The Milwaukee Bucks swing back into action Wednesday night trying to even their first-round basketball playoff series against the Miami Heat. Even before Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo hurt his back during Game 1 of the series, Milwaukee faced the physical challenges of being the oldest team in the NBA.
The Bucks finished the regular season with the NBA's best record. Many fans are hoping the team can recreate the magic of two years ago and win another title. Prior to Sunday's game, the public address announcer at Fiserv Forum whipped up the crowd as the players took the floor for their final warmup.
In the concourse outside the seating area, it was easy to find people who say they think the Bucks can do well despite the players' average age of about 30. That's up there, a way for a fast-paced sport like basketball.
But Nick Craft says with age comes game experience.
"Veterans. We have championship experience. Right, where we've been there before and anything that happens out there on the court, I think the players have seen before and they'll be ready, and prepared to handle that," says Craft.
A fan who gave her name as Cindy, agrees. "Experience. Experience is huge in playoffs."
But then, late in the first quarter, the Most Valuable Player of two seasons and perhaps the current one, Giannis Antetokounmpo, fell to the floor, hurting his back.
The crowd went silent. but eventually tried to encourage the Bucks biggest star to shake off his injury.
Antetokounmpo played a little more but left the game for good in the second quarter. His departure perhaps played a role in the Bucks losing Sunday night. During a postgame session with news reporters, another key player, Jrue Holiday, talked about Antetokounmpo being sidelined.
"It's still next man up mentality. We have enough talent on this team to cover for him until he comes back. I'm positive he comes back," Holiday says.
And Antetokounmpo could be back for Game 2 tomorrow night. We may not know until just before the contest.
But it's not the first time this season that the 28-year-old Antetokounmpo has been injured. He missed 19 games due to various health problems. Another star player, Khris Middleton, age 31, missed over half the season.
Chris Geiser pays attention to that sort of thing. He runs the masters degree program in Athletic Training at Marquette University. Geiser says an older team like the Bucks may have some deterioration in what are known as fast twitch muscles, built for short, powerful bursts of energy.
"That primarily determines the length of an athlete's career once they lose that first step, once they can't keep up with the young guys that come into the league, then the writing's on the wall," Geiser says.
But Geiser says a plus for an older team like the Bucks is that skill tends to keep improving. "If you've even played pickup basketball, that's why you don't leave the old guy open from behind the three point line. Because he's going to hit it. Anything related to the skill aspect of the game keeps getting better, the longer you do it and your mind and nervous system, has to work on those skills," he says.
Geiser says a potential difference maker between basketball teams is how well trainers and coaches manage an athlete's playing time, and what's needed in the way of recovery.
"We're as a field in sports science and athletic training and medical management of these guys. We're really starting to understand better the role recovery takes and the time needed for the physical stresses we've put on them to be undone and the body to catch up to that," Geiser says.
Geiser says trainers don't just measure how many minutes someone plays, but also things like the players' speed, load on the body and number of repetitions. He says some teams. including Marquette, have players wear little monitors, or sports performance trackers.
And Geiser says newer technology may also be helping with recovery time.
"There are recovery pumps that you can put on the legs, which put intermittent pressure on the lower extremities and try to move any type of swelling or metabolites that build up during athletic competition," he says. "It kind of moves that stuff out quicker so that circulation improves, and the healing aspect of blood components can get in there and be more effective, quicker."
The list goes on, but two more of the things Geiser mentions a team's depth or number of skilled players can make a difference when a top player is out. And he says the mental aspect is also vital — especially where you focus on doing your best and contributing to the team's success.
The Bucks get another chance to apply all the good things tomorrow night in Game 2 of the best of seven playoff series against the Heat.
