No LeBron tonight. It's still early, but the Bucks need to start winning some games.
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End of first. Bucks down 32-30.
Giannis with 17. +3 in his 9 minutes, -5 in the two he sat.
Bucks up 1 in the second. Man, has Ojeleye looked terrible. He just missed a wide open dunk.
Bucks up 11 at the half.
Portis with 17, Giannis with 28-5-2 in 17 minutes. Anthony Davis, with one exception of a block, wants no part of Giannis on defense.
Middleton being back makes a gigantic difference. They can sit Giannis and still generate good looks on offense.
Was watching the ESPN pregame where those clowns were discussing who the best player in the league is. Not one word about Giannis. Maybe he was watching.
Hope he drops 60 tonight. He’s almost halfway there.
@ilcuqui posted:Was watching the ESPN pregame where those clowns were discussing who the best player in the league is. Not one word about Giannis. Maybe he was watching.
Hope he drops 60 tonight. He’s almost halfway there.
The only guy that should be mentioned in front of Giannis right now is Kevin Durant. Curry is great, but he is obviously not a difference-maker on defense. Would you trade Giannis for Jokic? Of course not.
Ojeleye continues to just stink up the place. Bucks only up 4 right now. Should be more.
Bucks now only up 1 despite Giannis going for 35 with 4 minutes left in the 3rd.
Lakers zone defense has completely taken away the Bucks offense. Now down 1.
Ojeleye now 0 for 6.
Holiday with another terrible night from the floor. He's now 3 for his last 22 from the three point line.
Bucks up 6 and Holiday gets picked at the halfcourt line for a jumpball with less than a minute left. Really awful game for him tonight.
3 for 13 with 5 turnover
Giannis closes it out at the line.
47-9-3.
Even with that, they'd have lost without Middleton tonight. He was only 4 for 12, but he can get them good looks when Giannis sits. It was huge.
Giannis looking really good on the free throws down the stretch. One bounce. Nice.
If I was Budenholzer, I would issue a $15,000 fine to each player that dribbles the ball into the front court and shoots the first shot they see. 0 pass possessions are friggin maddening…
@MichiganPacker2 posted:Holiday with another terrible night from the floor. He's now 3 for his last 22 from the three point line.
I didn’t watch every second of the game, but the parts I did, Jrue was pretty terrible. Hopefully he’s pacing himself a bit, but he looked pretty low energy and sloppy most of the night. Hopefully he can get his energy back for games they need it. Tonight they got away with an off night from Jrue, let’s just hope these off nights don’t become normal for him.
Giannis in Championship Form Makes it Look EASY vs. Lakers
Nothing but a .500 club
Re: Jrue....his defense was there but his shot was off tonight -- it happens. It's November.
@Boris posted:Giannis in Championship Form Makes it Look EASY vs. Lakers
Nothing but a .500 club
Re: Jrue....his defense was there but his shot was off tonight -- it happens. It's November.
Just putting it out there that while I said Holiday has been playing poorly, I wouldn't trade him for many players in the NBA in terms of a fit with the BUcks. He could shoot 25% from three for the year and there'd still be relatively few players I'd trade him for in terms of who I'd want in the playoffs. He's one of the top 5 defensive guards I've ever seen (Gary Payton, Moncrief, Dennis Johnson, very few others).
He has these maddening stretches where he'll struggle to finish at the rim (he misses more layups where the ball almost goes down and spins out than almost any player I've ever seen).
The stretch that will always define Holiday for me (outside of steal-alley oop to Giannis in the Finals) was when the Bucks fell behind the Nets 96-91 with 5 minutes left in game 7 last year. Holiday had been horrible from the floor all game. At that point, he was 2 for 17 from the floor and 0 for 6 from three. The Bucks look like they are about to fold and he comes out from that timeout and over the next 4 minutes goes 3 for 4 (2 for 3 from 3), 1 for 2 from the line, and assists on 2 other baskets (a Giannis layup and a Middleton 3). That stretch was one of the most important in Bucks history and Holiday turned into Steph Curry for 4 minutes. To be that bad for an entire game and then have the cajones to pull that off is amazing.
Plus he went end line to end line on Paul, which wore him out and changed the series completely. That may have been the single most impactful part of his play the entire series.
There’s been some banter out there on Holiday for Simmons trade rumors, but not sure I would make that deal.
Simmons is an elite passer and very good defensive player but even as bad as Holiday has been he can have big nights offensively.
Holiday for Simmons? That deal has all sorts of bad mojo. Why break up a championship combination for a malcontent such as Simmons?
Holiday is respected all over the league and has already done a lot in the MKE community. Simmons hasn’t done jack shit and even isn’t defended by groupies like Stephen A. any more.
Simmons is mentally small. That doesn’t just change with a trade.
Now maybe he could find his mojo with Giannis pushing him, but I don’t even consider sacrificing Holiday for that. He has no value now with that contract. Philly isn’t getting any play because of it. And because he’s repped by Clutch, he isn’t coming to aMilwaukee to get his groove back.
@Tschmack posted:There’s been some banter out there on Holiday for Simmons trade rumors, but not sure I would make that deal.
Simmons is an elite passer and very good defensive player but even as bad as Holiday has been he can have big nights offensively.
100% no. You don't even pick up the phone on this one.
He'd be Eric Bledsoe on steroids in both positive and negative directions (albeit a better passer).
On the positive side, Simmons is a perennial DPOY the year candidate. Bledsoe was a great defender as well, but he couldn't guard the 4s like Simmons can.
On the negative side, Simmons's refusal to shoot and his lack of scoring in the halfcourt would make Bledsoe look great by comparison in that context.
Holiday sometimes struggles shooting the ball, but you still have to honor his shooting ability. He's also proven he can play well under the highest pressure moments. The Finals were one thing, but Game 7 of the Nets series was the most worn out I've ever been watching any sporting event, and Holiday came up huge at the end of regulation.
The new rumor is that the Sixers have a list of 25-30 players they'd accept in a Ben Simmons trade and it's being reported like it's big news. Morey must be getting desperate.
Let's see, I'm sure they'd take Giannis, Lillard, Anthony Davis, Doncic, Jimmy Butler, Adebayo, Durant, Harden, LeBron, Steph Curry, Paul George, Beal, Tatum, Jokic, Zion, LaVine, KA Towns, Booker, C. Paul, Donavan Mitchell, and Ja Morant. That's 21 right there.
Then, they'd probably take Middleton, Holiday, Draymond Green, Anthony Edwards, and Trae Young. That's 5 more.
Then, you'd probably move him for Julius Randle or Siakam as well.
I’m not on record saying they should trade Holiday for Simmons but I do find it interesting that rumor is out there.
Morey has been a GM a long time and has a good track record but it’s an untenable situation for the Sixers. If they get 50 cents on the dollar on a trade that would be pure luck.