It really is awesome when Giannis brings his A game like he did yesterday. I’ll call it an A- game as there still were a few things he could have done better to make it an A or A+ game, but that’s mostly nitpicking.
When Giannis isn’t letting his emotions get the best of him and his decision making is as good as it was yesterday, the Bucks are tough to beat.
Unless they get out and run on transition the best thing they can do is not have him (Giannis) bring the ball up the court. Get him near the paint area and make the defense adjust. We saw numerous times yesterday where he got the ball away from the top of the key and he made the pass to an open guy instead of driving into the paint. You know teams want to take away the easy dunk or layup so make them step out and defend the whole area as someone should get open.
While it’s one game, it was important for Giannis to steal the thunder and seal the win in crunch time. Kahwi is one of the best closers in the game but Giannis and the Bucks would not be denied. With the exception of the 2 clanked FTs by DDV that’s as good of execution on both ends in the final minutes that we’ve seen against a good team in a while. It’s easy to win games when you are up 25 and hitting all your shots but it’s a confidence builder to win a game like that.
@Music City posted:What a strange month... Bucks start the month winning 5 straight, then lose 5 straight, then win 5 straight to finish.
Giannis shot 75% from the line in February, averaged 30.4 ppg, 12.1 rpg, 6.1 apg, 1.6 bpg, 1.4 spg, and reduced his turnovers from 4.1 to 3.3 while playing 34 min/game. He just became the first Bucks player since Kareem to average over 35 ppg for 5 straight games (1973). Just a helluva month.
If Holiday doesn't have to sit that 10-5 record is probably more like 12-3 or even 13-2. All the losses were without Holiday.
We overreacted during the losing streak, but 3 of the losses should cause minimal concerns in retrospect. The two losses to the Raptors were the bigger concern.
They lost on the road to a very good Suns team when Giannis missed at the buzzer. That's a likely win with Holiday.
They lost to a Jazz team on the road that's beating everyone right now.
They lost to OKC by 5 on the last night of a 6 game, 10 night road trip when they clearly just ran out of gas. Any teams is going to have problems in that setting.
The two games that were more of a concern were the losses to the Raptors (who were also missing Lowry in one of the games). Nurse completely disrupted their offense with the aggressive doubling of Middleton and building the wall against Giannis. The Bucks were helpless for long stretches on the offensive end. That's where we have to see how Holiday helps them. A back-to-back with the Raptors simulates what happens in a playoff series when teams prepare more. The Raptors approach is going to be replicated by any team they face in the second or third round of the playoffs and they have to have an answer. The Clippers game was a good sign, but they need to consistently do what they did last night.
Agreed that those Raptors losses were reason for concern as the Bucks played extremely poorly at home and all weaknesses in strategy and personnel were exposed.
The coaching strategies have improved since that point. I still have questions on personnel as Lopez, DDV, Forbes, Augustine might not be quite good enough in their current roles to win a championship. Maybe the Bucks are a player short? Definitely championship caliber at 3 spots, maybe even 4 with how good Portis has been.
Maybe DDV can get better, he’ll need to if they want to win it all.
It’ll be the end of March before Holiday is back to himself again. Keep pressing Giannis in end of game scenarios. It’s the only way he can learn, I think...
@fightphoe93 posted:Agreed that those Raptors losses were reason for concern as the Bucks played extremely poorly at home and all weaknesses in strategy and personnel were exposed.
The coaching strategies have improved since that point. I still have questions on personnel as Lopez, DDV, Forbes, Augustine might not be quite good enough in their current roles to win a championship. Maybe the Bucks are a player short? Definitely championship caliber at 3 spots, maybe even 4 with how good Portis has been.
Maybe DDV can get better, he’ll need to if they want to win it all.
I think they need one more player to really be elite. They have a puncher's chance to beat anyone because their top 3 is so good and everyone has weaknesses, but they have one major deficiency and a Philly matchup-specific one.
1. The backcourt minutes off the bench are a major problem. I think Connaughton is their best option, but is he good enough to be on the court at the end of a game? Right now, when teams go small he has to be (along with DDV) because Augustin and Forbes are too big of liabilities on defense. You have Giannis, Middleton, Holiday, DDV, and Connaughton. DDV is a very good defensive player and enough of a threat on offense (even if inconsistent) that he's not going to "Bledsoe" you on offense, so he's fine. It's either Connaughton or Portis in the 5th slot right now.
2. Someone to absorb 10-12 minutes against Embiid in a series without getting completely overpowered.
Bud played 10 guys in the Heat playoff series last year and Robin Lopez didn't play at all (but would have against Embiid).
