Bucks Notes: Jrue Holiday, Mike Budenholzer, Brook Lopez

The Bucks are the top seed in the Eastern Conference — and yet just one loss away from being eliminated by the Heat, trailing their first-round series by a 3-1 count.

Yet it appears they continue to believe.

“It’s not over, we’ve seen it done before, down 3-1,” guard Jrue Holiday told reporters, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We know we have the talent, we have the ability. Just gotta go home and get a win.”

Game 5 is Wednesday in Milwaukee. The bad news is the Bucks need to win three straight. The good news is if the series does get to Game 7, the Bucks will be home.

“We talked about it in the locker room,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We gotta go to Milwaukee and win (Game 5). Life is not complicated. That’s what we gotta go do.”

• Added center Brook Lopez: “I think we all understand that, and you have to have that mindset of one game at a time. That’s the way it works. You can’t go out there and win three at once. Simple observation, but we’re forced to approach it that way because that’s the way it works.”
• As relayed by JD Radcliffe of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, No. 1 seeds have trailed No. 8 seeds three other times since first-round series went to a seven-game format in 2003. Only once has the No. 1 seed come back to win (Pistons over Magic, 2003).

Back in Milwaukee for Game 5. @BMO_US | #FearTheDeer pic.twitter.com/ow3G0b8AQT

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) April 25, 2023