PG: Nets Edge Out Bucks in Game 2

[Pachinko_]

Ιt's time to accept that Giannis plays out of position, he's a big. Old school big.
And that doesn't change because he can dribble a little and switch on D, enough with that experiment, it gets embarrassing.

[EastSideBucksFan]

We have an arena

We have Giannis

We have Jrue

That's about all the positives I got

Big mess to clean up this summer

Just gonna go to Fiserv on Thursday and enjoy a sold out crowd (I hope) and hope for the best.

[RoyceDa59]

Bucks need a new coach. This was evident when they gave up an 0-2 lead to the Raptors. Unable to make adjustments.

[BucksRule18]

I came away from the first game, looking at the outside shooting and said obviously if you shoot your average you'd be in that game, despite not looking great defensively there either. Can't play that uninspired inefficient again etc.

Then you have this second game. From the tip to the finish there just isn't any indication there is any kind of plan. Long gone is any kind of defensive intensity, gone is any kind of playing off each other. If there is any place Bud thinks they have an advantage you couldn't discern it from their actions. This isn't the three playoff Dames or Three playoff Lukas they are certainly capable of being, One guy played a couple possessions and the Bucks haven't made those kind of heroics remotely necessary.

It feels like the Bucks used all their intensity, creativity, adjustments game planning to excise the Miami Heat demon, then put their feet up on their desk and forgot it all. After 3 playoffs end this way, this has to be it for the current staff, and maybe part of the core.

The biggest problem I see is that being a small market team, we're not going to attract any superstars in the free agent market. We were basically forced to put all our chips in one basket and trade all our assets for a guy like Jrue. With the way our stars are getting exposed in the playoffs, I don't even see veterans wanting to sign at league minimum to play with us next year. I'm sick and tired of watching Giannis bully his way into the pain like he's a fullback.

[jute2003]

Im feeling a shakeup... move Tucker to the 5 and bench Lopez. Tucker should be able to hold his own well enough against old man Griffin and he'll have Giannis next to him as a rim protector. If they aren't going to use Blopez in the post, he serves no purpose in this series. He can't even take string bean Durant anyways.. Bring Bryant into the starting lineup for another ball handler. See what happens.

What's the worst that'll happen? They lose by 40?

[emunney]

Giannis, Jrue, Middleton, Lopez, and PJ all need to play 40+ minutes, this is not rocket science. Live or die with your best players.

[GoldenAntlers]

The worst part about losing is hearing Media talk **** about Bucks for days. All the podcast talk **** about them for days. Nets get rode on. Literally avoiding all social media and basketball content.

The silver lining is at least they will be right this time.

[Bucksfan28]

Giannis, Jrue, Middleton, Lopez, and PJ all need to play 40+ minutes, this is not rocket science.

Found the resident masochist. You want to see more bricks, dumb shots, and missed box-outs??

[BucksRule18]

At the end of the day all I want is for this team to show some spine and play to their best ability (win or lose). If your core players mentally check out of important playoffs games because the other team is supposedly better on paper, then we have absolutely nothing to work with come next season. This isn't the situation where someone like Luka played his heart out, but needs help.

[GoldenAntlers]

Giannis, Jrue, Middleton, Lopez, and PJ all need to play 40+ minutes, this is not rocket science. Live or die with your best players.

Gotta keep the starters fresh for next year though.

[Pachinko_]

Giannis, Jrue, Middleton, Lopez, and PJ all need to play 40+ minutes, this is not rocket science. Live or die with your best players.

Gotta keep the starters fresh for next year though.

and dont forget the olympic games

[GoldenAntlers]

At the end of the day all I want is for this team to show some spine and play to their best ability (win or lose). If your core players mentally check out of important playoffs games because the other team is supposedly better on paper, then we have absolutely nothing to work with come next season. This isn't the situation where someone like Luka played his heart out, but needs help.

Exactly how I feel. I never cared if we lost to the Nets in a well fought series. Even a sweep of close games wouldn't be too bad. But this. This is an abomination.

[averageposter]

The worst part about losing is hearing Media talk **** about Bucks for days. All the podcast talk **** about them for days. Nets get rode on. Literally avoiding all social media and basketball content.

