Nets At Bucks 1.2.25

Bucks trail 23-19.

Bucks are getting blown out of the building the last 6 minutes of the first. Bucks were up 13-5 and it's now 30-21 Nets. 25-8 run by the Nets.

They need to get their turds in a herd pretty quickly.

Cam Johnson and Cam Thomas are eating the Bucks alive. Down double digits.

Dame has been terrible again.

Bucks are just a pathetic joke tonight. They've trailed by 15. To a team trying to tank.

Jackson Jr. with a flagrant foul at the end of the first half. I'd eject him for it.

He is so terrible on offense, he can't afford to do idiotic shit on defense.

It was an 11 point deficit that might change into 15.

Ajax is ejected. Maybe he can just leave the building permanently? He plays good defense, but he's never going to be good enough to play in a playoff game.

Down 12 to the Nets ar half?  Are you fuckkng kidding me?

This is really, really bad. Bucks down 19 and getting absolutely embarrassed.

I'm not sure what they can do before the deadline given they are past the second apron, but it's becoming clear that they are at least player short. Jackson Jr. is a complete liability on offense, Rollins is a G leaguer for a reason, Connaughton is washed up. Green is out hurt tonight, and he'd help a little, but they are basically playing 4 on 5 tonight.

Down 24. May be time to sit some guys the entire 4th.

On track to lose 3 of 4 against mostly awful teams.  Of course this is a Doc Rivers team.  They can’t handle any modest success whatsoever.

Giannis is 1 for 7 from the line.

Just a total dud by an what appears to be an uninterested team that gave up at the half.

Dame sits, and not coincidently, the Bucks go on a 17-4 run to cut the lead to 9. They had trailed by 24 earlier in the quarter.

Dame has been beyond terrible. When you are better off playing Ryan Rollins, that's saying something.

Giannis will now rest with the Bucks down 9, we'll see if it's still single digits when he checks back in.

@Tschmack posted:

On track to lose 3 of 4 against mostly awful teams.  Of course this is a Doc Rivers team.  They can’t handle any modest success whatsoever.

Doc's not great, but he's not an idiot either. Green is out, Jackson Jr. got ejected. They are borderline rotation players on a good team, but when you have to play Ryan Rollins, Connaughton, and Taurean Prince in any meaningful minutes, no one is going to have success in a game where Dame sucks.

Giannis sits - Bucks get outscored by 10 in the first 4 minutes of the 4th.

Dame is 3 for 11 tonight after a 3 for 14 two nights ago. He still never bothers to box out and is getting bitch slapped on defense.

I'm not sure why you bother to have Giannis play the last 7 minutes when you are down 19. If you don't play him in previous games because he's banged up a little, why are you risking it in this type of game. They aren't coming back from this.

A warm bucket of piss is more worthwhile than Damian Lillard.

When he’s not taking extra days away from the team at the holiday, he’s mailing it in.

3 for 14 and 4 for 15 nights back to back. What a fucking turd.

Bucks make one of those "not-gonna-matter" runs and cut it to 10.

Dame still playing like shit.

Bucks are +5 in Giannis' 34 minutes and -15 in the 10 minutes he's sat.

Bucks now on an 18-0 run to cut it to 3.

Probably still too little too late.

Bucks got it to 1, but Giannis misses a makeable layup and that might be it. Down  3 after the FTs from the Nets.

And then Doc draws up a beautiful out of bounds play only for Dame for miss a wide open 3 to complete his shitty night.

Bad, bad loss. The late run doesn't matter. If you don't play like garbage for the first 40 minutes, you don't need that run.

And both Giannis and Dame choke on open shots in the last 30 seconds on beautifully designed plays by Doc.

Dame goes 6 for 20 following a 3 for 14. 4 for 13 from three.

Giannis goes 3 for 10 from the line and misses a layup with 10 seconds left.

@lambeausouth posted:

A warm bucket of piss is more worthwhile than Damian Lillard.

When he’s not taking extra days away from the team at the holiday, he’s mailing it in.

3 for 14 and 4 for 15 nights back to back. What a fucking turd.

He's a great offensive player, but I think he's more interested in being a celebrity at this point than being a basketball player (at least on the defensive end). When he actually tries on defense he's decent, but he acts like it's beneath him for most of the game.

I’d have to go back to a year ago, but pretty sure Dame took quite a bit of time off over the holidays and when he came back played like shit for a while until he settled back in.

