Shams just announced Giannis is playing.
Someone also posted video of Giannis warming up in the shoot around this morning. He almost airballs a FT short and then air balls a lob shot when he was screwing around after getting the rebound.
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They'll lose 😆 🤭
The Heat?
Jimmy rules
Jimmy Butler on fire
Of course
No answer for Butler again so far...
Jrue and Khris have to get going offensively
Travel…
Giannis is the best at driving the hoop since Dr. J
Kevin Harlan is the best
Quit rooting for the Heat, Reggie
Giannis defensive impact? Heat have 12 points in the paint in this game. That’s it.
If not for Butler’s heroics in the first quarter this is a 20pt Bucks lead.
Giannis triple double baby
Heat still hanging around.
Bucks getting nothing from their deeper bench. For all the talk about how deep they were, this playoff series has exposed the complete lack of depth for playoff basketball.
Crowder and Jevon Carter are unplayable. Ingles can only get by in small doses. Portis gets exposed on defense.
They turned PJ Tucker and DDV from the title team into Grayson Allen and not much else. Allen is OK, but he's also only a spot player in the playoffs.
Lopez and Giannis are 21 for 38 from the floor.
The rest of the team is 16 for 45.
Heat within 5. Bucks season now clearly on the line.
Middleton is cooked. Like, he's done as an elite player. Butler is abusing him.
Down to 3.
Bucks about to choke away a 12 point lead with 65 minutes left.
Jrue Holiday has been terrible tonight. That last possession was embarrassing.
Getting outhustled.
Tie game.
Bucks behind.
Heat with a 13-0 run.
Bucks scoreless for 3 minutes, but the officials have let the Heat absolutely push the Bucks around.
Everyone besides Giannis and Brook have been trash tonight. This team doesn't have what it takes and losing this series would avoid getting humiliated by Boston or Philly
This is over.
Stick a fork in Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday.
Jimmy Butler has made them look like G leaguers. And Miami has no one else.
Butler with 51 on 19 for 28 from the floor.
Middleton and Holiday have 28 on 10 for 29 from the floor.
Holiday just choked again. He's been completely exposed in this series.
It's not too much to say this may cost him a Hall of Fame berth some day. A complete and utter dressing down by Butler.
WTH is going on??? Lose 3 to Miami
What the fukk? Calling timeout down 7 with 30 seconds left.
Is Bud trolling us?
What the hell is Bud doing? Why is a clearly hurting Giannis out there down 7 with 20 seconds left.
Jrue Holiday is completely shaken. Butler has taken his manhood. What an epic meltdown.
The only question now is whether the Heat will win the series in 5 games or 6.
Where else have we seen this in WI professional sports? Dominate the regular season, fall for your own hype, then shit the bed in the playoffs.
Lopez and Giannis are 25 for 45 from the field for 62 points.
The rest of the team went 17 for 54.
This team is done. Middleton and Holiday looked washed. Holiday looks like he wanted to hide tonight. He completely disappeared.
If Middleton doesn’t get hurt last year it’s very possible Bucks go back to back. He’s definitely not the same player now.
Giannis gets hurt 10 minutes into game 1. Heat win game 1 and game 3. No Giannis. He plays tonight but clearly he’s not close to 100%.
Sometimes it’s just not meant to be.
Butler has had arguably the best 4 games of any playoff series I can remember.
Jrue Holiday in the two games in Miami.
14 for 37 from the floor. 4 for 17 from three. 5 turnovers. Jimmy Butler making him look like a child.
Why are they getting beat by a mid-tier team? Basically comes down to effort and better coaching. Why didn't Bud call a TO during the Heat run late in the 4th?
I was really hoping for a deep playoff run to hold me over to Packers training camp. The rest of the NBA is unwatchable for me. Hoping the Brewers stay competitive despite their injuries.
Barring an OKC 2016 type meltdown by the Heat this series is over.
Going to be an important offseason for the Bucks. They got really old in a hurry.
The best part is I’ll bet Miami gets swept in R2. No way they will keep this up.
