PG Miami - We have a pulse

[coolhandluke121]

Glad a lot of you guys are happy in the moment but this win feels pretty empty to me UNLESS they build on it. Otherwise it’s one win down 3-0.

If nothing else, it's some good film to work with for next year. A lot of guys needed to see the dramatic, obvious difference between the way they played today and the way they've played in the series before today. That includes the coaching staff too, of course. Hard to deny the obvious issues, and it's also hard to deny that those issues are under the Bucks' control if they just accept the responsibility.

[drone3]

Milwaukee without Giannis and Miami are actually pretty evenly matched. I bet their overall ratings for the season were similar. As long as the Bucks aren't shooting themselves in the foot, they should still have a chance. The Heat have WAY too many weak links on defense to be regarded as anything more than a typical 4/5 seed. Their only hope was going up against a 1 seed too dumb to take advantage on a consistent basis.

Well said, problem is we have several elements of dumbness. Gianiss low playoff IQ, Bledsoe low IQ, Bud low playoff IQ. Have a feeling this all starts with Buds deficiency. For playoffs the coach needs to be able to innovate, pinpoint the other teams weakness and milk it.

[SD2042]

From this outsider's perspective, I'm glad that the Bucks didn't get swept. Otherwise, it would've been a boring and humiliating series for the #1 seed Bucks team. The Bucks get credit for getting their sht together and playing more balance as a team with Giannis off the floor due to his second injury. This force Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton to step into the limelight, especially Middleton. You can tell that Middleton isn't one for the spotlight when it comes down to the crunch time situation. Although he defers to his teammates, he had no choice at times but to lead the Bucks during today's game. He did as solid as he did so credit to him is well deserve. However, I do not expect this to last thoughout the series.

I'm expecting the Heat to re-strategize their plan to lockdown Middleton and really turn the Heat up on the rest of the Bucks. To Miami, their bread and butter is their defense. The biggest takeaway from them is for all the defense they have, they didn't capitalize on Giannis's absence offensively. Which kept the Bucks in the game and into OT for them to escape with their first win of the series.

[GiannisAnte34]

From this outsider's perspective, I'm glad that the Bucks didn't get swept. Otherwise, it would've been a boring and humiliating series for the #1 seed Bucks team. The Bucks get credit for get their sht together and playing more balance as a team with Giannis off the floor due to his second injury. This force Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton to step into the limelight, especially Middleton. You can tell that Middleton isn't one for the spotlight when it comes down to the crunch time situation. Although he defers to his teammates, he had no choice at times but to lead the Bucks during today's game. He did as solid as he did so credit to him is well deserve. However, I do not expect this to last thoughout the series.

I'm expecting the Heat to re-strategize thier plan to lockdown Middleton and really turn the Heat up on the rest of the Bucks. To Miami, their bread and butter is their defense. The biggest takeaway from them is for all the defense they have, they didn't capitalize on Giannis's absence offensively. Which kept the Bucks in the game and into OT for them to escape with their first win of the series.

maybe Miami will catch a cold spell like the Rockets

[SD2042]

From this outsider's perspective, I'm glad that the Bucks didn't get swept. Otherwise, it would've been a boring and humiliating series for the #1 seed Bucks team. The Bucks get credit for get their sht together and playing more balance as a team with Giannis off the floor due to his second injury. This force Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton to step into the limelight, especially Middleton. You can tell that Middleton isn't one for the spotlight when it comes down to the crunch time situation. Although he defers to his teammates, he had no choice at times but to lead the Bucks during today's game. He did as solid as he did so credit to him is well deserve. However, I do not expect this to last thoughout the series.

I'm expecting the Heat to re-strategize thier plan to lockdown Middleton and really turn the Heat up on the rest of the Bucks. To Miami, their bread and butter is their defense. The biggest takeaway from them is for all the defense they have, they didn't capitalize on Giannis's absence offensively. Which kept the Bucks in the game and into OT for them to escape with their first win of the series.

maybe Miami will catch a cold spell like the Rockets

There is that.

