Tatum scores 45 but bricks the last free throw of 3 - Giannis style...hits front of rim, back of rim and comes out.
Jrue also missed a couple FT's
Hornets win by 3 in OT
Boston loses tonight and beat Memphis by 2 and Toronto by 3 in the last week. Not exactly a time firing on all cylinders either.
@Tschmack posted:Ball and Williams for Charlotte combined 54 points on like 60% shooting. Not good backcourt defense from Holiday at all.
Jrue obviously struggled against Butler in the playoffs last year. Ball is 6'7". Butler's height also gives him trouble.
I'm sure he'll be fired up to shut down Dame.
The 2 Holiday misses were right at end of game. He hits even 1 of 2 and game probably doesn’t make it to OT.
@Tschmack posted:Boston loses tonight and beat Memphis by 2 and Toronto by 3 in the last week. Not exactly a time firing on all cylinders either.
They were a good defensive team last year. Exchanging Smart for Holiday is a push, but going from Robert Williams and Grant Williams to Porizingis is a big drop-off there. Just like switching from Dame to Holiday was a bid drop off on defense for the Bucks.
Boston has had Milwaukee’s number it seems but should be interesting. Clearly these are the two best teams in the East.
Horford has only played over 30 minutes once this season.
@MichiganPacker posted:Jrue obviously struggled against Butler in the playoffs last year. Ball is 6'7". Butler's height also gives him trouble.
I'm sure he'll be fired up to shut down Dame.
The player the Celtics should be worried about is Kha$h Middleton.
Jrue might play well vs. Dame, but Dame is going to get his
As I mentioned during the game, it’s not unusual for bad teams to beat good teams at this time of the year. Boston got beat and Denver very well could have lost. Charlotte and Detroit are terrible - not much different than Washington.
The Bucks are still trying to figure things out so a loss here or there even to a bad team can’t be unexpected. Now if it’s March and we are still this that might be a different discussion.
@PackerHawk posted:So did Griffin get fired after the game?
Griffin deserves credit for adapting. They put up some graphic last night that Marques Johnson commented on that during the first 4 games when they tried to implement the new Griffin defensive scheme (that involved Brook Lopez trying to chase guys on the perimeter) opponents shot over 80% at the rim - which was by far the worst in the league. After the first 4 games, they switched to drop and the opponents FG% dropped to something like 60%.
It was completely idiotic to think Lopez could function in a heavy ball pressure and trapping scheme, but Griffin showed that he is willing to adapt and shelved that after the Hawks and Raptors completely ran them out of the gym. Since that, the Bucks have gone 8-2 and the only two losses where when Dame sat out.
Drop defense actually is an even better fit when your guards are Lillard and Beasley, and defense typically wasn't the problem in the playoffs. It was mainly when crunch time game and the offense became either Giannis trying to score over 3 guys or Middleton taking a contested jumper. That part of the scheme has looked a lot better as well - although you could argue simply giving the ball to Dame is going to result in a decent look almost all the time. He's not Steph Curry, but he's not that far from it, and he's probably better than Curry in using his quickness to get to the rim and draw fouls.
What’s clear to me is Lillard isn’t just a stop and pop guy. I mean, he’s an elite shooter from long range, but his ability to put the ball on the floor and take it to the hoop with ease has changed this offense late in games. He’s also a very underrated passer.
We saw that the previous game when Pat C hit two bombs due to Dame getting in the lane and drawing the defense in leaving Pat C open to take the shots. Imagine that same strategy with Middleton?
Defensively I don’t know what you do. You foul him and it’s automatic 2 points. You leave him alone on the arc and he’s going to shoot and probably make it. His ability to hit fadeaway or midrange is pretty solid as well.
The other plus is with Dame closing guys like Lopez and Giannis can really lock in defensively and not get gassed on both ends of the court. Once Middleton gets back he’s another guy you can’t afford to double. If you blitz Dame, somebody is going to be open.
Boston and Philly will present problems because their big men can shoot so Lopez can’t just camp out in the lane.
@Tschmack posted:We saw that the previous game when Pat C hit two bombs due to Dame getting in the lane and drawing the defense in leaving Pat C open to take the shots. Imagine that same strategy with Middleton?
And the passes put Pat in a great position to get the shot off quickly. Chest to neck high pass and you get that shot off with no one close to you.
I know it's the Wizards, but this is the situation all teams will be in if they want to build the wall to stop Giannis (who was 20 for 23 from the floor in the last game - and two of his misses he followed up with a put-back layup). Has Dame Lillard been this open in a half court set in the last 10 years?
In 2019-20, it was Eric Bledsoe being left open. In 2021-23, it was Jrue Holiday. Now it's Dame.
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@Tschmack posted:What’s clear to me is Lillard isn’t just a stop and pop guy. I mean, he’s an elite shooter from long range, but his ability to put the ball on the floor and take it to the hoop with ease has changed this offense late in games. He’s also a very underrated passer.
We saw that the previous game when Pat C hit two bombs due to Dame getting in the lane and drawing the defense in leaving Pat C open to take the shots. Imagine that same strategy with Middleton?
Defensively I don’t know what you do. You foul him and it’s automatic 2 points. You leave him alone on the arc and he’s going to shoot and probably make it. His ability to hit fadeaway or midrange is pretty solid as well.
The other plus is with Dame closing guys like Lopez and Giannis can really lock in defensively and not get gassed on both ends of the court. Once Middleton gets back he’s another guy you can’t afford to double. If you blitz Dame, somebody is going to be open.
Boston and Philly will present problems because their big men can shoot so Lopez can’t just camp out in the lane.
Tonight's game will be interesting to see how they approach the Celtics on defense. Lopez often got played off the court in those matchups (and with the Heat), but again their offense was the problem in most of the playoff losses, especially the close-out games. They did give up some big quarters to the opposition a few times (Game 4 vs. the Heat last year; Game 6 (Tatum) in 2022), but those were both situations where Jrue Holiday got toasted - by Tatum and Butler). Usually, it was because they couldn't score. If Dame is around, that's not happening. They may need to score 35 in the 4th quarter to win with Dame playing defense, but the odds of Dame doing that are more likely than Jrue Holiday shutting down Tatum or Butler and being able to win by trying to score 20 points on offense.
Game 5 vs. Heat, 2023 - 16 points in the 4th quarter
Game 7 vs. Celtics, 2022, 21 points in the 3rd, 17 points in the 4th
Game 6 vs Raptors, 2019, 18 points in the 4th
No kidding. Look how open Middleton and Beasley are as well?
When 22 isn’t taking a contested 3 he’s probably shooting close to 50% from 3.