Bucks falling apart. This might be their most pathetic 5 minutes of the season. Hawks without Trae Young and Collins have outscored them over the last few minutes. If you can't open up a lead in that situation, you don't deserve to win. I don't care what's happening with the officiating, etc. There is zero excuse.
No offensive flow at all. Let's see if they can overcome the greatest hits from the last few playoffs. Giannis FTs, no half-court offensive flow, long 4th quarter droughts. It's all on display.
Giannis is getting worked by Okonwu. It's pretty disturbing.
Bucks down 7 and about to lose contact.
The Bucks have comeback to take the lead. That's great. But it's really just Middleton hitting shots. It's not scheme.
Thank goodness for Tucker. If the other Bucks played half as hard…
@MichiganPacker2 posted:The Bucks have comeback to take the lead. That's great. But it's really just Middleton hitting shots. It's not scheme.
Still counts tho….right?
@Pikes Peak posted:Still counts tho….right?
Yep. I wish their decision making was better with this team…but win a title and no one will ever remember or care about decision making blunders along the way.
Hey, it’s the 3rd game.........hello......what will be will be. I don’t really even care at this point......lotsa time, if the gawds want the 🦌’s to win they will. JMHO. ☘️
Really REALLY good timeout by Budd there
Now, setup a good play and score
What a dumb pass by Trae Young. Throwing it in Giannis’ direction.
Giannis ain't right, I'm telling ya.
@Pikes Peak posted:Still counts tho….right?
Yes. But it's the reason they lost Game 1 and the reason they won tonight. It shouldn't be that hard.
Middleton comes alive in the second half! 2-1,Baby!
Lopez played 24 minutes and sat for 24 minutes.
The Bucks were -17 in the 24 minutes he played.
The Bucks were +29 in the 24 minutes he sat.
He's just not a good matchup in this series.
Bucks look so much better when they pass the ball rather than going one on one against a set defense.
It's frustrating to watch Giannis miss FTs and leave points out there from the line. However, you look up afterwards and realize he had 33 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals on 62% shooting from the floor. I didn't think he played that well, but that statline and defensive presence is typical of an all-time great.
@MichiganPacker2 posted:Lopez played 24 minutes and sat for 24 minutes.
The Bucks were -17 in the 24 minutes he played.
The Bucks were +29 in the 24 minutes he sat.
He's just not a good matchup in this series.
He was a great matchup vs. the Nets but Budd needs to use him like he did in game #2
100% agree. He's not a good matchup vs. the Hawks. He's just not. And that's ok. As long as the coach recognizes it.
Portis is fucking killing the Hawks.
Man, as much shit as Giannis gets for his free throws, Clint Capela has the ugliest looking FT form I've seen in some time.
4th quarter:
Middleton 20
Atlanta 17
But all he did was make shots. Big deal. 
The better team won the 4th qtr. Pretty solid all the way around, but Middleton was lights out.
I love it!!! All the reasons the Bucks used to lose, they flipped the script on all that shit tonight. They got all the clutch baskets when it mattered. Even Giannis with the step-back fader with the leg up. And defensively getting turnovers and forcing bad shots- they made Atlanta panic. They looked the way the Bucks used to look.
If Young is hobbled that’s a wrap- hell, it might be anyway. You can see it in the “all business” demeanor of their leaders. Giannis is finding his groove now. The MVP silencing doubters. And Middleton being clutch and not “trying to be” clutch…
@MichiganPacker2 posted:Lopez played 24 minutes and sat for 24 minutes.
The Bucks were -17 in the 24 minutes he played.
The Bucks were +29 in the 24 minutes he sat.
He's just not a good matchup in this series.
Do they Bucks consult analytics at all????
KM in the 4th quarter is the most frustrating thing for me. We won, and won by a comfortable margin with so many things not going right, because Middleton just shot the roof down.
He’s utterly maddening. He’s got oodles of talent, but he’s so hot and cold. I would take a little less of the hot for a little less of the cold.