@Tschmack posted:If Middleton doesn’t get hurt last year it’s very possible Bucks go back to back. He’s definitely not the same player now.
Giannis gets hurt 10 minutes into game 1. Heat win game 1 and game 3. No Giannis.
Sometimes it’s just not meant to be.
Butler has had arguably the best 4 games of any playoff series I can remember.
The reason Butler has done that is that Holiday and Middleton have been terrible guarding him. The Heat are hunting Middleton like he's Kyle Korver right now. I wouldn't be surprised when they announce he's going to get knee surgery when the season is done. He can't guard the same way he could before. Middleton is done as an all-star player. I hope he opts out and gets a nice final contract somewhere else. 40 million next year is going to hamstring them.
Jrue Holiday was pitiful tonight. One of the worst performances you will ever see. He was great in the 2021 Finals, but he's not been good on offense in the playoffs since.
In the 4 losses to the Celtics last year in the playoffs, he was 5 for 28 from three.
In the 3 Bucks losses this year, he's 6 for 26 from three.
However, the underlying problem is the Bucks have no depth and he's exhausted, just like against the Celtics last year. Portis, Jevon Carter, Crowder, Portis, and Ingles are completely unplayable in this series.
This ain’t over.
We’ll never truly know but there is zero chance Miami is up 3-1 if Giannis is healthy during this series. It was bad enough last year with Middleton going down but this is worse. Just shitty luck. I give him credit for playing this game but he’s not right.
@mr21mr21 posted:Why are they getting beat by a mid-tier team? Basically comes down to effort and better coaching. Why didn't Bud call a TO during the Heat run late in the 4th?
I was really hoping for a deep playoff run to hold me over to Packers training camp. The rest of the NBA is unwatchable for me. Hoping the Brewers stay competitive despite their injuries.
They are getting cooked mainly because their top 4 guys had to 40 minutes at full effort. The Bucks bench is terrible. Portis has disappeared.
Butler played 40 minutes, but no other Heat player went more than 30.
In 2021, they went out and got PJ Tucker and he was the missing piece.
In 2022, they traded their one spare asset (DDV) for the corpse of Ibaka.
In 2023, they traded their only real borderline player they could spare (Nwora) and every second round pick they could scrounge up for Crowder. He's been painful to watch in this series.
No one is going to give Middleton 40M as an opt out. His injuries have really caught up with him. He used to be solid on defense, but not anymore.
Holiday will be OK he just can’t do it all on both ends of the court.
Bucks need to get younger and more athletic.
@Pikes Peak posted:This ain’t over.
It's over. Middleton is not right. Holiday looks like he wants to go hide.
The Bucks might (and that's a big might) win Game 5, but the Heat are going to boat race them in Miami in Game 6 if it gets that far.
Bud has no answers. Part of it is Bud's lack of adjustments. We do what we do. It's the same thing Popovich has done for years.
The bigger part is the whiff on personnel decisions the last 2 years. They were relying on Matthews and Crowder to be the guys to guard Jimmy Butler and Jayson Tatum in playoff games. Those guys were try-hard 2nd round picks that survived on effort and brute strength despite limited explosiveness. Both might be out of the league next year. They are done as playoff rotation players on any good team.
@Tschmack posted:No one is going to give Middleton 40M as an opt out. His injuries have really caught up with him. He used to be solid on defense, but not anymore.
Holiday will be OK he just can’t do it all on both ends of the court.
Bucks need to get younger and more athletic.
That's the problem. They have no mechanism to do that. They don't have any first round picks for another 5 years (and even if they did, they won't get a difference maker drafting in the mid-20s or worse).
They sold the farm for Holiday and that was a great move no matter what happens from this point on. They don't win a title without him. But Giannis is the only player the Bucks drafted to play any non-garbage time minutes during the last 3 playoff series. The Bucks didn't even get a guy that can hold up for 15 minutes and not look lost the last decade in the first round - other than DDV and they sent him out for nothing.
Lopez is also a free agent. The Bucks may be looking to just get a 4 seed next year at best.
