Milwaukee Bucks: 3 reasons the season is over

2. Bucks’ role players did not step up

Game 7 is where a team needs all hands on deck, with every player from the star to the scrub giving their all and contributing to high-level basketball. While interim head coach Joe Prunty poorly managed his rotations throughout the game, the pieces he had to work with were falling apart in his hands.

Every player Prunty tried to substitute in failed to produce, from point guard to center. Matthew Dellavedova was 0-for-1 from the field in eight minutes and a whopping -21 for the game. Again: somehow a Boston Celtics team playing without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward outscored the Bucks by 21 points in his eight minutes on the court.

Tyler Zeller played just four minutes and did not record a counting stat other than a personal foul. He was -13 for the game. Shabazz Muhammad was an even -3 in 3 minutes. Tony Snell, caught in the crossfire of the Dellavedova-Zeller pairing in the first quarter, was -11 in his three minutes.

When Prunty and the Bucks needed someone from the bench to step up, the role players failed to deliver. How much should be placed on Prunty’s shoulders vs. that of the players is hard to say. There were no coherence of lineups or rhythm to how they were called upon, but the simple truth is that they fell flat, and the team’s season is over because of it.