When he’s truly on, at times, there’s no stopping him. And we needed that KM tonight late.
I give him crap when he plays poorly. I’m sure as hell going to give him a pat on the back when he plays well. Good job, Khris.
All that matters now is 2-1. Tighten some of that crap up, and punch them in the mouth game 4. If we stick to our strengths, we’re going to the Finals.
Give the Hawks credit they came out and played with a lot more energy and urgency in game 3, but in the end it still wasn’t enough.
I posted it earlier the Bucks were dominating on the glass and were +20 in the paint and if that continued they weren’t going to lose. Yes, having Middleton come alive helped a lot but the only way Atlanta beats this team is if they turn the tables on Milwaukee - ie get easy points in the paint and get boards to limit possessions. That’s what they did so well in game 1. Of course, it also helped that Young had a career game and Lopez was awful defensively.
This is the dilemma now if you are the Hawks. Gallanari is the type of guy you need because he’s the one guy they have with size that can shoot over the Bucks, but he’s a major liability on defense. The reality is the Hawks just don’t have enough defense over the course of a long series to beat this team unless the Bucks play really careless and/or stupid.
I don’t know what was going on with Lopez again whether he was blowing assignments or Bud was calling for him to drop down low again but that’s the primary reason Atlanta stayed close until Middleton got hot. If he’s in there he has to play like he did in game 2; not camp out near the restricted area but get up past the charity stripe to challenge the pick and roll.
In any event, it was a big win because now the pressure is completely on the Hawks to win game 4. If they go down 3-1 then the Bucks will close them out in game 5. The problem is the Bucks are the better, more physical team and over the long haul those teams typically win out in the playoffs. I also think there’s at least another game in this series where the Bucks will come alive from 3 and we know what happens then (20+ pt win). That’s what is difficult facing about facing this team. They can beat you so many ways and it’s not like they need everyone to play great together to win. The first 2 games it was Holiday. Game 3 was Middleton. Who knows maybe game 4 it’s the bench guys.
What seemed to bother me the most about our game, in the first three quarters, were all the toilet seaters we missed. Lay ups, where the ball rolls over the rim, short jump shots that rolled off the shooters' hands and over the hoop. Holiday shot, and missed, a lot of those. Trae Young made almost all of those shots, he took. Giannis on the FT line missed a few FTs, but that is almost expected, from him. Giannis reminds me a lot of Ethan Happ at UW. Big guy who has trouble with FTs and yet, scores well in the paint. Nice 4th Quarter take over by the Bucks. I doubt the Hawks win another game.
I feel good about the Bucks going up 2-1, but I wouldn’t count out Atlanta just yet.
The Hawks have proven they can win on the road and I have more faith in McMillan as a head coach than Bud. I expect Atlanta will make adjustments for game 4.
Still, you go up 3-1 or even 3-2 and not many teams recover from that. So if I’m the Bucks I try to close this out in the next 2 games. Depending on the health of Trae Young and Bogdanovic you need to drop the hammer and put them out of their misery. The further this series goes the more confidence you give Atlanta and honestly the Bucks don’t need the hassle.
Do you think trying to win the next two games is the best strategy?
Trying not to lose would be better. With Bud at times you just never know. In retrospect, there was no reason they should have lost game 1 given how he used Lopez and for a good portion of the game last night I think that was a question as well.
@MichiganPacker2 posted:It's frustrating to watch Giannis miss FTs and leave points out there from the line. However, you look up afterwards and realize he had 33 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals on 62% shooting from the floor. I didn't think he played that well, but that statline and defensive presence is typical of an all-time great.
Just for laughs I looked up the career playoff stats for some other guys
Shaq - 24 / 12 / 3
Kareem - 25 / 11 / 3
Duncan - 21 / 11 / 3
Malone - 25 / 11 / 3
Garnett - 18 / 11 / 3
Then there’s Giannis
25 / 12 / 5
I just think we are spoiled - a lot like fans of those other teams were spoiled over the years. I mean, we come to expect him to get 30 / 10 every game when some of the best to ever play didn’t achieve those numbers on a regular basis. And he’s basically playing about 35 minutes per game. Look back to a guy like Kareem. His first dozen years in the league he was playing 40+ minutes per game.
