Bucks down 15-9 early.
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Bucks cold from 3pt range but have a point lead at half. Dame has done literally nothing in this game so far.
Miami just absolutely destroyed Cleveland today.
Only a game now separating 3-6 seeds.
OKC is a decent team but Milwaukee is killing them on the glass. If the Bucks shot close to their season average they’d be up by 30.
Giannis gets a 10 second violation on a FT attempt.
It's idiotic to make this even close. Just shot the damn ball.
Bucks up 18 going to the 4th, despite Dame being 1 for 9 for 2 points.
Bucks are really dominating OKC in the rebounding column.
Kha$h missed that ridiculous 3 as shot clock was running down, rebound, swing it to Dame .....swish. Beautiful. I could just cry it's so beautiful
Giannis draws the foul after giving the Bucks a 25 point lead.
Bucks up 21 with 4 minutes left. Time for Giannis to sit.
What a cool play Kha$h with the Alley-Oop to Giannis for the thunderous splash.
Good stuff
Statement win?? 🤔
Best win of the year. Dominant defense. Dame didn't even play well and they won by 25.
Giannis with 30-19-4 on 73% shooting.
Middleton with an 11-10-10 triple double
Bucks were +20 in rebounding and +13 in assists. While they didn’t shoot the ball well if you move the ball around and get an extra 20 possessions (rebounds) you will beat pretty much anyone.
They won by 25 but honestly it felt like they won by 40+. Just a complete beatdown.
This isn’t a good sign for OKC if they end up playing Denver or Minnesota.
This IS a good sign for our heroes from the Deer 🦌 District 😁
....and the NBA got a glimpse of the big 3.
Khris Middleton makes the Bucks scary
Belt 2 A$$ continues….. @PatBevPod
— Patrick Beverley (@patbev21) March 25, 2024
SUPER BELT ✌️ A$$ TONIGHT pic.twitter.com/hyRrcLHen1
— Pat Bev Pod (@PatBevPod) March 25, 2024
Putting a beat down on the top team in the west on a night when Dame shot 4 for 12 and KM scored 11 points (albeit in his second career triple-double) should serve as a warning to the rest of the NBA. Two of our three next offensive players had off nights, and we crushed the Thunder by 25.
That has a smile on my face.
I would not count out a team like Milwaukee.
They beat the NYK in NY by 20 right before Christmas. They have two 3 point losses against Boston in Boston and they demolished the Celtics at home in January. They’ve crushed Denver and Phoenix and OKC at home and won games in Minnesota and against the Clippers in LA.
Some of these games were without Giannis or without the Big 3.
If Middleton can stay healthy, it’s idiotic to think they can’t compete with Boston or any other decent team in a 7 game series.
@Boris posted:This IS a good sign for our heroes from the Deer 🦌 District 😁
....and the NBA got a glimpse of the big 3.
Khris Middleton makes the Bucks scary
If Middleton is dinged up - which he has been for large parts of the last three seasons - then the Celtics will probably roll in any series and it would take Giannis and/or Dame going for 40 in some games to win any series. That's possible, but not probably as a way to win 4 games.
If Middleton is healthy and plays like 2021 playoff Middleton, the Bucks might be the team to beat in the East no matter what the Celtics record is. A healthy Middleton really is a economy version of Kevin Durant (and it's a lot closer than you'd think statistics wise).
Middleton - 74 career playoff games- averages 20/6/5 per game on 44/40/86 shooting splits on high volume (17 shots/game). Giannis provides some gravity, but almost every shot Middleton takes in the playoffs is a contested jumper.
Kevin Durant has played 166 playoff games, and averaged 29/8/4 per game on 48/36/87 shooting splits on even higher volume (21 shots/game). He's a top 10-12 player all-time, Middleton compares very favorably with his shooting splits.
It's even more interesting if you take out the 48 playoff games Durant played next to two of the other top 10 shooters of all time while on the Warriors. Durant's shooting splits in those games were 51/40/90. Those Steph/Klay/KD teams were probably the best offensive team of all time. Three guys you can't let shoot playing on the same team. KD got a lot of open looks with Golden State.
If you take out those 48 Warriors playoff games, KD has played 118 playoff games. His per game averages are around 30 points per game, but his shooting splits drop to 46/34/86, with an effective FG% below Middleton's (the 40% from three versus KD's 34% make a difference). It's not like Durant was on teams with no other talent either. He played with two other HOFers on the Thunder (Westbrook and Harden), the Nets (Kyrie and Harden), and Suns (Booker and Paul in 2023).
Middleton tends to be a polarizing player for Bucks' fans, but the guy is a borderline HOF player. If he can play 35 minutes a game and move laterally like he has the last two games, the Bucks are better than the Celtics (assuming Giannis and Dame are healthy). If he's limited, the Bucks probably aren't going to win against Boston. That's probably what the post-season will come down to.
Middleton is important in the playoffs for a few reasons. First and most important, he’s an efficient shooter and scorer. He’s a career 39% from 3 guy and he’s got a really good midrange jumper.
The other critical piece is in crunch time he’s a bucket getter and given he is so good at the FT line (nearly 90%) you don’t need to sub him out and if you are the opposing team you really can’t foul him.
The last part is while he’s not as good defensively as in the past he has good size and length to at least challenge bigger or taller wing players.
To beat a team like Boston in a 7 game series you need to have enough firepower to keep up and with Middleton they certainly do. He’s also good enough offensively that a Tatum or Brown will have to work defensively or Middleton can torch you.
That’s the thing with Boston. In most games the other team can’t throw 3-4 guys out there at a time that can consistently shoot and score. The Bucks can do that, which means pretty much all of the Boston starters have to play on both ends of the court.
Forgot to also mention that as good as Porzingis has been if Giannis ends up guarding him it will be tough sledding.
@Tschmack posted:Forgot to also mention that as good as Porzingis has been if Giannis ends up guarding him it will be tough sledding.
And, more importantly, Giannis will eat him alive if Porzingis has to cover him.
Speaking of the Celtics, they blew a 30 point lead tonight and lost to Atlanta. They’ve lost several games like that this season. Punch them hard in the mouth and they’ll wilt when it counts.
Boston has had some difficulty putting certain teams away this season.
A big reason is later in games they tend to get complacent and lazy and assume that the 3pt shot will fall. Guys stand around and make it easier on the defense.
@MichiganPacker2 posted:And, more importantly, Giannis will eat him alive if Porzingis has to cover him.
🤫.....you'll ruin the surprise 
@Tschmack posted:Boston has had some difficulty putting certain teams away this season.
A big reason is later in games they tend to get complacent and lazy and assume that the 3pt shot will fall. Guys stand around and make it easier on the defense.
Jayson Tatum will have to win them games if it's close in the clutch. I think he can do it, but until he proves it it's not a sure thing.
Jaylen Brown is a great player, but he gets really tight in clutch spots - both at the FT line and in ballhandling.
Except for a 3 minute stretch in Game 7 of the 2021 Nets playoff series (where he hit some of the biggest 3-4 shots in Bucks history), Jrue might be one of the worst playoff shooters in NBA history. He was a high volume shooter with the Bucks with shooting splits of 39.6/30.4/75.0.