Game 81: Bucks at Thunder - 4/12/24 - 7:00- OTA - Dame Doubtful, Green Out

[MickeyDavis]

The penultimate game of the ridiculously long season. Full strength Bucks whipped full strength Thunder last month. We obviously are not full strength for this one. Everyone but Giannis expected to play.

Important game for OKC. They are unlikely to get the one seed. The are 1 game behind Denver and have the tiebreaker but Denver closes with the Spurs and Grizzlies. They are tied with Minnesota for 2/3. Bottom line is OKC needs this game to have a shot at 2.

As for the Bucks a win clinches #2. Lose the last 2 and we could drop to 3 or 4. 5-7 are up in the air so no point in hoping for a loss to avoid XXX because XXX is unknown.

This will be a tough one to win without Giannis.

Go Bucks.

[chonestown]

a good nick name for Josh "Giddey" would be the Oklahoma City Player from Australia feel free to use no big deal

[tydett]

OKC going to want some big time revenge in their house. Will our guys show up to play? Would ease some tension around here if Dame has another nice game.

[steger_3434]

I’m doing whatever I need to do to avoid Philly. I don’t care what anyone says. Philly with Embiid is a top 3 seed. wtf would anyone want to play a conference finals matchup before the conference finals. Lebron made a million nba finals because for 2 decades the East was a complete joke but no one cares that his path was basically a first round matchup through the playoffs every year.


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[sidney lanier]

I’m doing whatever I need to do to avoid Philly. I don’t care what anyone says. Philly with Embiid is a top 3 seed. wtf would anyone want to play a conference finals matchup before the conference finals. Lebron made a million nba finals because for 2 decades the East was a complete joke but no one cares that his path was basically a first round matchup through the playoffs every year.

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Luck of the draw, and you're right, no one cares. No one cares that John Wooden's UCLA Bruins benefited from the way the tournament used to be run, with teams staying in their true geographical region, so a win or two against the likes of Weber State meant Final Four time for them. No one will care if we catch some seeding breaks, either, or especially if we don't.

And speaking of Weber State, how about their most celebrated alumnus going for about 40 tomorrow night and leading the Bucks to a 120-104 victory.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Easiest way to avoid Philly is to win one more and hope Philly is as good as we think they are and wins out. They would be sixth.

[Dick Tate]

I’m doing whatever I need to do to avoid Philly. I don’t care what anyone says. Philly with Embiid is a top 3 seed. wtf would anyone want to play a conference finals matchup before the conference finals. Lebron made a million nba finals because for 2 decades the East was a complete joke but no one cares that his path was basically a first round matchup through the playoffs every year.

Where on your dart board does Philly finish?

[MickeyDavis]

Green out, Dame doubtful

[HKPackFan]

Easiest way to avoid Philly is to win one more and hope Philly is as good as we think they are and wins out. They would be sixth.

Agreed I think they finish 6th.

Don't fall to 3rd.

[HKPackFan]

Green out, Dame doubtful

Then pull khris. No use 40 minutes of khris without dame or giannis.

If try want khris to get some run gearing up for the playoffs fine but no need to overheat that engine.

[Prez]

If Dame is doubtful you might as well sit all the vets. You’re not beating healthy OKC (with a reason to actually try) in their building without Giannis/Dame anyways, might as well buy a game of rest for Brook, Khris, PatBev, Bobby, etc.

[Frank Nova]

Green out, Dame doubtful

Then pull khris. No use 40 minutes of khris without dame or giannis.

If try want khris to get some run gearing up for the playoffs fine but no need to overheat that engine.

Magic number is 1 with 2 games left. If you’re going to sit Dame against a top team in the west you might as well punt it all together and just hope for something crazy to happen to win. With how delicate the Khris situation has been all season, there’s no reason to play him at all really. Gear up to go to Orlando with ‘everyone healthy’ for a nice tune up game and try and seel up guaranteed home court in round 2.

Bev is banged up too, I’d sit him and anyone else that’s ailing <75%.

[blazza18]

Punt game

[BigO]

So Starting five is:

AJJ
Livingston
TyTy
Thanasis
Galinari

with Marjon as the super sub and Beasley when you need defense

[MickeyDavis]

I'd give Bobby the night off too. He's missed NO games. Maybe he wants to play all 82, which is cool. Trot him out there for a few minutes and then sit him.

[theFireBlanket]

Are they conceding the #2 seed?

[MickeyDavis]

Are they conceding the #2 seed?

Why would they do that? Dame's injury is legit. Health comes before anything else. With Giannis also out against a healthy team that's 31-8 at home the smart thing is to punt and go get #2 on Sunday. Beat the Magic and that likely pushes them to 7. Drop to 3 and there's a good chance you get Philly. But those seeds can end up a number of different ways. Dropping down on purpose makes no sense.

[Plossum]

I’d be resting everyone for this one and see where the chips fall for the final game in Orlando. If we don’t need to win that to get a 2/3 seed then punt it too.

[skbucks1985]

I’d be resting everyone for this one and see where the chips fall for the final game in Orlando. If we don’t need to win that to get a 2/3 seed then punt it too.

If the Knicks had lost tonight I think there'd be a better argument for that. But with their win tonight you have to assume the Knicks win out with home games against Brooklyn (even if it is a b2b) and a nothing to play for Bulls team. In which case the Bucks are going almost definitely going to have to win 1 of the next 2.

Which is not to say they should throw caution to the wind and just go full throttle without any concern to injury worries. But, they've got 2 shots at this and I don't think they should punt one of them. Especially since as good as the Thunder are and they do matchup better with the Bucks without Giannis, I still think this is a bad matchup for the Thunder.

[MickeyDavis]

Dame has a groin injury, it's been lingering. Even though we have 6-7 days off he should not play tomorrow night. It's a balance. I'd love 2 rounds of home court given our road record this year (and no I'm not assuming a first round win).