Bucks up 20-19 with 5 minutes left in the first.
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Bucks down 4 after 1. Bucks defense struggled after Giannis went out.
Bucks with just some awful turnovers.
An embarrassing first-half defensive effort for the Bucks. Lucky to be down only 69-59.
Looks like nobody else is watching. You are the lucky ones.
Bucks get it down to 9 and promptly shit the bed to fall behind by 15 close to the end of the third.
It’s a never ending problem- Middleton thinking he can shoot himself out of a slump by going 1 on 4. Its fucking maddening...
This is the second game they've struggled with Memphis. The problem is that Memphis is a pretty good facsimile to the Heat.
The Bucks are trying those bullshit passes out of half assed drives, and lazy passes from the perimeter... 11 turnovers has really been the difference in the game.
They defend smarter, play smarter, do the little things, get better shots... the Bucks are predictable on both ends, so they can’t dig into this lead. It doesn’t bode well for playoff basketball...
Grayson Allen getting away with elbowing Tucker turned what might have been a 6 point game into a 9 point game and the Bucks have never gotten that close again. The long stop in the action really helped the Grizzlies.
Down 9, Lopez takes a 30 footer with 5 seconds gone on the shot clock and it's 11 again.
Brook Lopez isn’t protecting the paint if he’s letting guys take wide open 9 foot floaters.
WTF do you sit in zone down 9? WTF Bud? I get using it as a change of pace, but jesus.
Grayson Allen was 7 for 10 from 3, but you were playing FUKKING ZONE against them.
Bucks were badly outplayed tonight.
They'll lose again Monday night to the Suns, and then they have a back-to-back against Philly. This has the potential to be a quick 4 game losing streak and makes the Bucks look like a 2nd round exit against the Nets in the playoffs.
I have no confidence in this team rising to the challenge of winning a championship. I just don’t like the way they play. The offense is too predictable and they don’t have the effort when their shots aren’t falling. It’s all great when the shots are falling, when these quick iso shots are going down. But that shit don’t fly in the playoffs. They just become bad shots, bad possessions.
That’s how Toronto beat them. That’s how Miami beat them. They’re not capable of getting out of the East with their style of play. I just don’t believe they can.
In the two games this year v Memphis they haven’t looked good at all.
Just a sloppy and lazy defensive effort and once again Bud making some puzzling and questionable decisions (zone defense).
Memphis has a different strategy than many teams against Bud's defense. Instead of trying to go all the way to the rim, they shoot wide-open shots from 12-15 feet. They make it a FT shooting contest. They didn't shoot particularly well from 3, but they killed the Bucks from that range and on put-backs against the zone when the Bucks don't get a body on anyone to box out.
Watching Philly the other night I was really impressed with their defense against the Clippers. Kawhi was on the bench but they didn't' give anything cheap to the Clippers. I just don't see the defensive intensity that we did in the past. I know Middleton gets credit at times for his defense but there are times when he looks overmatched athletically.
If the Bucks would have had this group of players the two previous years, they'd have at least one title. Just putting Holiday in place of Bledsoe during the 2019 Raptors series would have gotten them over the hump. I'm not sure about 2020, given that Giannis eventually got dinged up, but I think they at least get past the Heat with this group.
The problem now isn't that the Bucks haven't gotten better, they clearly have. For the most part, they don't have any area that you look at and know they are going to have trouble because of a specific player (Bledsoe or Ilyasova/Miritic in previous years). They have all the pieces. It's just that the Nets and Sixers have much better talent and/or coaching than they did in the past. I'm not sold on Simmons in a playoff series, but if Embiid's healthy they are obviously a tough out. The Nets may be the best collection of offensive talent in NBA history. Certainly, they have the best shooting talent of any previous team other than the Curry/Klay/Durant Warriors.
Even with the Nets and Sixers being better, the Bucks have a puncher's chance against anyone. For them to win, Giannis will have to average 35/15/8 and Middleton will have to be better than he has the last month. If that happens, it will come down to scheme and matchups. Can Bud hold up his end? I think Spoelstra and Stevens are likely to get the better of him, but it's not like Doc Rivers or Steve Nash are some coaching savants in terms of Xs and Os.
I'll need to keep this in mind during the playoffs when the likely disappointment comes. The Bucks are better suited for playoff basketball than they were before, but it still might not be enough.
Middleton just looks tired and sluggish at the moment. Rewatched some of the game and he was late or beaten on a number of possessions.
Holiday and Giannis and Portis have had a break somewhat given C19 or injuries so they haven’t logged as many minutes. Maybe he needs a break.
As for the playoffs, until Philly can actually come through when it matters I wouldn’t trust them. Embiid staying healthy is almost a 50/50 proposition. The Nets have a lot of firepower, but can they get stops when the shots aren’t falling?
I’m not as scared of the Nets. Maybe that’s foolish, but they’re not going to defend the Bucks and if you look at Lopez’s numbers against Brooklyn, you get the sense that the Bucks present big matchup issues for them beyond Giannis.
But again- toss the regular season out in the playoffs. Nothing you see there matters. And that’s just where I am concerned. Do the Bucks play a smart brand of basketball? High execution? If the playoffs are about iso, are the Bucks good at iso? Maybe that’s why they’re playing this way... they need to just keep going at it and get accustomed to the varying scenarios they’re going to see. Taking their lumps now so they’re ready when the playoffs are 95% 2-man P&R and iso.