Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer didn鈥檛 have time to wax nostalgic Tuesday as he faced his former team in Milwaukee for the first time since getting fired as the Bucks鈥� coach two years ago.
But as much as he tried focusing on keeping his injury-riddled team alive in the playoff chase, Budenholzer couldn鈥檛 deny this game was a little different from a typical regular-season contest.
鈥淵eah, I mean, I鈥檓 human,鈥� Budenholzer said after the Suns鈥�
Budenholzer led the 2020-21 Bucks to the franchise鈥檚 first in half a century, but he two years later after Milwaukee posted the league鈥檚 best regular-season record but 4-1 by the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs.
Milwaukee posted the most combined regular-season and playoff wins of any team during Budenholzer鈥檚 tenure and had the league鈥檚 best regular-season record in three of his five seasons. He and 39-26 playoff mark with the Bucks.
鈥淚鈥檝e always said it was a great five years here in Milwaukee,鈥� Budenholzer said. 鈥淚鈥檓 forever appreciative to the organization, to the players, to the fans here. The people here were great to me. It鈥檚 tough to lose tonight. I want to keep the focus on my guys, my team. But I鈥檝e said it a million times: It was five great years here.鈥�
The Bucks didn鈥檛 air a video salute to Budenholzer but did post a message on the video board during the first timeout. Budenholzer was busy talking to his team at the time and said after the game he didn鈥檛 notice it.
鈥淚 thought they were going to play like a video for him,鈥� said Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who won two MVP awards during Budenholzer鈥檚 Milwaukee tenure. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛, which was surprising to me. I felt like they should.鈥�
The only remaining Bucks who played on Budenholzer鈥檚 last Milwaukee team are Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton. Portis wasn鈥檛 in the building Tuesday because he鈥檚 still serving his for testing positive for the painkiller tramadol.
Antetokounmpo noticed one unusual aspect about playing against his former coach.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely weird seeing him complain about plays that I do, charges and blah-blah-blah, push-off and all that,鈥� Antetokounmpo quipped. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 the stuff that he loved when I did it when we were on the same team and won a championship together.鈥�
Since Budenholzer spent last season away from coaching, this marked the first time he had returned to Milwaukee as part of a visiting team. He coached against his old team for the first time since his firing on March 24, when Devin Booker鈥檚 jumper with 2.4 seconds left gave the Suns a over the Bucks in Phoenix.
The Suns haven鈥檛 won a game since while dealing with injuries to and Bradley Beal which prevented either of them from playing Tuesday. Phoenix is 11th in the Western Conference standings 鈥� one spot away from qualifying for the play-in tournament.
That鈥檚 what made Tuesday鈥檚 game so important.
The Suns instead lost their fourth straight and fell two games behind ninth-place Dallas and 1 1/2 games behind 10th-place Sacramento. Phoenix forced 20 turnovers but allowed Milwaukee to shoot 68.9% from the floor, the highest single-game shooting percentage by any NBA team according to Sportradar.
鈥淢y gut is they had one of those nights," Budenholzer said. 鈥淚 thought defensively our effort, our (will to) compete was at a very high level. 鈥� The basket was big for them tonight.鈥�
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AP NBA:
Steve Megargee, The Associated Press
