Bucks at Kings, March 12th

Something tells me Middleton's time with the Bucks, is coming to a close. Maybe not right away, but relatively soon. He's missed so much time and it will take him a while to get his game back, again.

Bucks down 19-11 with just over 5 minutes gone as the Kings are shredding them.

Kings unmercifully attacking Lopez in drop defense for a lot of open 3 pointers.

Bucks down 38-30 after one.

Kings go 8 for 11 from three in the first. Some hot shooting, but most of those shots were wide open.

The Bucks have morphed into looking very similar on defense to what Adrian Griffin's team looked like.

Getting absolutely shredded.

Really getting out of control. Down 20.

Lopez is unplayable against the Kings. He's been a liability at both ends.

Bucks down 75-56 at the half.

75 points. Some much for their improved defense.

Giannis has been absolutely dominant and they are still down 19.

Giannis is at 22-7-3 after going 8 for 10 from the floor at the half (one of the misses was a shot where he got his own rebound and dunked).

The rest of the team is 10 for 32 from the floor.

The defense has been absolutely atrocious.

Crowder gives this team absolutely nothing as a starter. Beasley is as hot and cold as they get.

Right now, it’s Giannis, Dame, Portis off the bench, and not a hell of a lot else.

And we have no draft picks until like 2030.

This team is going to have to begin a rebuild in the offseason. It’s time to say goodbye to Khris Middleton. He’s more fragile now than I am. Lopez is unplayable against a lot of teams, and our bench is mostly just a bunch of guys.

Outside of portions of the LAC game, the defense has been terrible on this road trip.

As for the roster, I think they will need to look at reworking it this offseason.  Lopez and Middleton will be evaluated for sure and honestly if Lillard shoots 20% from the field so should he be in that discussion.

I didn't even see the game I was so busy last night.

Sounds like it was a good one to miss.

@Boris posted:

I didn't even see the game I was so busy last night.

Sounds like it was a good one to miss.

The Kings really had no answer for Giannis, but none of their guards showed up to play, and the Kings just relentlessly attacked either Lopez or Dame every time down the court (while trying to keep Giannis as far out of the action as possible).

It was not close all game, but the 35 point margin was a bit misleading. It was mostly a 12-18 point game (not close, but within one run of the Bucks making it interesting) until the Bucks went to their deep bench in the 4th. The Bucks deep bench guys are so overmatched against most teams that they get blown off the floor whenever they play big minutes (Green, Thanasis, Jackson, Gallinari).

@Tschmack posted:

Outside of portions of the LAC game, the defense has been terrible on this road trip.

As for the roster, I think they will need to look at reworking it this offseason.  Lopez and Middleton will be evaluated for sure and honestly if Lillard shoots 20% from the field so should he be in that discussion.

In reality, they just aren't very good overall. Giannis is at his peak. Lillard is still as good an isolation offensive player as you'll find, but he has major defensive deficiencies that you have to scheme to hide. The problem is the Bucks don't have the personnel to hide that.

The Warriors, Lakers, and Kings all did the same thing on offense (especially the Lakers in crunch time). They run pick and roll to get Lillard on their preferred offensive player. They then bring in the guy Lopez is guarding into the pick and roll. Lillard is terrible at fighting around screens, so the offensive player (D. Russell of the Lakers, for example) comes off the screen with a lot of space and gets Lopez backpedalling. It results in a wide open shot almost every time.

You can see the difference when Giannis gets pulled into the action once in a while instead of Lopez. Lillard still gets obliterated on the screen, but the ballhandler comes off and struggles to create against Giannis.

The underlying problem is that 2 of their 4 key players can’t really play together (Dame and Lopez). Lopez can only play drop defense (and he’s very good at it) because of his lack of quickness on the perimeter. Dame can’t play drop because guards in that system have to fight around screens and rear contest the shots (Holiday is as good as it gets in that system). Lopez and Dame aren’t great matches on offense either. A big guy that stands on the perimeter and can shoot 3s is an ideal match with Giannis to keep the paint clear, but Dame wants the paint packed to open up space on the perimeter.

The Bucks will always have a puncher’s chance in any series because both Giannis and Dame are capable of scoring 40 against anyone any night, but there is not much margin of error.

If and when they get eliminated in the second round, you have to reset everything next year. The challenge will be that if they trade 2 or 3 of Lopez, Lillard, or Middleton, they can’t replace them with anything close because of salary cap rules. You’d have to struggle for a year (like be a 5 or 6 seed) or two during the reset and Giannis may then ask out.