Orlando, one of the worst teams in the league to begin with, has 10 guys out with injuries and protocols tonight.
Bucks up 49-26 in the second.
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Bucks up 72-45 at the half. Played 10 guys and no one played more than 16 minutes.
Of course, the Bucks come out sleepwalking in the 3rd and give up an 18-0 run to let the Magic back in it.
Typical… need to quit fucking around here…
Bucks up 15 after three after a terrible 3rd. Still up big, but this should have been one where the bench guys play the whole 4th and it won't be.
Good lord… now they’re a fucking turnover waiting to happen.
Win by 17, but it might be good that they had to work a bit to close it out with playing the Magic again in two days.
Bucks have had the easiest schedule in the NBA to this point, and will have the hardest schedule after New Year.
Round 2 tonight… gotta win these gimmes… schedule really ramps up the next 2 months.
Bucks up 9 with about 3 minutes left in the 2nd.
DDV has almost singlehandedly kept the Magic close. He's been awful. The patented DDV missed layups (4 of them) to go along with two bad turnovers.
Bucks go up 15 to start the third, but then immediately go into half-ass mode again and the lead is quickly down to 7. Need to take care of business here.
I don’t understand this team’s propensity to get sloppy with the ball. They give away momentum by trying high degree of difficulty passes. Just make the simple play ffs…
Orlando now on a 12-0 run and the lead is down to 3.
Grayson Allen has been almost unplayable the last 2 weeks. He's getting lit up.
19-0 run two days ago.
18-3 run tonight.
Magic are not a great team, obviously.
DDV blows another open opportunity. He and Allen have both been awful. Together, they are 1-10 with 3 turnovers and Allen has been even worse on defense.
@Music City posted:Allen is mired in an epic shooting slump…
Since he came back from his non-COVID illness he's been 3 for 20 from the floor and 2 for 15 from three.
Big time Giannis takeover to build the lead back up…
Matthews and Cousins have been playing well as of late.
In his last 7 games, Boogie has averaged 13/7 in about 17 minutes a game. That’s a decent contribution for the big guy.
Matthews is shooting 13/27 from 3 since rejoining the Bucks. Not that I expect him to keep shooting almost 50% from 3, but if he’s around 40% he will get plenty of minutes.
Rodney Hood has become the odd man out and depending on what happens with Lopez perhaps they deal him and Nwora for another big.
I didn't watch the game and it sounds like both Allen and DDV were off but one telling stat is rebounds:
Allen - 0
DDV - 9
I hope DDV can improve his offense but boy it's nice to have him back as a defender and rebounder.
@Tschmack posted:Matthews and Cousins have been playing well as of late.
In his last 7 games, Boogie has averaged 13/7 in about 17 minutes a game. That’s a decent contribution for the big guy.
Matthews is shooting 13/27 from 3 since rejoining the Bucks. Not that I expect him to keep shooting almost 50% from 3, but if he’s around 40% he will get plenty of minutes.
Rodney Hood has become the odd man out and depending on what happens with Lopez perhaps they deal him and Nwora for another big.
In the playoffs, if everyone is healthy, Matthews may get big minutes to guard guys like Durant, Tatum, and Derozan. Matthews gives you 90% of what PJ Tucker gives you on the defensive end with much better offensive skill.
The problem the Bucks had the first time Holiday was here two years ago was that Bud refused to go switch-heavy in the playoffs (and refused to put Matthews on Jimmy Bulter in crunch time - probably because he thought he needed better shooting on the floor). If he'd have used Matthews in 2020 like he did Tucker in 2021, that Miami series is completely different.
George Hill is also a much better defensive player than G. Allen and I'd trust him more in crunch time.
Assuming Lopez doesn't come back, the playoff rotation will probably look like this:
The closing lineup will be some combination of Giannis, Middleton, and Holiday along with 2 of these 4 guys: Portis, G. Hill, Connaughton, and Matthews.
Cousins soaks up 10-15 minutes at the 5 in the middle quarters and then you figure out how to use G. Allen and DDV. Allen gets the Forbes minutes and DDV gets the J. Teague minutes. Maybe DDV competes with G. Hill for minutes, too?
Cousins may end up being absolutely critical in a matchup with the Sixers. He's big enough to at least make Embiid work.