Miami's bread and butter is their defense and team committee on offense. I think today's matchup expose them a bit. One would think with Giannis being out that the Heat would crank up their offense to run the Bucks out of the bubble. That to me shows a crack intheir offense. In spite of the team unity on offense, they don't have that player on their offense who can take over their offense enough to put a team on their backs. JB and Bam may come close.

[GiannisAnte34]

From this outsider's perspective, I'm glad that the Bucks didn't get swept. Otherwise, it would've been a boring and humiliating series for the #1 seed Bucks team. The Bucks get credit for get their sht together and playing more balance as a team with Giannis off the floor due to his second injury. This force Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton to step into the limelight, especially Middleton. You can tell that Middleton isn't one for the spotlight when it comes down to the crunch time situation. Although he defers to his teammates, he had no choice at times but to lead the Bucks during today's game. He did as solid as he did so credit to him is well deserve. However, I do not expect this to last thoughout the series.

I'm expecting the Heat to re-strategize thier plan to lockdown Middleton and really turn the Heat up on the rest of the Bucks. To Miami, their bread and butter is their defense. The biggest takeaway from them is for all the defense they have, they didn't capitalize on Giannis's absence offensively. Which kept the Bucks in the game and into OT for them to escape with their first win of the series.

maybe Miami will catch a cold spell like the Rockets

There is that.

Miami's bread and butter is their defense and team committee on offense. I think today's matchup expose them a bit. One would think with Giannis being out that the Heat would crank up their offense to run the Bucks out of the bubble. That to me shows a crack intheir offense. In spite of the team unity on offense, they don't have that player on their offense who can take over their offense enough to put a team on their backs. JB and Bam may come close.

IMO keep switching onto Herro and abuse him as often as possible. defense is the key for Milwaukee to win this series. every 24 seconds matters like it's your life on the line. no careless turnovers. energy and effort TM

[AreBe]

Milwaukee without Giannis and Miami are actually pretty evenly matched. I bet their overall ratings for the season were similar. As long as the Bucks aren't shooting themselves in the foot, they should still have a chance. The Heat have WAY too many weak links on defense to be regarded as anything more than a typical 4/5 seed. Their only hope was going up against a 1 seed too dumb to take advantage on a consistent basis.

Well said, problem is we have several elements of dumbness. Gianiss low playoff IQ, Bledsoe low IQ, Bud low playoff IQ. Have a feeling this all starts with Buds deficiency. For playoffs the coach needs to be able to innovate, pinpoint the other teams weakness and milk it.

And let me assure you: The other team is doing that to you.
That's why watching the Bucks seem surprised about what everyone could see from 10,000 miles away is so distressing.

Bucks need an effective Plan B on offense.

[theFireBlanket]

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*Maybe he just misses the Mecca jersey. But it did pop seeing it on WISN.

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[TD75]

I give all the credit to the players who basically willed this victory.

Bud watching the main building blocks of this team play 40+ minutes should get at least this message.

[Pachinko_]

The book on Giannis is pretty simple. He takes shots from either 0 ft or 24 ft. Needs to learn how to pull up from 5-10 ft. That would go a long way in his game. Instead of working on 3 pointers he needs to work on Fts. Only, **** the 3 pointer.

He cant, forget it
Free throws, threes, long twos, short twos, hook shots, he can't do any of them at a level where you can rely on in a play off series.
He has been working for 10 years now, he's 26 in December, we must start assuming he is who he is at this point.

then you need to work him more off ball then. No standing around. Keep him moving without the ball. Keep them guessing

I agree he needs to move without the ball, but he must also get a lot of touches
Remember maybe he can't shoot from any distance but he can still score a bunch. By feel LOL
That gravity and the double/triple teams he attracts are important for the rest of the guys.

[Chuck Diesel]

I appreciate Donte’s games 4 & 5 bounce back. Really positive long term that’s happening.

[Siefer]

Complete game from Khris, the shot making and playmaking obviously, but the communication and leadership was next level.

Middleton ran the offense beautifully, even when nearly out of gas the last 8+ minutes of game time. And he somehow had it in him to QB to defense throughout.

ALSO - Midds beat Butler off the dribble multiple times after passing 40 minutes played. Shame he didn't finish those layups.

