Think free throws were important this game ?
They need a basket and they couldn’t even get a ****ing shot up.
OMG now it's off of Brogdon?
Sometimes the gods just don't play fair.
This team is just not ready to make the next step
Wilting under pressure
Gasol vs Lopez
Leonard vs Giannis
Mirotic vs Siakam
Bledsoe vs Lowry
Ersan vs Ibaka
Brogdon vs Powell/Van Vleet
Middleton vs anybody
Did the Bucks win one matchup tonight ??
That’s just shit execution by the Bucks. Can’t even intentionally foul. They shit down their pants the last 2 minutes.
Self inflicted loss.
Someone needs to explain to me how Toronto has 10 more FT attempts in this game.
Then Middleton airballs it
Nice job Bucks. You are one game away from making history. Only 4% of playoffs teams have lost their series up 2-0. Bucks are on the verge of joining that sad fraternity.
Wow.
Three straight losses. Are they going to gun for 4?
There’s nothing self inflicted about it
Toronto outplayed them once again in all facets of the game. Credit to them. Bucks deserved to lose
The team that deserved to win did.
The Bucks were 13-18 from the line. Giannis was 4-9.
Mirotic was terrible. Just awful. Embarrassingly bad.
Giannis comes out of an Eastern conference finals game with less than a minute? And then they give up a killer offensive rebound with him on the bench? WTF was Bud thinking?
The Raptors had 5 offensive rebounds in the 4th quarter.
The better coached, more poised team won.
They were not ready for prime time and Kawhi showed why regular season MVP awards don't mean much when you get to the playoffs. He is a HOFer and has proved it before. Giannis may get where Kawhi is, but not unless he learns to shoot.
The Bucks are likely to get blown out on Saturday night, but winning two in a row and getting to Finals after this 3 game collapse on offense would be epic.
They really stink right now. Bill Michaels thought they were going to win it in five games. 
It’s tough to watch, it really is. Toronto figured out that Giannis is his own worst enemy. He’s so driven he refuses to adjust his game.
The last 3 games the Bucks played right into their hands. Toronto is proving to be the smarter team. They’re handling the pressure better. And they have the better star player. Until Giannis makes adjustments to his game, he’s not better than Leonard.
And where the **** was Middleton? Giannis will get a lot of unfair criticism but our so called 2nd best player had 6 points? Are you kidding me?
Bucks choked. Pure and simple. It isn’t impossible to win the next two game but the Bucks may need a miracle at this point to do it
How the *$#@ does Giannis only take 9 shots from the line!?!?!?!?!? He needed to get his mother ****ing self to the line 15 plus times. WTF!?!?!?!?!?! Toronto willed him to go to the line.
Maybe if the officials actually called a goddamn foul on him he’d get to the line 15 times+
They look at Lowry wrong and he’s on the line. Giannis gets hammered constantly and nothing.
ChilliJon posted:How the *$#@ does Giannis only take 9 shots from the line!?!?!?!?!? He needed to get his mother ****ing self to the line 15 plus times. WTF!?!?!?!?!?! Toronto willed him to go to the line.
I guess Giannis needs to ask Leonard.
(And did Leonard ever commit A LOT of uncalled fouls.)
This has been a great season that wildly exceeded expectations that will likely end in a 4-2 loss in the Easter Conference finals. If you have asked any of us before the season if we'd take that, we'd have all said yes.
I'd like to see them at least push the Raptors in Game 6, but I think it will be about a 15 to 20 point loss. The Raptors figured out how to defend them and, more importantly, have the players to execute it - and the Bucks know it. The Raptors have two former NBA defensive players of the year (Kawhi and M. Gasol) and Serge Ibaka (a 3 time 1st team All-NBA defensive player). They have three outstanding paint defending guys to bother Giannis (not to mention Siakam). They just have to prevent Middleton from going off and let Bledsoe shoot all day long.
Totally disagree. Giannis looks like he wants no part of going to the line. Those airballs from the line are clearly ****ing with him. And he needs to get the **** over it really, really fast.
The Bucks really don't have any adjustments they can make. Mirotic is unplayable at this point and the offense is so bothered by terrible spacing that they can't put in DJ Wilson to clog it up even more.
Maybe more Pat Connaughton?
I think Mirotic may have played his last minutes in Milwaukee. He's 6 for 31 this series from 3 and sometimes makes Jabari Parker look more effective on defense.
ChilliJon posted:Totally disagree. Giannis looks like he wants no part of going to the line. Those airballs from the line are clearly ****ing with him. And he needs to get the **** over it really, really fast.
It's probably going to take an offseason to do it. He looked more comfortable at the 3 point line than at the FT line tonight. He also airballed a 10 footer in the lane tonight.
phaedrus posted:ChilliJon posted:How the *$#@ does Giannis only take 9 shots from the line!?!?!?!?!? He needed to get his mother ****ing self to the line 15 plus times. WTF!?!?!?!?!?! Toronto willed him to go to the line.
