Bucks at Jazz. No Brook or Khris.

More Pat C!

Bucks down 32-26. Kept it pretty even until Doc had to play Lillard along with Robin Lopez, AJ Green, Pat C., and Crowder.

Beauchamp can't even get early minutes tonight. They must have a trade with him in it set up.

Bucks up 95-83 after three. Dame gimpy after dunking to end the 3rd.

This might be too much tonight with the injuries.

No Middleton, Lopez, and now Lillard might be done for the night.

Bucks up 8 with about 10 minutes left. Playing a lot of AJ Green, Payne, Connaughton. Not a great thing.

Lead down to 6 and now Crowder gets a flagrant 1 (at least)

This is almost over. Bucks down 4 and fading fast. Dame has been terrible, but clearly banged up.

Dame with a 5 for 18 stinker tonight. Probably shouldn't have played.

Bucks have missed about 6 wide open 3s in the 4th quarter.

Jazz go 27-6 run.

Bucks with a complete collapse. 34-9 Utah over the last 9 minutes.

2 minutes left. Get Giannis out.

The whole run started because they had to play AJ Green and Payne.

Jazz 40-13 in the 4th.

I know the schedule has been tough, but Doc Rivers is now 1-4 as head coach and will probably lose the next 2 as well (at Phoenix, Minnesota).

At this point, the Bucks just have to stay in the top 6 seeds and get to the playoffs healthy.

Give up 40 in the 4th to the Jazz.... 😕

I know it was a back to back but they have to do something with the bench.  Payne and Pat C were awful and while AJ Green can shoot he’s a turnstile defensively.

13 points scored??

@Tschmack posted:

I know it was a back to back but they have to do something with the bench.  Payne and Pat C were awful and while AJ Green can shoot he’s a turnstile defensively.

13 points scored??

Giannis was basically unstoppable last night. He was 11 for 15 from the floor and 11 for 15 from the line (he missed his last two when they were down 12 with 20 seconds left and he just wanted to get subbed out). Giannis had 13 assists and probably could have had 20.

Dame was clearly hampered by his ankle issue and shouldn't have been playing.

The Jazz would run 2 or 3 guys at Giannis and leave Crowder, Payne, Barry, Connaughton, Beasley or Portis wide open for a 3. Portis and Beasley hit their shots. Green hit his 3 in the first half and then missed all his attempts in the 4th (including a wide open 3 on a perfectly drawn up ATO play when the Bucks were still up 6 that would have really helped stop the run).  Lillard was 1 for 8 and Crowder was 2 for 7 from three.

Bottom line is you are right. They can't play deep into the playoffs by giving Connaughton, Payne, or Barry major minutes. Barry is playable in the Kyle Korver role - bring him in for offense only possessions at the end of quarters to shoot and avoid having to play defense.

The bench is really becoming a non factor other than Portis.  He’s had around 15 games this season with at least 15 points.  

Payne, Connaughton, and Crowder are playing on average almost 60 minutes a night but combined are scoring less than 20 points between them.   AJ Green can certainly provide some 3pt shooting help, but he’s not exactly a defensive stopper either.  

I think the Bucks would have enough with a Beauchamp and Payne and maybe the 2nd round pick to get an established defender like Davion Mitchell.

I also saw a rumor posted on Grant Williams for Bobby Portis swap which would be interesting if Milwaukee ended up playing Boston.   There’s also some chatter out there about Bruce Brown, but given his salary they’d have to get really creative but would him to play the 2 guard next to Dame and then Beasley could come off the bench.  

@Tschmack posted:

The bench is really becoming a non factor other than Portis.  He’s had around 15 games this season with at least 15 points.  

Payne, Connaughton, and Crowder are playing on average almost 60 minutes a night but combined are scoring less than 20 points between them.   AJ Green can certainly provide some 3pt shooting help, but he’s not exactly a defensive stopper either.  

I think the Bucks would have enough with a Beauchamp and Payne and maybe the 2nd round pick to get an established defender like Davion Mitchell.

I also saw a rumor posted on Grant Williams for Bobby Portis swap which would be interesting if Milwaukee ended up playing Boston.   There’s also some chatter out there about Bruce Brown, but given his salary they’d have to get really creative but would him to play the 2 guard next to Dame and then Beasley could come off the bench.  

Grant Williams has not been good this year in Dallas. His defensive value is in guarding guys like Giannis or Durant, not quick guards like Brunson, Donavan Mitchell, Rozier, Maxey, Young, or Haliburton which is where they are really going to get lit up in a post-season series.

The advantage to getting him is that he can guard (or at least provide some resistance) against Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Randle, or Jimmy Butler. But it won't matter if they get lit up by another team prior to matching up against Boston because they don't have any defense against point guard penetration.

Williams also isn't going to score much. He's basically a younger version of PJ Tucker - sit in the corner and try to hit open 3s which he did in Game 7 against the Bucks in 2022.

Portis can consistently get you 15-20. If you traded him for Williams, the whole bench might not get that in a night.

I would deal Portis for Williams because quite simply this team needs an attitude adjustment.  I love Bobby but while he may score 15-20 he’ll give up just as much if not more.

Grant Williams won’t give you the same firepower but he will get in the grill of a Tatum or Brown or Butler.  He’d be more valuable a Buck than Maverick.

Milwaukee would still need more after that but it’s a start.  Dallas isn’t going anywhere.

Get a guy like Davion Mitchell to guard the backcourt and Williams to handle the rest and this becomes an intriguing group.