The silver lining is at least they will be right this time.

I have been purposefully avoiding most of it, but what I did see is centered on Bud. You can't have experts pointing to this series as the most interesting and then make it the most uninteresting, fail that spectacularly and skate on through. Maybe that gets them to make major changes should the series end the way its started. Jay Williams opened by talking about the Bucks early zone as being just plain dumb facing their shooters as an example.

[Coach Carter]

I love Jrue, but he is not the creator/organizer we needed.

Dunn talked about this on his podcast this morning. Jrue is not a PG, and the team doesn't have PG.

You go back to two years ago, and the supposed rift between Brogdon and the organization over Malcolm wanting to be the PG. That was supposedly why we didn't match, and were set on trading him. He wanted out over that matter.

Was Malcolm flawed? You bet. But he probably was the best "PG" we had on the roster.

Management has made a lot of mistakes. I miss brogdon and hill.

[bucksfansince88]

Steven A called for Sam Cassell, finally someone in the media called Bud out

[JayMKE]

We can still win our home games, Middleton & Jrue just aren't stepping up and nobody really is. Not that it changes much but not having Donte really sucks, I doubt we'd be getting torched by Mike James & Landry Shamet so much. The Nets are too good offensively to be playing guys who are totally useless like PJ Tucker for extended minutes, there isn't anybody that is going to slow KD down playing the way he's playing right now so we need to be able to help us hang in there offensively. It would be better for PJ to go all out until he's in foul trouble vs having to worry about him staying out there or getting tired, he's a good defender & leader but there isn't much else there. I wouldn't mind giving Nwora some minutes to see if he can give us an extra scorer and for experience going forward, gotta give other guys a chance to step up when other's aren't. Portis has been pretty much missing in action and Pat being total non-factor on both sides, I think Pat should be starting so he can get some early open 3s off our starters but right now his role could be done more by committee too. Bud isn't an adjuster but you gotta throw some **** at the wall to see what sticks, more Jeff Teague isn't it. How much worse off are we if give Sam Merrill or Justin Jackson a quick chance to bomb some 3s? This team loves midrange shots and can't shoot for **** when dared to shoot, it's crazy how bad our guys are at wide open shots considering how I've seen total scrubs drain 3s like nothing in open gyms but I guess that's that game pressure.

I've always been a Middleton defender but the chips are down now and if he can't step it up then it's hard not to see him as next on the chopping block even before Bud. KD really is the truth tho you have to respect the talent & determination the guy has, it's crazy to think we could literally see his Achilles snap like a rubber band in real time on national TV a couple years ago and now he's back doing this just a short time late, bet a lot of these guys wish they played their whole careers out east. Kyrie is a nutjob and doesn't have the greatest BBIQ but as far as talent goes he's near the absolute top and we haven't even seen Harden yet who most say is the best player of the 3, clearly we underestimated the value of having 2 MVP level talents let alone 3 versus just the 1 we have and this is really the first time we've faced a "superteam" like this and their bench is totally mogging ours so it's not surprising anything that's happening. One thing is evident is don't invest long term in bench players with so many ring chasers and our extremely limited assets, giving a guy like Portis $10M+ a season would be dumb af I think. I wish we could play a more old school big focused game but we suck so much at free throws and they've been killing us in the half court anyways, I don't think we can outshoot Brooklyn but we should be able to defend and hustle better.

Does Horst or Bud get fired? I kinda doubt it especially Horst, Bud maybe depending on how the rest of the series go but the truth is that we don't have any replacements ready or in mind and just promoting somebody from the same staff/system wouldn't accomplish much. How much of it is Bud's fault and how much of it is that we simply don't have the personnel? Blowing the Bogdonovic trade looms large especially with DDV out & Atlanta looking like they have a better chance of advancing the the we do right now. Is it even Horst's fault or rather ownership? If we lose this series I think the FO needs to have a long hard chat with Giannis about what he wants from the team long term and the implications of what we will have to do get the help he needs, Khris might be his best friend but Khris probably has to go for us to significantly alter the trajectory of this team going forward the next few years. How big of a trade can we go? I would do Khris/Jrue for Dame but I don't see why Portland would and there the cupboards are pretty bare, we're going to see some superstars shuffling around the league again soon tho for sure so we gotta be ready to pounce because in retrospect clearly trading for Jrue when Harden later became available was a huge mistake. Giannis should be a tremendous draw to play with that we need to do everything maximize his time here, Lillard/Kawhi/even Lebron idc think big!