[Fotis St]

Giannis is forcing the issue on double teams or gets the ball behind the 3p line in front of a wall of defenders because Bud can't figure a way out of this for two straight seasons. Standing still and watching Giannis against the whole Miamis/Toronto's defense with inconsistent shooters and spacing will never work.

But it works fine when Giannis isn't even playing. If they can execute offense without Giannis playing, why can't they execute it with him playing? Why are the other guys able to execute in this series when Giannis sits? Why couldn't they do that when Giannis is playing? The real answer is that Giannis has been hogging the ball in situations where he has no business having the ball at all. They'd literally be better off with him parking in the corner and drawing a defender than doing what he did in halfcourt possessions in game 3. You're completely delusional if you can't see that.

The main reason Bud is to blame is for not telling Giannis to knock it the **** off.

So we have Giannis , one of the greatest to play the game and you are saying to park him at the corner 3 cause he can't go 1v3 or 1v4 or 1v5 ?

[RiotPunch]

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*Maybe he just misses the Mecca jersey. But it did pop seeing it on WISN.

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Giannis hates this type of sh*t more than any of us do, and the more it happens the more likely he is to say f*ck it and get a deal done to get everyone to STFU.

[FlagsFlyForever]

This game is exactly what Bud needed. He got to see Middleton will his team to victory playing 48 minutes. Meanwhile Giannis got injured despite Bud restricting his minutes all season. Even losing this series, Bud has to learn from this for next season.

[Fotis St]

This game is exactly what Bud needed. He got to see Middleton will his team to victory playing 48 minutes. Meanwhile Giannis got injured despite Bud restricting his minutes all season. Even losing this series, Bud has to learn from this for next season.

If Giannis is traded , Bud is a good coach for Khris' Team.

I bet Giannis & Bud are not at the same team next season

[Sigra]

We just need Giannis be a facilitator & defender against this team.

Imagine how good the other guys could be if Giannis was willing to drag the Heat's two best defenders away from the ball on a regular basis instead of going for his regardless of how many guys are set and how far from the basket he is.

He was really good today when he played though. Saved them when they would have fallen WAY behind early. Just mix that in with what everyone else is capable of contributing and we'd all forget this bubble **** fast.

Miami is not very good. I continue to firmly believe that. Bucks have totally sabotaged themselves in this series.

That’s on Bud not Giannis

I think it is on Giannis. I think his MVP award messed his head. He didn't shoot this many 3 pointers before. He didn't force this much before. He played more team basketball before. But after he got MVP award its like he feel he need to play like Lebron or Kobe.

I saw him being upset if he doesn't get ball early. I saw him making stupid decisions trying to be hero when he does things he shouldn't do. No way any coach wants that. I do not think that he is selfish by nature. But MVP award and "team Giannis" stuff destroyed his attitude. He should be role player at offense because he cant shoot and refs don't forgive off fouls anymore (like they did to Shaq). But there is no coach who could force him to be role player now. Not with MVP award and "team Giannis" stuff. And not in Milwaukee where everybody are so afraid that he could leave if he is not 100% happy.

Last night he was good in first quarter because he slowed down a little bit. In penetrations I mean. That way he was able to avoid offensive fouls. That was smart thing to do because he goes too fast most of the time. But we lost that 1st quarter 22-31 because other players just stood around and did nothing. They started to play only when he left. If he didn't left he would keep scoring until 4th quarter. Then they would double team him and other players would be cold and we would lose. No doubt about that.

[Sigra]

Welcome back Donte. Hopefully put a spell of binding on Mirror Donte so he stays banished in the Underzone

It looks like he was the most effected with fact that they couldn't have family with them. He plays much better since they can have families there.

[Cythaps]

It takes a special kind of fan to try to spin a back to back MVP into a burden that is carried by his team. So special.

[Fotis St]

It takes a special kind of fan to try to spin a back to back MVP into a burden that is carried by his team. So special.

Yeah, some hilarious posts here ... its OK I guess, I forgive them, people out of desperation say whatever ...


"Park Giannis at the corner 3" and "Lets ride with Khris , he is a stud" ...