National Basketball Association

The Greek Meek?

Published Sep. 1, 2020 3:17 p.m. ET

Following a 115-104 loss to the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Milwaukee Bucks find themselves in an early hole, as they seek a second consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearance.

Several of the talking points after Game 1 centered around two stars: Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo and Miami's Jimmy Butler.

Antetokounmpo and Butler's final box scores looked drastically different. Butler took over offensively, scoring 40 points on 65% shooting from the field.

Meanwhile, Antetokounmpo managed 18 points, only 3 of which came in the fourth quarter, compared to Butler's 15 in the fourth.

As good as Butler and the Heat were, however, Nick Wright believes the bigger story is Antetokounmpo's flailing performance on offense:

It wasn't just Antetokounmpo's offensive output that came under fire, either.

When the reigning MVP and 2020 Defensive Player of the Year was asked why he didn't take on the challenge of stymying the red-hot Butler, the Bucks star gave a prickly response:

That answer drew the attention of a few former players, including Richard Jefferson, who found the response to be "strange."

Skip Bayless agreed with Jefferson's line of thinking, saying he would have liked to see if Antetokounmpo could have thrown some cold water on Butler.

"I know he's taller than Jimmy, but he's so long and he's so athletic – if you're that guy, you say, 'This time, I got him.' I don't see that from him."

But is one bad night enough to write off the presumptive back-to-back MVP?

Not in Shannon Sharpe's mind:

Antetokounmpo and the Bucks breezed through the NBA's regular season en route to the league's best record (56-17), but the playoffs have posed a different challenge.

Perhaps the Bucks can take solace in this: After losing Game 1 in their opening playoff series to the Orlando Magic, Milwaukee won four straight games by 14-plus points in each contest to clinch the series.

Game 2 is scheduled to tip off at 9:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.