Pistons at Bucks, November 13th

Pistons will be missing Jaden Ivey and Tim Hardaway Jr.

Malik Beasley going for about 35 tonight?

Portis and Rollins both scratched.

Bucks missing 3 of their top 6 guys.

It’s a great gig, play if and when you want and make millions.

I’ll tune in May.

The Bucks offense hasn't been good all year, but it is really painful to watch tonight.

Giannis, Lopez, AJ Green, D. Wright, and T. Prince to start. I think Giannis may have to score every point tonight.

@Pikes Peak posted:

It’s a great gig, play if and when you want and make millions.

I’ll tune in May.

There is no sure thing they'll be playing in May this year.

Pistons just hacking Giannis every time down court.

Bucks already down 11-8 only because Giannis is 6 for 6 from the line

Already ugly. Bucks down 14-8. They have Giannis and three other guys that are passable NBA players (Lopez, Green, and Trent Jr. (who is still hurt himself) available tonight. The rest of the available guys wouldn't beat a good G league team.

Bucks are down 24-16 after nine minutes.

Giannis has 14 points. Is 4-7 from the floor and 6 for 6 from the line.

The rest of the team is 0 for 9 from the floor. No one else can bring the ball upcourt, let alone score.

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

Bucks are down 24-16 after nine minutes.

Giannis has 14 points. Is 4-7 from the floor and 6 for 6 from the line.

The rest of the team is 0 for 9 from the floor. No one else can bring the ball upcourt, let alone score.

Giannis has 22 points at the quarter. 7 for 10 from the floor. 8 for 8 from the line. The rest of the team is 0 for 12 from the floor.

They have to rest Giannis at some point, so they take him out to start the 2nd quarter and instantly give up two turnovers on the first two possessions.

Non-Giannis Bucks tonight - 0 for 13 with 3 turnovers in 13 minutes of game time.

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

Giannis has 22 points at the quarter. 7 for 10 from the floor. 8 for 8 from the line. The rest of the team is 0 for 12 from the floor.

They have to rest Giannis at some point, so they take him out to start the 2nd quarter and instantly give up two turnovers on the first two possessions.

And two transition layups as well.

Now down 13. Giannis is 7 for 11 from the floor. Lopez is 3 for 8. The rest of the team is 1 for 15 and playing terrible defense as well.

Malik Beasley is mocking AJ Green. Laughing in his face.

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

There is no sure thing they'll be playing in May this year.

I think they made it to May 2nd last year.

Giannis has 28 at the half and can barely breathe because he has to bring the ball up, run the entire offense, and shoot every time down for any semblance of offense to happen.

They are down 13 to a Pistons team that is missing 4 of their top 8.

AJ Green might have played the worst half of basketball I have ever seen an NBA player play. 0 for 5 from the floor, multiple turnovers, and just abused on the defensive end. Delon Wright was almost as bad.

Giannis is 10 for 17 from the floor and 8 for 8 from the line. Lopez is 3 for 8. Connaughton is 2 for 7.

The rest of the team is 1 for 12 with no FT attempts.

Their defensive rotations are atrocious and they've given up multiple fast break layups.

At 3-8, what is the Bucks problem? I don’t follow the NBA all that close

Bucks can't even inbound the ball for the second half. Turnover for a wide open 3. Down 16.

I'd fire Doc just for that.

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

Bucks can't even inbound the ball for the second half. Turnover for a wide open 3. Down 16.

I'd fire Doc just for that.

Bud turned off his phone

Giannis just got yanked down by Stewart. Should be a flagrant 2 and lucky Giannis didn't get hurt worse.

Bucks come back to take the lead after three. 85-84. The flagrant 2 call was a big one and about as obvious as it gets.

Giannis is at 40-8-4 after three, but now he has to sit and rest. He's already played almost 31 minutes. Lopez is at 18-8 and is 3 for 5 from deep.

For the 5th time tonight, the Bucks get picked clean trying to bring the ball up the court without Giannis.

Down 3 with Giannis still resting. Beasley is 8 for 13 from three

Bucks had the lead to 7, but now back to 1. I'm not sure how much more Giannis has left in him. He's at 46-14-4 with 2 steals and 2 blocks with 3 minutes left.

Bucks are likely going to lose. Non-Giannis guy missing wide open 3s and layups down the stretch.

That's the way the night has gone. Bucks get Taurean Prince a wide open corner 3 with 2 seconds left and he misses it .

Giannis gets called for a terrible call with less than one second left in regulation in a tie game. Holland, a rookie, chokes on both FTs. On to OT.

I'm the only one watching, but you all missed what might be the best Giannis regular season game of all time.

59 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks.

21 for 34 from the floor, 1 for 2 from three, 16 of 17 from the line.