I can completely understand wanting to be around family - if that’s truly the reason - but this is the life he’s chosen.  He doesn’t strike me as a guy that’s all in and it definitely shows up on the court.

@Tschmack posted:

I’d have to go back to a year ago, but pretty sure Dame took quite a bit of time off over the holidays and when he came back played like shit for a while until he settled back in.

I can completely understand wanting to be around family - if that’s truly the reason - but this is the life he’s chosen.  He doesn’t strike me as a guy that’s all in and it definitely shows up on the court.

Dame seems like a decent guy and a great teammate. He probably should have stayed in Portland, but all heard for about the last 6-8 years was that he was never going to win in Portland and it's not possible for you to have a truly great all-time legacy if you never win a title. He started hanging out with with his rapper/entertainment friends and wanted to go to Miami to live the good life and have a chance to win the title. Pat Riley miscalculated and low-balled the Blazers and they told him to pound sand. The Blazers then asked Lillard where else he'd want to be traded and he said Milwaukee or Brooklyn, figuring neither one would pull the trigger and then he'd eventually work his way back to Miami.

The trade looks like it won't result in a title (or even a deep playoff run past the second round) in Milwaukee, but they weren't going anywhere with Holiday aging into a PJ Tucker-type role on close to a max contract. So, I can't blame Horst that much for it (some of his other moves, on the other hand...)

The fallout hurt Miami badly as well, as Butler wants out since they didn't bring in another star (and now won't extend him for big money).

The trade really hasn't benefitted the Blazers much either yet. Dame's final decision on wanting out came after they drafted Scoot Henderson 3rd overall instead of trading the pick to try to get immediate help. Scoot Henderson sucks and DeAndre Ayton (which they also got as part of that trade) has an untradeable contract. They don't have any draft assets potentially worth anything (other than their own picks) until 2028-2030 when they control the Bucks' first round picks (also control the Celtics first round pick in 2029). The whole value of the trade will come down to whether the Bucks suck 5 years from now.

Oh ye of little faith

These guys are the NBA cup champs baby!!

Nothing stopping them now 😁👍🏼

I love the fact that Miami is in the situation that they are right now.  Fuck that team.  They reap what they sow.  Butler may be one of the best clutch playoff performers ever, but he’s a cancer and chemistry killer everywhere he’s gone not unlike James Harden.  

I think the Heat were setting themselves up to make a run at Giannis and when that didn’t happen they’ve been playing catch up in the East ever since.  Yes, they’ve had a couple of magical playoff runs over that span but the stars aligned for them and under typical circumstances they just aren’t that good of an overall team.  

Theoretically, the Bucks still have a chance to go far in the playoffs but they have to be healthy.  If they can get the Middleton of last years playoffs along with an 80-90% version of Dame this team can absolutely win it all.  But 34 has to be playing.   People talk all that time about how they’ve underachieved - and I would say that’s true ironically the year that Butler abused them - but in 2022 had Middleton not gone down that team probably goes back to back.   The last couple of seasons health has been a major question mark with Giannis.  

In an ideal world, they would win it all this year and then likely break up or retool the team as Brook and likely Bobby won’t be back anyway at a minimum.

Dame wants to be in Miami. Butler wants out of Miami. Make a straight up trade. So what if Butler is gone after the season, he may just bring Bucks another championship.

The problem with that trade is the Bucks lack good ball handlers.   Trading Lillard would hamper them in that regard.   The other issue is the Heat already have Herro at PG.  They would have to move Herro for that to work.  

Butler would help them in a series v Boston but they would get cooked against NYK and Cleveland.  

I don't watch much NBA and really don't understand the idea that a player is unplayable against certain teams.   I watch a lot of college basketball and have never heard an announcer or coach say a guy is unplayable against certain teams.

Leave Herro at PG and have Dame play the 2 guard. He may be better suited in that role anyway  the way you guys are critical of his ball handling and defense.

NBA players are the best of the best in the world. They should be able to play and do well against anybody.

@ammo posted:

Dame wants to be in Miami. Butler wants out of Miami. Make a straight up trade. So what if Butler is gone after the season, he may just bring Bucks another championship.

Butler can't shoot from three. You can't pair Giannis with another ball-dominant guy who is a poor shooter.

You also can't pair Dame with Herro. They would probably be the worst defensive set of starting guards since Dame played with Beasley last year.