Celtics Game 2

Middleton was amazing....The Boston Strangler !!! He was really feeling it. When he's clicking it's a thing of beauty. 

Awesome to see Bledsoe step up. He was a Pit Bull on defense and made it really difficult for the Boston guards. Had some nice penetration and got his teammates looks.....got it going scoring too. 

Been saying it all season, gets tiring watching Giannis drive into a wall of defenders and make shit up. Core basketball - pass to the open man. 

Nice to see Bud adjust on the defensive side. They didnt appear to do it all game, but switching on PnR made things more difficult for Boston. 

Let's go steal one in Boston now !!! 

Long post - but the Middleton question is the biggest decision the Bucks have to make - win or lose this series.

Music City and I have had a lot of posts debating whether Middleton is a max player. Music makes a lot of great points about him that I agree with. The conversation comes down to whether to pay Middleton the max (or close to it) after he opts out of his contract this summer. 

Middleton is eligible for 5 years and 190 million from the Bucks this summer (and 4 years and 140 million from another team). If Giannis signs his super-max the following year (which will be the most important off-court event for the Bucks since they drafted Kareem), he'll get 5 years and almost 250 million. That means the Bucks will be locked into those two for what amounts to the next 6 years with no real practical way of getting another "star" to pair with Giannis. 

I think Middleton for me is a lot like what Al Horford is for the Celtics. Horford is a max guy and the last year of his current contract will be next year and he'll make 30 million dollars. Horford has been good against Giannis and is a 4 time all-star, but I don't think anyone looks at him as someone you'd max out to be your star or even your second star. You'd still much rather pay Anthony Davis, but if the Celtics can't get him they'd be sunk without Horford.  

But Horford is critically important for the Celtics just like Middleton is critically important for the Bucks. You can probably find someone that does 75% of what Middleton does for 1/3rd the money, but if the Bucks lose him it's not like Kawhi Leonard of Klay Thompson is coming in to replace him. You'd be looking at someone like Trevor Ariza. 

It will be fascinating to see what the Bucks will do about this. If you bring back Middleton, you almost have to resign Lopez and Brogdon as well because you won't have the salary cap to find someone to replace them (but can go higher to keep them). Locking Bledsoe down was big in terms of keeping this core intact. 

It comes down whether this current team with no additions is good enough to compete for a championship for the next 4-5 years. Of course, if Giannis continues to shoot 35% from 3 like he has in the playoffs, it will be more than good enough. 

By the way, isn't it weird that Giannis either swishes a 3 pointer and throws up an air ball? It's like 75% of his threes are one or the other (rather than clunking it off the iron) .

Pikes Peak:

To me his best play of the night (during the 3rd quarter run) was when he dribbled into the wall and passed to a wide open Middleton in the left corner for a 3.  Don't need any fancy schematics  drawn up for that, hit the open guy.  

Basketball 101.

I hope you are right, but I am uncertain.  The Bucks shot really well from the outside last night.

Their typical regular season games saw Giannis with a lot of interior scoring at a ridiculously high field goal percentage.  If this is never the case against the Celtics, I am concerned.

I could sure be wrong, but I'd like to see Giannis get more decent looks from the interior.

The biggest question with Middleton is....Can you get a better player for the same money?

Glad I don't have to figure that one out.

The open shots were there in game one. 

And don’t discount the factor of the noon game. I think it knocked them off routine- and we heard all about Giannis’ hard wired “routine” in media features before the playoffs started. It was almost as if the NBA was trying to ensure Boston had the upper hand in game one or something...

I like the Horford comparisons with Middleton- they’re indispensable players in what they do for their team in their role, but they’re aren’t true max players. It’s not an easy decision. But it’s the most critical one. But in my view, in as much as you don’t fall in love with a player in the NCAA Tournament, you don’t overvalue playoff success in small samples. If Khash plays like that every night, he’s a max player- but how has he fared against more elite wing players? If Demar Derozen got to play Middleton every night, he’d look like James Harden. 

The Bucks did not shoot the lights out, yet completely dismantled Boston. This has been the Bucks MO all season. 

I really like this one...

Stats By STATS‏ @StatsBySTATS Apr 30

Middleton has shown flashes of being a max type player.  The problem is we’ve seen some real clunkers from him.  

I’m not sure how Milwaukee handles this in the off-season.   I don’t think they “should” give him max money, but they may have to as I don’t think they can replace his production in kind.   We shall see. 

Bucks are going to beat Boston twice in Boston.