Lopez was massive as well (29 and 8 with 5 blocks). Trent Jr. looked good for the first time since the opener.

But, my god, what a game from Giannis. He played 43 minutes and it was a hard 43 minutes. He had to bring the ball up the court the entire last part of the 4th and OT.

I wonder what’s going on in Gianni’s’ head right about now.

Yet, with all the early problems they still won. Perseverance. Giannis willed them to win.

"Antetokounmpo recorded his ninth regular-season game in which he scored at least 50 points, and he got there in part by having his best free throw performance of the season by going 16-for-17."

Obviously not having Lillard and Middleton is a big deal but from what I gather it’s not like Detroit had a full squad either.

Giannis needing to score almost 60 for the Bucks to win in OT tells you about the state of this team.  I mean, it seems like the Pistons are better or are the Bucks just that bad?  

Giannis might be having his best season statistically.  33/12/5 with a FG% of nearly 62%.  

I see Philly lost again so their record is 2-9.  With their upcoming schedule, they could start 2-12.  As a conference, the East outside of Cleveland and Boston is pretty bad.  That’s what makes the Bucks situation really interesting.  A lot of teams right now aren’t playing well.  

Makes you wonder if the Sixers would be bold enough to blow things up.  When healthy, Embiid is a top 5-6 player in the league.   Philly also has (for now) what would be the #2 overall pick in what’s shaping up to be a really good top of the order 2025 draft class.  

@Tschmack posted:

Giannis might be having his best season statistically.  33/12/5 with a FG% of nearly 62%.  

I see Philly lost again so their record is 2-9.  With their upcoming schedule, they could start 2-12.  As a conference, the East outside of Cleveland and Boston is pretty bad.  That’s what makes the Bucks situation really interesting.  A lot of teams right now aren’t playing well.  

Makes you wonder if the Sixers would be bold enough to blow things up.  When healthy, Embiid is a top 5-6 player in the league.   Philly also has (for now) what would be the #2 overall pick in what’s shaping up to be a really good top of the order 2025 draft class.  

Somewhat paradoxically, the Bucks have played their best games in the losses to the Cavs and have been in one possession games with under 4 minutes left against the Celtics. One of the Cavs losses was on a Mitchell buzzer beater.

The Bucks are better suited to play those teams because those teams are also veteran teams that want to slow the pace down. Horford, Holiday, Porzingis (when he's back), and D. White are 4 of their top 6 and are all in their 30s. They don't want to run up and down the court all night at this point. Jarrett Allen, Sam Merrill, Levert, and Strus don't exactly want to run all night either. Lopez, Middleton (if he ever plays again), Connaughton, and Portis are not as much of liabilities against that style of play then they are against teams that want to run up and down the court every possession.

The Bucks, even as flawed as they are, would probably get to 5 or 6 games in a series against either the Cavs or the Celtics. They'd win 1 or 2 and keep the others close. The problem they have is that they are going to lose a lot of games to teams like the Bulls, Grizzlies, Nets, Hornets, etc. because those teams are young and run all night and playing a rotation of old, slow guys leaves you very vulnerable to teams with a bunch of young 20 year olds that fast break after every possession.

@lambeausouth posted:

I wonder what’s going on in Gianni’s’ head right about now.

I think if you gave him truth serum, he's probably thinking what a mistake it was to trade for Lillard. Dame is one of the best offensive guards of all-time, but he's not a good fit with Giannis. I think a lot of people were thinking it would be like adding Steph Curry to the roster. As good as Dame is, he is NOT Steph Curry. Dame is a career 37% 3 point shooter. Steph is at 43%. That's a huge difference.

If Giannis is being honest with himself, he probably realizes his comments drove the Dame trade and it was a mistake. It doesn't mean Dame is a terrible player or a bad teammate, it just didn't improve them.

The entire team got enamored with the idea that, other than 2021, their playoff runs typically ended (other than injury) because they would get 10 point leads in the 4th quarters of playoff games and then struggle to score in the halfcourt offense against good teams locking down on the defensive end. Giannis can't shoot, so teams would take away Middleton, and force the third guy to score. Lopez is typically off the floor in those situations because of other teams going small and that left Bledsoe or Holiday taking those shots. As much as we all loved Jrue, he was objectively terrible on the offensive end in almost all the playoff series (with the HUGE outlier of a 4 minute stretch of Game 7 against the Nets were he saved their title hopes).

I think everyone (including Giannis) probably felt that they just needed to get someone that can score in those 4th quarters (other than Middleton taking insanely difficult contested jumpers) and more titles would come.

If they would have just kept Jrue and Grayson Allen, they would have had the same offensive challenges in the 4th quarters of playoff games, but at least they would have gotten to those situations.