in the NBA in the past five regular seasons (Bucks 260, Celtics 256).

Holiday fit seamlessly with the Celtics’ core, and Boston had the best record in the NBA this regular season at 64-18.

Meanwhile, Lillard needed time to adjust to Milwaukee after 11 seasons in Portland. He acknowledged it was a challenge off the court being far from his friends and family, especially his three children.

“I moved my life and moved my career and did all of these things that kind of made my life a little bit harder away from basketball for this opportunity,” Lillard said after Game 1 of the series. “Coming into it, in my mind and in my heart, I was like, ‘I can’t come this far without at least trying to put everything into it and put my best foot forward.'”

And there was an adjustment on the court. Lillard and Antetokounmpo’s chemistry didn’t come as smoothly as predicted. Lillard always knew it would take time for the two stars to mesh on the court after spending their careers playing in offenses that revolve around them — but that didn’t make the process any easier.

It was an up-and-down season for Lillard, who averaged 24.3 points on 42% shooting (35.4% from 3), down from his final year in Portland but to be expected playing alongside Antetokounmpo, with his lowest usage rate (27.4%) since 2014-15. Lillard played 73 games, his most since the 2018-19 season, and he ranked third in the league in clutch scoring, behind Stephen Curry and DeMar DeRozan.

Yet, as his first season in Milwaukee came to a close, Lillard entered the playoffs focused on the main reason he asked out of Portland in the first place: a shot at a championship. That’s why he cleared the air and reiterated that although Milwaukee might not have been his initial choice, he was excited to compete for a title.

“I saw somebody say, ‘Dame’s not happy in Milwaukee’ or something like that,” Lillard said the week before the playoffs. “I know the truth.

“I love the situation that I’m in.”