I guess Giannis needs to ask Leonard.
(And did Leonard ever commit A LOT of uncalled fouls.)
I disagree. Kawhi is in Giannis' head. He's intimidated and, for the first time in a year, he's not able to just use his superior athletic ability to overcome something. Giannis' box scores are deceptively good. The eye test shows he's struggling. The Bucks need him to be LeBron to advance and he's become just another good player in this series.
Fred Van Vleet had greater impact than Middleton, Brogdon, Bledsoe, etc...
Bottom line is our "Big 3" was a no show tonight.
Some how I'm no longer worried about who we need to re-sign in the offseason
Packdog posted:Fred Van Vleet had greater impact than Middleton, Brogdon, Bledsoe, etc...
Bottom line is our "Big 3" was a no show tonight.
Some how I'm no longer worried about who we need to re-sign in the offseason
Van Vliet took 9 three point shots and made 7. They were almost all wide open shots.
Giannis was 2 for 3 from the three point line. The rest of the team was 8 for 28 from three.
The Bucks are a great defensive team with one guy who you'd say is better than average at getting and hitting his own shot from outside (Middleton and he was 2-9 tonight). Their other good outside shooters (Brogdon, Mirotic, Hill, Ilyasova, and Lopez) are catch and shoot guys entirely dependent on Giannis dominating inside to get them good looks. He's been average at best and a lot of those guys now look like the good, but not great, players they've been for most of their careers.
Packdog posted:Fred Van Vleet had greater impact than Middleton, Brogdon, Bledsoe, etc...
Bottom line is our "Big 3" was a no show tonight.
Some how I'm no longer worried about who we need to re-sign in the offseason
They need to let Mirotic go. I am only half joking when I'd say don't even dress him for Game 6. He was worth the risk of giving up almost nothing of value (Thon Maker), but he's shown he's probably the type of player that can hit shots playing out the string for a crappy team like the Bulls, but not when it's important.
The rest of the team I think you probably still bring back if you can. You are not getting anybody better and no star free agent player is going to come to the Bucks. Middleton for all his faults is probably the best you'll do.
The improvement has to come from Giannis' outside shot. They have to be able to give him the ball in close games like this and let him create his own shot. The problem is that unless he gets all the way to the rim, he's not going to hit the contested 10-15 footers consistently enough to win with. Middleton has to be the guy to do this.
Just as an aside: The Raptors attempted 12 fewer shots in the paint tonight but had 13 more FT attempts.
Just as another aside and to get Tschmack going : The Raptors will improve to 21-1 with Tony Brothers and Marc Davis officiating.
Packdog posted:Just as an aside: The Raptors attempted 12 fewer shots in the paint tonight but had 13 more FT attempts.
Just as another aside and to get Tschmack going : The Raptors will improve to 21-1 with Tony Brothers and Marc Davis officiating.
I scream about the officiating as much as anyone, but the Bucks lost tonight because their "supporting cast" was 8 for 28 from the line and they executed poorly in the last 2 minutes. All the other stuff is just excuses.
The Bucks were down 96-95 with 2 minutes left and Kawhi missed a 3, but got his own rebound and ended up getting fouled and hitting both FTs. The ensuing offensive possession, Giannis drove and kicked out to a guard who had no one within 8 feet of him at the 3 point line - the problem was it was Bledsoe - CLANK was the result. After Kawhi hit 1 of 2 from the line, the Bucks run a great offensive set and get a Middleton layup to cut it to 2. Kawhi misses but Gasol gets an offensive rebound and hits 1 of 2 to go up 3. Then Malcolm Brogdon dribbles the ball off his foot and that was essentially the game.
They gave up two offensive rebounds, missed a wide open 3, and had one of the worst turnovers you'll ever see at the end of a game like this. A lot of this was on Bud. Why was Giannis sitting at the scorers table when Gasol got the offensive rebound? I know he had tweaked his ankle, but call a timeout and get your best player on the floor in a crucial possession (they ended the game with on unused timeout). The Bucks got an open shot for Bledsoe to tie it - he's the last guy on the floor you want shooting that which was why he was so open. And then, your lose your final chance when you let your 4th best one on one player try to take a guy off the dribble. Give Giannis the ****ing ball and let him go after it. Or give it to Middleton. Run a pick and roll action. Let Bledsoe drive. Use your players to their strengths to optimize their chance.
Bud was bad tonight too. The last two minutes didn't make a lot of sense (except for the Middleton isolation) and the game was won by Kawhi Leonard getting switched onto Lopez about 4 possessions in a row and going off for 8 points in about 90 seconds. They basically hunted Lopez in those possessions and got him switched onto Kawhi.