1. 2020 and 2021-Giannis
2. 2020 and 2021- Middleton
3. 2020-Bledsoe; 2021-Holiday (a huge upgrade)
4. 2020 and 2021 - Lopez (your starting 5 that isn't on the court against small-ball lineups)
5. 2020- Matthews; 2021 - DDV (better guard defense, less defense against opposing 3s and 4s)
6 and 7 (bench backcourt). 2020-George Hill/DDV; 2021- Connaughton/Augustin (downgrade)
8. (backup 4). 2020-Ilyasova/M. Williams; 2021-Portis (a huge upgrade)
9. (3 point shooter for 6-8 minutes off the bench) 2020-Korver; 2021-Forbes
10. (5th backcourt guy) - 2020 - Connaughton
11. (Philly matchup only) - 2020 - R. Lopez; 2021- nobody
You would guess they'd go to an 8-man main rotation in the playoffs plus a handful of minutes for the Korver/Forbes slot. The personnel is the same or better than last year in every role except for the backcourt guys off the bench. They need a George Hill type or to hope they can get by with Connaughton.
They only guys they can really move are Wilson (4.5 million), Craig (1.8 million), Lopez (12.6 million), and Augustin (6.7 million). That's about 25 million of salary cap space total.
Lopez is the only guy you could probably base a package on that would get you a significant backcourt upgrade (you could package Augustin with this as well). But if you trade Lopez, you risk getting steamrolled by Philly.
Maybe they should try giving Diakite some minutes?
I’m not sure they won’t get steamrolled by Philly with Lopez. Maybe my eyes have deceived me, but it looks like BL has aged 10 years in the span of about 18 months.
He’s a major defensive liability because smaller or quicker bigs will blow right past him, and he’s exposed on close outs routinely leaving someone to make yet another corner 3.
Diakite and Nwora have played really well in D league but Bud doesn’t seem the type to go with younger guys he doesn’t trust in the playoffs.
By all accounts Augustin has had a terrible season offensively but I have to admit he is a real PG. He can run the offense and is decent at setting guys up in the half court. So he has some value as a backup. Forbes has been as good as advertised - he makes 3s. The issue is Torrey Craig has given them nothing and Lopez is no longer a starting quality center.
The good news for Milwaukee is we’ve seen very few teams other than Toronto and Miami match up well with Giannis. Philly is an unknown because quite honestly they are more fragile (mentally) than the Bucks. You punch that team in the mouth and they will fold like a cheap suit.
As of now, the best teams in the East are Milwaukee, Philly, NJ, Boston, Miami, and Toronto. I don’t think that will change the rest of the way. The rest of the teams don’t matter. If you are the Bucks, you want to see Boston and honestly the Nets. I don’t think you want any part of Toronto or Miami. Philly I don’t know.
So where I am going with this in the East I don’t think Lopez is playable. If they play Philly or either the Lakers or Clippers in the Finals he would have a spot.
@Tschmack posted:I’m not sure they won’t get steamrolled by Philly with Lopez. Maybe my eyes have deceived me, but it looks like BL has aged 10 years in the span of about 18 months.
He’s a major defensive liability because smaller or quicker bigs will blow right past him, and he’s exposed on close outs routinely leaving someone to make yet another corner 3.
Diakite and Nwora have played really well in D league but Bud doesn’t seem the type to go with younger guys he doesn’t trust in the playoffs.By all accounts Augustin has had a terrible season offensively but I have to admit he is a real PG. He can run the offense and is decent at setting guys up in the half court. So he has some value as a backup. Forbes has been as good as advertised - he makes 3s. The issue is Torrey Craig has given them nothing and Lopez is no longer a starting quality center.
The good news for Milwaukee is we’ve seen very few teams other than Toronto and Miami match up well with Giannis. Philly is an unknown because quite honestly they are more fragile (mentally) than the Bucks. You punch that team in the mouth and they will fold like a cheap suit.
As of now, the best teams in the East are Milwaukee, Philly, NJ, Boston, Miami, and Toronto. I don’t think that will change the rest of the way. The rest of the teams don’t matter. If you are the Bucks, you want to see Boston and honestly the Nets. I don’t think you want any part of Toronto or Miami. Philly I don’t know.
So where I am going with this in the East I don’t think Lopez is playable. If they play Philly or either the Lakers or Clippers in the Finals he would have a spot.
As you say, the Raptors and Heat match up well with the Bucks (better than their records would indicate) because Siakam and Adebayo can contain Giannis with a lot less help than other teams' first defensive options can.
Whether the Bucks could make a matchup with the Sixers competitive depends on whether Simmons can be an Adebayo-level defender on Giannis. If he can, the Sixers may sweep them, especially since Bud may have no choice but to put Giannis on Embiid and the possibility of Giannis foul trouble would doom the Bucks (and Giannis would get really worn down on both ends of the court).
I agree on Lopez. He will get played off the court against anyone other than Philly. Despite his lack of foot speed, he's a great guy to have against Embiid. As good as Embiid is, he's not a really quick guy himself and Lopez can absorb Embiid's strength in the post as well as anyone in the league.
If the Bucks were to advance to the Finals a guy like Lopez would be good to have v either the Nuggets or Lakers or Clippers. But as you say, Lopez really only works in the East against Philly.
It seems like Milwaukee is missing one more guard/swing player and one more athletic big man. But Nwora and Diakite are those guys. Diakite especially against a more athletic team.
