Over the three years since they won the NBA championship in 2021, the Milwaukee Bucks are tied for the second best regular-season record (158-88, .642). But they’ve won just 10 total playoff games over that stretch, losing in the first round as a higher seed in both 2023 and 2024.

The primary reason for their postseason struggles has been health. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton have played together in only three of the Bucks’ 23 playoff games over these last three years. This team still has the core of a title contender and it may just need to be healthy in April and May.

But the Bucks also need to be better defensively than they were last season, when they fell off dramatically on that end of the floor. Ranking 19th and allowing 0.5 more points per 100 possessions than the league average, it was Milwaukee’s worst defensive season (by a healthy margin) in the last six years.

The Bucks’ defense was better after Doc Rivers took over as coach in late January, but still ranked in the middle of the pack over the last 36 games of the regular season.

New coaches brought new defensive schemes to Milwaukee. According to Second Spectrum tracking, the Bucks saw the biggest change from 2022-23 to ’23-24 in how they defended the pick-and-roll. They also saw more changes with their mid-season coaching change.

Under former coach Adrian Griffin, the Bucks went away (to a degree) from the “drop” coverage they’d been playing for five seasons under Mike Budenholzer. When Rivers took over, he took them even further away.

Perhaps it was the right way to go. Opponents scored most efficiently when the Bucks were in their drop coverage, which wasn’t as effective as it was the season prior. Not only did opponents shoot better at the rim when Brook Lopez was there, he had to defend more shots at the rim (per minute on the floor) than he did in 2022-23.

According to Second Spectrum, Milwaukee allowed 52.7 drives per 100 possessions, third most in the league and up from 49.2 (ninth most) the season prior.

The quality of pick-and-roll coverage isn’t just about the big man. The defender on the ball also needs to do his part, directing the ball the right way. And the Bucks’ point-of-attack defense just wasn’t very good last season …