[sidney lanier]

Giannis, Jrue, Middleton, Lopez, and PJ all need to play 40+ minutes, this is not rocket science.

Found the resident masochist. You want to see more bricks, dumb shots, and missed box-outs??

And you will. But you might also see some fight and determination. No point saving anybody now; play the starters playoff-normal (40+) minutes and give them a chance at redemption and a restart.

I haven't fallen into the same slough of despond that most here have, possibly because of the 50 years or so I've followed the Bucks only a few have involved basketball relevance. With relevance comes expectations, and expectations can come crashing down, as last night.

What do they say about a series not beginning until the home team loses?

Watch on YouTube

[BucksRule18]

At the end of the day all I want is for this team to show some spine and play to their best ability (win or lose). If your core players mentally check out of important playoffs games because the other team is supposedly better on paper, then we have absolutely nothing to work with come next season. This isn't the situation where someone like Luka played his heart out, but needs help.

Exactly how I feel. I never cared if we lost to the Nets in a well fought series. Even a sweep of close games wouldn't be too bad. But this. This is an abomination.

As others have noted, ultimately the team will take on the personality of their leaders. Bud has exited the playoffs in embarrassing fashion multiple times, so the team is likely getting the dejavu feeling again. Bud reminds me of the Star Trek episode where the Commodore is acting as captain and is surrounded by Romulan ships. Everyone is looking to him for answers and he says let's surrender. When they tell him Romulans don't take prisoners, he whispers I don't know what to do. Bud is like that. He has a set plan, and if that falls thru, then the team is screwed.

I was also hopeful that Giannis would come out and play his best game after Griffin stepped over his brother in Game 1. Looks like it had the opposite effect and now he's even more intimidated. Probably having nightmares of Blake dunking on him.

[RogerMurdock]

- Khris: Great scorer from distance (who insists on getting closer to the basket instead of playing at the 3 point line), who plays as if he is a very good playmaker.

It would be terrible if Khris just sat at the 3-point line. He's a mega-elite mid-range shooter who is good at finding mismatches and shooting with somebody in his face. The Bucks' offense becomes much worse if he's not allowed to hunt for his shot.

[BigO]

The magnitude of this sudden collapse is hard to grasp, but here is what I know is true:

1) While the Nets have played well, there is nothing the Nets did during the season or during their first round, that would let anyone think that the Bucks collapse is mainly due to the Nets talent or coaching. This is almost all on the Bucks.

2) While I am a defensive zealot, this collapse is total-offense, defense and any intangible you want to mention.

3) While many of the player criticisms are warranted, this collapse starts with the coach. The Bucks are soft. From everything we know, the Bucks are coached soft- kicking players out of the gym because they practice too much, giving players days off between games (they had two full practices during their week off), playing the best players less minutes than almost every other team, to playing the 26th most passive defense in the league. There is a mindset, promoted by the coach, that is ingrained in this team.

4) The coach has a basketball philosophy, nurtured over 25 plus years, that will never change, despite what the game in front of him is telling him. Bud has had plenty of chances to adapt, but his dabbling for a few minutes here and there on switching and zone, was done to placate people. When push comes to shove, Bud will do what his book tells him to. You can't lead an ever changing sport with rigid dogma.

5) As I said, there is a lot of valid player criticisms of individuals and how this roster has been constructed. But the dumping on Giannis is beyond ridiculous. He has been woefully misused and is being asked to do things not in his wheelhouse. Just one example. On offense, I'd have him post up multiple times a game and have him utilize his baseline jump shot. It's very good, but he has not been told to develop that or something else as a go to move down low. So please stop with the Giannis trade bs. He is not close to being the reason we are being humiliated.