Mike Budenholzer has had plenty of success as a coach. He’s a two-time winner of the Coach of the Year award, finished runner-up another time, and became an NBA champion in 2021.
That hasn’t stopped the criticism from pouring in after the top-seeded Bucks were eliminated by the no. 8 Heat in only five games. The shocking exit added to a legacy of Budenholzer teams underperforming in the playoffs.
Mike Budenholzer playoff coaching history
Budenholzer has been one of the best regular-season coaches ever. He’s made the playoffs in nine of his 10 coaching seasons, and he’s averaged 48.4 wins per year.
The playoffs are a different story. Budenholzer has a respectable 56-48 record in the postseason, but he’s usually gone in with stacked teams that have gotten upset early. Of his nine playoff appearances, Budenholzer teams have been eliminated four times by lower seeds. And with their loss on Wednesday, the Bucks became just the sixth No. 1 seed to ever be eliminated in the first round.
| Year | Record (Playoff Seed) | Team eliminated by | Record of team eliminated by (Playoff seed) | Result |
| 2015 | 60-22 (1) | Cavs | 53-29 (2) | Lost 4-0 in Eastern Conference Finals |
| 2019 | 60-22 (1) | Raptors | 58-24 (2) | Lost 4-2 in Eastern Conference Finals |
| 2020 | 56-17 (1) | Heat | 44-29 (5) | Lost 4-1 in second round |
| 2023 | 58-24 (1) | Heat | 44-38 (8) | Lost 5-1 in the first round |
While Budenholzer’s seasons have been spoiled by underdogs, his teams have rarely played the role of spoiler. Of the nine times that his team has entered a series as the lower-seeded team, he’s won only two of them. Both happened during the Bucks’ magical 2021 championship run. As the no. 3 seed, they knocked off the no. 2 seed Nets and beat the no. 2 seed Suns in the Finals.
Budenholzer’s lack of playoff adjustments
The most consistent criticism against Budenholzer is that he doesn’t make enough adjustments in the playoffs.
In earlier Bucks eliminations as the no. 1 seed, Budenholzer was extremely reticent to extend his starters deeper into games, as is common for most coaches in the playoffs. He mostly stuck to his regular season patterns, playing Giannis Antetokounmpo for only 33 minutes per game in their 2019 and 2020 exits.
Budenholzer has also been extremely reticent to change up his team’s defensive philosophies. That caused some criticism during their most recent elimination, where Jimmy Butler carried the Heat through games. The Bucks put Jrue Holiday on Butler through most of the series, while Giannis guarded Kevin Love. Giannis said afterward that he wished he could have taken some turns on Butler to give Holiday some breathers.
READ: Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo on Jimmy Butler: ‘I wish I could’ve guarded him more’
There may be some basis for those complaints. Giannis held Butler to just 3-of-16 shooting in the 2021 playoffs, per the NBA’s matchup data. On the other hand, Giannis guarded Butler for only three minutes during this year’s series and Butler shot 6-of-7 against him. Nobody could slow down Butler one-on-one in that series.
Giannis: “I wish I could guard [Jimmy] more.”
Jimmy: pic.twitter.com/TbFpelZC5v
— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) April 27, 2023
Budenholzer should be used to the criticism by now. It was widely speculated during his 2021 championship run that he would be replaced if the Bucks did not win the championship. That bought him an extension of three years. This recent playoff exit will have him right back under the microscope.