Bucks vs. Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals

@Tschmack posted:

The issue wasn’t Young.  The issue was allowing Collins and Capela to get a bunch of rebounds and easily put backs or dunks and also not make them work hard on the defensive end.

Portis looked good early on but Bud does what he does.   The drop defense against a player like Young is idiotic.

The drop defense is predicated on the fact that opposing teams' analytics department train their players to shoot 3s or get to the rim. This is true even down to high school. Thus, players don't practice those midrange shots and especially not running floaters. When you run into a guy that is good at those types of shots, the defense falls apart. Young is outstanding at those runners - he's too small to bother trying to get to the rim, so he has to shoot those. He's actually not a very good 3-point shooter - he's 34% for his career, but he does take a high volume. He prefers those runners to anything else and that's what the drop, especially with Lopez, tries to force the offense to take. Just to bring up the obvious, but the best combination of 3-point shooting and running one-handers in league history might be James Harden. If Harden is healthy, the Bucks probably get swept. He and Durant would have just taken turns against the drop and Durant wouldn't have gotten worn down. 

You could argue that running into elite mid-range guys ended the last two playoff runs: Kawhi in 2018 and Butler last year. Giannis shut down Butler this year after Bud remembered that Giannis might be the best player in the league to guard guys like Kawhi and Butler. Giannis will struggle on Young just like Ben Simmons did, and they'll just keep running the same play to get Lopez running backwards against him.

I may regret this prediction, but I still think the Bucks win this series if they win Game 2. The problem is that if they can get by the Hawks, one of the best pick-and-roll mid-range guys in history is probably awaiting them. I think the Bucks will beat the Hawks, but lose to the Suns because Chris Paul will go off.

Barkley doesn’t always come across sounding like the smartest guy in the world, but more often that not he’s right on his basketball takes.

When he made the comment about the Bucks being “dumb” i thought he nailed it.  They are dumb at times, including Game 1 v the Hawks.

Bud needs to understand and take advantage of the mismatches and not get cute.  Portis should be featured in the front court instead of Lopez.  Giannis should play the 5.  The Bucks in general need to take less 3pt shots and pound it inside.  Pat C should never defend Young.  And finally, the Bucks need to mix up their defensive alignments because the drop D doesn’t work against a team like Atlanta.

I agree on Barkley--I love his half time analysis.

@Tschmack posted:

Barkley doesn’t always come across sounding like the smartest guy in the world, but more often that not he’s right on his basketball takes.

When he made the comment about the Bucks being “dumb” i thought he nailed it.  They are dumb at times, including Game 1 v the Hawks.

Bud needs to understand and take advantage of the mismatches and not get cute.  Portis should be featured in the front court instead of Lopez.  Giannis should play the 5.  The Bucks in general need to take less 3pt shots and pound it inside.  Pat C should never defend Young.  And finally, the Bucks need to mix up their defensive alignments because the drop D doesn’t work against a team like Atlanta.

Seems like that last paragraph is exactly what Barkley has been saying....

I mean, some of it is just energy and execution.   The Hawks just seemed to play with more juice and intensity, and in key moments it showed.   The Bucks missed a lot of wide open shots, and I counted at least a half dozen missed bunnies or point blank misses.  

The bottom line is Middleton has to play better.  Same with Tucker and Pat C.   Forbes and Portis gave them a spark, but we need Middleton to hit more shots.  He cannot go 0-9 from 3.

I’m hoping it’s simply a hangover effect from the Brooklyn series, but the Bucks don’t have a lot of time to regroup.

Yeah the two bunnies Giannis missed late killed me…

That’s the peril in switching- they run the P&R until they get the matchup they want. So switching isn’t always the answer.

Good Gs fight through the screens and pressure the shooter, but Young gets a lot of contact that way. You really have to be careful. And honestly, there’s no simple answer. My recommendation? Study how Thibideaux attacked it. Only reason they lost was offensive- they couldn’t score. They locked down their offense pretty well.

You're right about that.....

Giannis needs to change his FT routine. A 10-second violation is almost guaranteed to be called from now on.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story...late-game-1-nba-says

Beautiful double-clutch finger roll by Giannis. If they win the series, that will be on his career highlight reel.

I hate those bullshit jump backwards calls. That's 2 on Middleton.

Pathetic turnover. Letting Young steal an inbound pass.

Nice inbound pass

Nice blockout

It would be nice if Giannis would box out on the weak side. That was some really poor fundamentals there when you are the only guy on the week side.

5 points given away by not playing smart

That's a foul on Forbes? Do the officials just assume he can't guard anyone?

That's why you can't play Forbes and Forbes together. Their defense is awful.

The Bucks get their dumb turnover for points back with Portis' play.

This is more like it. Keep it going through the 2nd half.

That move by Holiday. Wow!

It seems like Jrue Holiday may have taken that Trae Young preening last game personally. What a half. 19 points, 8 of 12 from the floor, 2 of 2 from deep, and 4 assists. He's been the primary defender on Young who has gone 1 for 7 from deep with 8 turnovers.

That 3-pointer in the corner from Portis was an absolute "fuck you Hawks"

If the Bucks lose this game, they might as well forfeit games 3 & 4

Cheers everyone! 🍻🍻

So how are they going to get out of that terrible contract they gave to Jrue Bledsoe?

The Bucks cannot rest on a 32 point halftime lead. Atlanta came back against Philly who had a 24 point lead I believe, and won. Keep the pressure on and demoralize them.

@Tschmack posted:

I’m hoping it’s simply a hangover effect from the Brooklyn series, but the Bucks don’t have a lot of time to regroup.

Did they "regroup"? 😆 Now THAT was what we should've seen in game #1.

Finish it off in the 2nd half now & head to A-Town

Giannis - don't shoot 3s with 15 seconds on the shot clock.

Now get out there....and BURY EM!!

@MNPackman posted:

The Bucks cannot rest on a 32 point halftime lead. Atlanta came back against Philly who had a 24 point lead I believe, and won. Keep the pressure on and demoralize them.

Here they come….maybe

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

Giannis - don't shoot 3s

Fixed that for you.

STOP SHOOTING 3'S! You're up by 30. Eat clock.

EAT FRESH!

The little punk gave up after that Holiday steal.

@MNPackman posted:

The little punk gave up after that Holiday steal.

I think McMillan took him out to spare him getting into double-digit turnovers.

Let's see if the Bucks scrubs can embarrass the Hawks scrubs

@MNPackman posted:

The little punk gave up after that Holiday steal.

No little shimmy shoulder shake today, eh?

Awww that's too bad.

@PackerHawk posted:

So how are they going to get out of that terrible contract they gave to Jrue Bledsoe?

So maybe it takes something out of you to have to guard Kevin Durant and James Harden?

Crazy thought.

Great game, obviously, but now come out and continue it to start Game 3.

Hoping they can hold them under 90. Can they hold on? Nope. Oh well, under 100.