PG Indy - GARY TRENT JR. - Big Third Quarter Cuts it to 2-1

[Siefer]

Our first half offense stunk, in part because Doc left Giannis on the bench for so long, and in part because guys were just bricking shots, but we looked much better structurally with just one more real shooter next to Giannis.

For the last two months Brook has been the second best 3pt shooter in our starting lineup. That's complete insanity. Kuzma is a subpar shooter, and Prince's percentages are vapor. If you can only get up a couple of wide open shots, defenses aren't going to worry about you, even if you hit them at a good clip.

GTJ and AJ are both better defenders than Price too. Hell, I'd rather have AJ play the 3 against Indy than Kuzma, but I guess baby steps.

I think lineups of Dame/GTJ/AJ/Giannis/Sims, and a variant with Giannis at the 5 and Bobby at the 4, smoke Indy.

[TroyD92]

Took Doc two games to make one of the most obvious changes ever. Hell yeah!

[ShootingtheJ]

Bobby's on/off this series is +36.7/100. Remember how many here wanted to dump him for nothing early in the season? Scapegoated him simply because he was being asked to carry ugly lineups? That was silliness. The people who hated on Bobby are the same ones who claim I'm biased against certain players. Nope, just want to win.

Bobby needs to be the starter. The Bucks were better with Bobby on than Brook on this year, including defensively. Then you get to the playoffs, where teams are more willing to attack Brook and play him off the floor.

[ShootingtheJ]

Took Doc two games to make one of the most obvious changes ever. Hell yeah!

Continue to celebrate this loudly, to motivate him into going the rest of the way.

[TroyD92]

The issue with Bobby is he's a horrendous fit with Brook. Can't have both of them playing together. Obvious solution is get rid of Brook but Horst has proven he's an idiot multiple times over.

[TroyD92]

Bobby's on/off this series is +36.7/100. Remember how many here wanted to dump him for nothing early in the season? Scapegoated him simply because he was being asked to carry ugly lineups? That was silliness. The people who hated on Bobby are the same ones who claim I'm biased against certain players. Nope, just want to win.

Bobby needs to be the starter. The Bucks were better with Bobby on than Brook on this year, including defensively. Then you get to the playoffs, where teams are more willing to attack Brook and play him off the floor.

Next one is either bench Brook for Bobby or insert someone with a pulse for Kuzma

[BigO]

I wouldn't pay $48.7 million for Pat Beverly, and he's no Beverly. Still got destroyed in switches. Dude needs to continue to defend, make some shots, or chuck less. KPJ is the better defender if that's all we're getting from the PG. We won in spite of Dame.

I couldn't imagine how crucified Giannis would get if he ever shot 2-12 for 7 points.

I get the Dame hate from you and yes he needs to shoot better. But he played very good defense last night no matter how much you don't want to admit it.

Siakam had a great shooting night thanks to Dame getting switched onto him, no matter how much you want to admit it.

Typical Dame night, people get distracted by the highlights and ignore the whole body of work.

I couldn't watch the first two games, so i watched this one twice. Dame played very good defense from what I saw. Usually, he doesn't. But he was fired up. Which begs the question, why can't he do that more?

[Siefer]

Two big things for Bobby that I've been really stoked to see. First, he's playing big inside, standing his ground, and taking contact on both ends. He's still gonna get caught in la la land on D more than you'd like, but it's great to see him being so physical. Second, he's getting up catch and shoot threes at a good clip. He's a great offensive asset when he's spacing the floor and playing garbage man instead of pounding the ball in the post.

[WeMajor34]

In my young NBA fandom, I don’t remember a Bucks role player performance in the playoffs like Gary’s last night. It’s not hyperbole to say that his performance will be etched in Bucks playoff history, even if it was in a first round game in a lackluster series so far.

Dame talked about Gary’s confidence in his postgame presser and that was shown in full force last night. It’s nice to have three point shooters like Gary (and AJ!) who don’t leave their good shooting in the regular season and shrink in big moments.

Obviously Gary won’t have 37 points on insane efficiency next game. Yet hopefully he gives us another boost because we’ll surely need it.

Like everyone has been saying, starting a 2 guard was a foreign concept to this coaching staff? He should’ve started the entire year.

[fansinceforever]

Brook and Kuz legitimately can't play in this series or we'll continue to have to fight our way out of huge holes. Works at home. It won't on the road.

I guess Prince can play sparingly. It's the playoffs, We can run 8 guys. Toss Pat or Rollins out there if you need 9.

[soxperry]

Very few have mentioned this but Dame as a decoy still has incredible value. Gary was wide open all night long. The most he had to do was side step and then shoot a wide open shot. You dont get that if Rollins is in for Dame.