Something else I forgot - Shaq shot 50% from the FT line in his playoff career. Giannis is at 61%. Not great by any stretch, but a hell of a lot better than Shaq.
@Tschmack posted:Just for laughs I looked up the career playoff stats for some other guys
Shaq - 24 / 12 / 3
Kareem - 25 / 11 / 3
Duncan - 21 / 11 / 3
Malone - 25 / 11 / 3
Garnett - 18 / 11 / 3
Then there’s Giannis
25 / 12 / 5
I just think we are spoiled - a lot like fans of those other teams were spoiled over the years. I mean, we come to expect him to get 30 / 10 every game when some of the best to ever play didn’t achieve those numbers on a regular basis.
Yes. There was a reason guys like Pat Riley, Ujiri, and Cuban were willing to wait to make moves to improve their teams this year in case Giannis became available.
Another big guy who played the 3/4 is Larry Bird. He was at 24/10/6 for his playoff career.
Giannis' career playoff FG% is 52%. Shaq is at 56, Kareem is 53, Duncan - 50, Garnett - 48, and Malone is 46%. Bird is at 47 (and only 32% from 3).
Shaq played large parts of his career with Kobe or D-Wade. Kareem had Oscar or Magic for almost all his playoff games. Duncan had David Robinson, Ginobili, Parker, and Kawhi. Malone had Stockton. Garnett is the best comp, but even he had Pierce and Allen for a decent percentage. Bird never played on a team that wasn't loaded with other future HOFers..
I like Middleton, but he would have been the 3rd or 4th best player on many of those other guy's teams. He's like Jamaal Wilkes on those Lakers teams. The second-best player Giannis has ever played with is Holiday. In my opinion, Holiday is almost a clone of Dennis Johnson from those old Celtics teams. Johnson was probably the 5th best player on those mid-80s title teams (Bird, McHale, Parish, a healthy Walton).
Players never do impressive things down the stretch of big playoff games until they do. Middleton is flipping his script- and once he does, he’s done it and he knows he can do it. There’s a lot to say about a guy that walks over that threshold.
He’s trying to join a pretty elite group of Fs and if he continues what he’s doing he can be considered one of those players.
The best comp is probably LeBron on some of those Cavs teams. Or Garnett as you stated (pre Boston). Perhaps Hakeem and the Rockets?
I mean, Kobe and Wade were significantly better than Middleton for Shaq. The Duncan teams were very good and their bench players were always decent. Those Showtime Lakers and 80s Celtics teams were loaded from top to bottom.
If Middleton could just be more consistent this team wouldn’t lose. In fact, if he shoots 40% from 3 I don’t think they’ve lost in the playoffs this year. I don’t need him going for 38, but give me 20-25 on good shooting and they easily win a title.
The Bucks have nothing to complain about relative to other teams when it comes to injuries. Most of the top competitors coming in (except for not coincidentally, the Suns) have either lost a star player or had one severely limited: Lakers (AD-leg), Clippers (Kawhi-knee), Nets (Harden-leg; Kyrie-ankle), Celtics (Brown-wrist and Walker - leg), Nuggets (Murray-knee), Jazz (Mitchell -leg), Sixers (Simmons-psyche).
Having said that, imagine what this team would look like with DDV. The Bucks have been lights out on defense playing Connaughton in these closing lineups. DDV is a much better defender than Connaughton and is more of a threat on offense. It doesn't get much better than Giannis-Holiday-Tucker-Middleton-DDV on defense. That's on the level of those Jordan-Pippen-Rodman-Harper-Player X. Giannis, Holiday, and Tucker play HOF-level defense and Middleton's defense is well above average as well.
I’ve been critical of DDV but he was their starting 2 guard so his injury does make a difference IMO. Tucker and Pat C have picked up the slack but DDV was a starter for a reason.