Granted, Van Vliet made Nurse look good, but Nurse put his guys in a better position to succeed more often than Bud did tonight.
Onto Game 6. Bucks are still two wins away from the NBA Finals and have lost a game in Double OT and a game in which they were tied with 2 minutes left. Almost no single player played up to their offensive capabilities in the last 3 games. Fred Van Vliet has been unconscious. That has to end some time.
The Bucks defense should keep them from getting blown out of any game.
Giannis is so confused by Kawhi blanketing him, and so frustrated by the hammering he's taking as part of playoff basketball, that right now he couldn't even properly spell his own name.
This is his sixth year in the league and the fourth time the Bucks are in the playoffs, and although he's only 24, it's disappointing he's still not quite ready for prime time. And Giannis' prime will be a whole lot shorter if he doesn't develop an outside jump shot; Father Time takes the legs away first, and even Jordan learned the benefits of the jumper.
Kawhi cant guard Giannis by himself, while he's certainly a very good defender the Raptors are always doubling and even tripling him. Their collapse defense has been very good.
Ultimately you have to give Nurse some credit. The Raptors are playing better team defense and doing a better job on the glass. On offense it seems they are able to create uncontested looks at a high rate.....and unlike the Bucks, they're knocking em down.
Bucks really have to look in the mirror. They played such good team basketball all year getting contribution from multiple contributors on a nightly basis. Now they just look like a team with a flawed star player and weak hearted role players.
Well, I am just really discouraged.
3 straight losses. Had the Bucks lost 3 straight all year?
Wow...
https://bleacherreport.com/art...i-is-taking-the-east
After the Raptors went down 2-0, coach Nick Nurse made the decision to put Leonard on Giannis for more individual possessions. In Games 3 and 4, he defended the MVP candidate for 75 possessions. Giannis was 5-of-19 and the Bucks only scored 66 points on those possessions, per NBA.com.
And this isn't new. According to ESPN's Kirk Goldsberry, Leonard has been Giannis' Achilles' heel for a while:
Giannis Points Per 100 by Defender (min. 100 matchups):
1. Kawhi Leonard ... 15.9
2. Blake Griffin ........ 31.2
3. Marvin Williams .. 31.7
4. Pascal Siakam ... 33.2
5. Noah Vonleh ...... 36.3
6. Thad Young ....... 37.1
7. Al Horford .......... 40.6
8. Joel Embiid ....... 51.0
The Raptors have been playing out of their minds the last 2 games and have all the momentum in their favor. Van Vleet was 7-9 from 3 for cripes sake.
It’s been a very close series. Each team had a blowout win, each team had a close come from behind win, and Toronto won a double OT game. The Raptors have a road win under their belt, but the Bucks have been solid on the road themselves and now they must do it.
In the end, it’s the old adage you live and die by the outside shot. Right now the Bucks are not hitting their outside shots. Some credit needs to go to the Raptors defense, but guys need to step up and get buckets. Namely Middleton and Mirotic.
Bledsoe played better but was still 2-7 from 3 including several open looks. Obviously he and Bud didn’t get the memo and why is he the one taking the shot toward the end?
Again, Giannis is the star and will get all the credit and all the blame but the reality is in this series the only guys that have held up their end of the bargain are Brogdon and Hill and to a lesser extent Lopez. You cannot beat good teams in the playoffs with a 1/3 of your roster playing well.
Not expecting them to win on Saturday but who knows? Maybe now the pressure is actually off so they will play a little more loose.
hey, its not over until its over. that's coming from a Canadian. don't beat them up too bad, they just did not finish, they were beating the crap out of TO in the first little bit...need to dial it up the rest of the way.
Toronto is a solid team but we’ve not seen the Bucks play this poorly in a 2-3 game stretch all year. The half glass full side of me thinks they are due for a breakout game (especially Middleton and Mirotic) but the half glass empty side of me thinks their confidence is shot and it’s over.
History is on their side if they can find a way to win game 6. In the NBA the home team has won 79% of the time in game 7s. They just need to find a way to get there.
Agree the Bucks looked determined in the early minutes, Bledsoe looked like he might redeem himself in this game. It was pretty even at half. Toronto did a great job of moving the ball around quickly and finding/hitting open shots on the outside, something the Bucks haven't been able to keep up with and defend going back to game 3. As others have said, this team is dependent on Giannis being successful inside to take the pressure off. Unfortunately he's showing to be very one dimensional at this point. At some point he has to be able to pull up and hit a jumper (not the 3 pointers) rather than trying to blow through 4 defenders only to wind up rolling out of bounds under the basket. It's starting to look outright silly. When he can get home it's sensational, but right now his determination and fire is working to his own demise. Hopefully he'll eventually develop another shot but I think the Raptors have his number right now.