Sixers at Bucks, March 14th. Middleton out again.

Beverly starting in place of Beasley.

Beasley is 12 for his last 42 from three. If he can't hit shots, you might as well have Beverly miss the same open shots and given them a better a chance on defense.

Maxey attacks Lopez in drop first two possessions.

6-0 Sixers

Bucks down 15-14 halfway through the first.

Hit shots to start, but Philly is forcing the ball out of Giannis' hands and, if you are playing Crowder and Beverly it's like you are playing 3 on 5 on offense.

Another pathetic effort so far by the Bucks. Down 29-24 after one to the Embiid-less Sixers.

Having to play lineups with Crowder, Beverly, and AJ Green isn't conducive to being a real contender. None of those guys should be playing rotation minutes for a good team.

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

Another pathetic effort so far by the Bucks. Down 29-24 after one to the Embiid-less Sixers.

Having to play lineups with Crowder, Beverly, and AJ Green isn't conducive to being a real contender. None of those guys should be playing rotation minutes for a good team.

And then the next guy in is Gallinari who shouldn't be playing for a G league team right now.

Giannis gets hammered - no call.

The Bucks look as bad right now as they did with Griffin.

Down 10 to a Sixer team that is 10-21 without Embiid.

Disjointed offense. Terrible defense.

The body language right now, just like in Sacramento, was of a team that doesn't believe they are very good.

Of course, when your 8-man rotation includes Gallinari, Crowder, AJ Green, and Beverly, you are going to suck.

Cam Payne is killing them.

Reed has fouled Giannis about 8 time and they've called 2 and he's now complaining.

Giannis clanking FTs now too.

Typical Nick Nurse game. Dirty, physical play that you just keep doing until the officials feel like they can't call everything.

Pathetic end to the half as Lillard half-asses it (as he does a lot). Gives up an easy putback at the end.

Down 8.

Giannis at 14-5-4.

Everyone else pretty much sucked.

Bucks down 3 after the 3rd.

Giannis at 19-11-7.

Maxey is completely dominating Dame. Dame with another terrible outing.

Bucks go on a run and now lead 96-90. Run lead by AJ Green - I'm not sure he can play playoff minutes, but he's a much better option than Gallinari at this point and at least Doc has given him those minutes.

37.7 seconds left. Bucks by 5.

Lopez hit a big 3 with 1 minute left. But they always gotta make it interesting 🤦‍♂️

20.9 left....Giannis 12/16 FTs and at the line again....

14/18 now

Bucks win 😎 Hooray!

Bucks pull away for a nice win against a undermanned team.

Giannis ends with 32-11-7

AJ Green held up really well in the 4th. Played the entire quarter.

I love going back and reading the thread after a Bucks win.

@MichiganPacker2 with the "disgusted" posts

They needed this home game - undermanned Sixers or not IDGAF....they got the win. Onward...

@Boris posted:

I love going back and reading the thread after a Bucks win.

@MichiganPacker2 with the "disgusted" posts

I come from a family with a lot of basketball coaches. My father, two brothers, an uncle, and two sisters-in-law have coached high school basketball at some point. I have multiple relatives who played college basketball (mostly D3, but one D1). We all played in high school. After many games we'd watch the game (videotape in the old days) tape. There was never any criticism for missing a shot or having a guy beat you on defense with a good move. What there was criticism for is half-assing it (not boxing out, not at least running up the floor on a breakaway in case a guy misses a layup so you can follow it up). I understand these guys have to conserve themselves and not dive on the floor constantly, but at least do the minimum. I know it's old school, but if you are on the court, at least put out minimal effort.

The play that irritated me last night was the end of the first half. The shot goes up with 3 seconds left and Dame is in the lane and just stands there and watches the ball come off up short and allows a guy to run by him from 10 feet farther out for an easy putback right before the buzzer. If he even turns around and tries to box out halfheartedly, he prevents the putback.

@Boris posted:

They needed this home game - undermanned Sixers or not IDGAF....they got the win. Onward...

The biggest takeaway from this game wasn't the win (although that was needed).

It was that AJ Green played major minutes in the 4th and held up very well on defense. He's never going to be Jrue Holiday, but he offers much more resistance than some of their other options and he really spaces the floor for them on offense.

What was impressive is that he struggled somewhat on defense in the first half and then really bore down and made the Sixers work when they tried to iso him the 4th. Very impressive. If he can play playoff minutes it might allow Middleton to play 30 minutes instead of 40 to be competitive with teams like the Celtics or Cavs (or to play some of Lopez' minutes in the 4th against good teams). Lopez gets played off the floor in many of those matchups and you need another rotation who can hit shots on offense and not give up wide open 15 foot jumpers in drop defense to Tatum, Brown, Butler, etc. to play with Dame, Giannis, Middleton, and Connaughton/Portis.

You don't expect Green to shut down Tatum, Brown, Butler, D. Mitchell, or Haliburton in playoff games. He just has to make them work to hit contested shots. Maybe he can do that.

Green has good size at 6’4” and he’s shooting 41% from 3 on the season.   He’s good enough offensively to play in spot duty the only question is he can at least mak an effort defensively?