Dame just needs to get his legs. It could happen at any time.

[emunney]

Our first half offense stunk, in part because Doc left Giannis on the bench for so long, and in part because guys were just bricking shots, but we looked much better structurally with just one more real shooter next to Giannis.

For the last two months Brook has been the second best 3pt shooter in our starting lineup. That's complete insanity. Kuzma is a subpar shooter, and Prince's percentages are vapor. If you can only get up a couple of wide open shots, defenses aren't going to worry about you, even if you hit them at a good clip.

GTJ and AJ are both better defenders than Price too. Hell, I'd rather have AJ play the 3 against Indy than Kuzma, but I guess baby steps.

I think lineups of Dame/GTJ/AJ/Giannis/Sims, and a variant with Giannis at the 5 and Bobby at the 4, smoke Indy.

I had this sinking feeling we were going to lose by 3 with Giannis playing 30 minutes and ending up with 4 fouls. Turns out he got no more fouls, but Doc's entrenched brain didn't kill us.

[nagawicka]

I'm sick of seeing stats of how much Indy passes. They pass to no where. No advantage gained. Steer their drives left, and don't help, and they have nothing.

So weird. You'd think a fan would be sick of watching us not really bother to engage in much ball movement at all. I mean fans would be sick of that.

[BigO]

I still don't understand why Doc doesn't play pick and roll over and over with Dame, Trent and Giannis?

Second, if you're going to play Lopez, please post him up, rather that having him sit 30 feet from the basket. Two more coaching blunders.

[German Athens]

GTJ is our best pull-up threat after Dame. He confidently steps into them which is very important if the defense happens to play him well.

In our case yesterday, he was wide open a lot of the time which I’ll happily take.

We were the 6th ranked offense last year with a high volume movement shooter in our starting lineup. Midds also played 55 games, but we weren’t the 6th ranked offense this year when Midds was playing either. Going from Beasley to either Dre or TP was a massive offensive downgrade.

The most frustrating part was we had two really capable shooters on our bench.

Hoping to see GTJ and Dairy’s minutes continue to go up.

[German Athens]

We’re 5th in assists per game of the 16 playoff teams. We had 28 assists yesterday to Indy’s 32.

We’re 3rd in secondary assists which means guys are making the extra pass to find a better look.

We’re 12th in passes made, but do you know who’s dead last? Boston, and they’re still probably the favorites to come out of the East.



You have to do things that fit your personnel.

We can play a smarter brand, and there’s offensive execution that we can cleanup, but we’re not terribly far off, either.

[nagawicka]

We won. It’s great. But the 8 seed bucks win against the championship pistons. Dame is continually showing he’s a fraud. Imagine any top 85 player doing what he just did? We needed Trent jr scoring 37 to win. Now bash me but same pisses me the F off

Whatever man. The dude is literally coming off a blood clot and him even playing basketball this quickly was considered borderline miraculous lol. But he jumped straight into intense playoff basketball and even despite struggling on offense he was fighting ass his off on defense

If he’s not able to then don’t play. Imagine Bobby playing 31 minutes shooting 2-12? The board would be “it’s ok he’s a role player” right? Blood clot isn’t an acl. He was shut down not because he couldn’t play but because it could have lead to major complications. If he’s cleared then he should be on. He’s not relearning his muscles like Jabari had to

I guess you could tell it to Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre. See what they have to say about playing injured and losing games because of it.

[ShootingtheJ]

I'm sick of seeing stats of how much Indy passes. They pass to no where. No advantage gained. Steer their drives left, and don't help, and they have nothing.

So weird. You'd think a fan would be sick of watching us not really bother to engage in much ball movement at all. I mean fans would be sick of that.

Getting a layup without a pass is a good thing

[jimmybones]

I feel like the more time Dame has to get his legs and rhythm back, it’s just a matter of time before he goes on an absolute burner. I kinda want it to happen in Indy so my vote is game 5.

[MickeyDavis]

Dame

“One thing I told the team when they were trying to get Gary here and I was trying to make that connection and bring him here was I told them this is one of the most confident players that I’ve played with,” Lillard said after Friday’s game. “Unshakeable guy. His confidence is steady. His work ethic is steady. Very stubborn. And he’s a guy that’s not going to fold up when moments come. And he’ll be there.

“That was one thing I would have stood on the whole time with Gary. When he has a performance like tonight, I know how much he really believes in himself. Some people believe when it’s going well, some people kind of get down on themselves, but I know his thoughts of himself, the true confidence. This type of game does not surprise me by him and it came at a time when we needed it.”