PG Pacers - Bucks Drop Game 1

[Baddy Chuck]

Maybe it's because I'm just so disheartened with our normal bigs but Jeriocho Sims is someone I want to see a lot of in this series. Probably just wishful thinking (that he'd play and play good).

[MickeyDavis]

Read on Twitter

[German Athens]

I’m still so mad about this game.

I rewatched the highlights, and I saw 11 of Indy’s 3’s. 9 of them came when Brook was on the floor.

3 of them were a direct result of him being too slow to recover. Then there were others where Kuzma was out of it off-ball, but still had to cover the weakside by himself.

There was another where pascal or someone had it in the post against a small and both Brook and Kuz helped off their guy and had their feet in the paint too. Easy kick out, and wide open look.

We’re constantly getting in bad spots defensively with that starting group, and aren’t quick enough to recover.

The other two threes I saw were a step-back pull-up 3 by Turner with the clock running down against Bobby, and a kick out where Giannis helped off the strong side corner on a nembhard drive against Bobby.

[pifhluk23]

Watch Kuzma not be able to play and Doc starts Bobby in his place...

[German Athens]

Theres that long held opinion that role players just dont travel well. Problem is, we got too many role players and not enough real guys. Brook is a real guy but this is a horrible matchup for his slow feet. So that leaves Giannis and KPJ, sort of. Trent showed fearlessness but hes still a role player. Kpj has real guy capacity but looked a little hesitant to shoot. Still, he could have had way more assists if guys hit their shots. He generated some great looks.

He has to start now. Enough is enough. Trent too.

Brook is a role player. He’s a higher class than Prince, to be clear, because he offers a couple more advantages - he can get hot from outside and/or leverage his size inside for buckets, and then has a situation where he can be an asset defensively, but his value changes significantly based on matchups as you know. He’s either a plus or clear negative.

Our problem is who exactly is he a defensive asset against anymore?

Not Indy or Boston. New York is an issue. In theory we thought maybe the Cavs, but that’s not true either - they have high volume pull-up threats, and their non shooting big is far too quick and bouncy for brook.

I’d like him for Denver, Houston, or Philly, and I think Detroit is a pretty good one too. Miami is a solid matchup. Maybe he could skate against OKC, but honestly hartenstein would still make him move to 15 feet, and shai would still methodically rip him apart in the midrange.

There just aren’t many anymore, particularly amongst the top of the East, and that makes it damn tough.

If he, Kuzma, and Pat can’t play, that’s 57m of salary that can’t see the court. The top contenders don’t have those same issues.

[raferfenix]

MJS isn't carrying water on this one, headline: Kyle Kuzma has historically bad playoff game in Bucks blowout loss to Pacers in his first postseason start

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nba/bucks/2025/04/19/kyle-kuzmas-stats-vs-indiana-pacers-zero-points/83176742007/

At least Kuz isn't blaming his thumb:

Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma had a wrap on his left thumb after the team's 117-98 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of their playoff series Saturday, an injury he said occurred at some point in the first quarter.

He wasn't sure what exactly happened other than he hit it on someone, and "messed it up a little bit."

Kuzma added he'll "probably" have to get it checked out after the team returns to Milwaukee for a couple off days before Game 2 on Tuesday.

He said the injury did not affect his play in his Bucks playoff debut

"Just understanding what I need to do, can't wait for the ball, can't wait for things to happen, kind of just gotta go get it, just find myself and get into actions on my own," he said of how he'll process the game and move forward.

"Rebound — definitely a stinker for sure. It's a long series, it's seven games and I'm excited to play because I understand a little bit of what I need to do to attack the next game."

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nba/pacers/2025/04/20/bucks-vs-pacers-kyle-kuzma-has-thumb-injury-stinker-in-game-1-loss-nba-playoffs/83183338007/?taid=6804fe051aa2c600016bd8ef&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

[Ron Swanson]

Marques all but dancing around saying “Doc didn’t have these guys ready” with that tweet.

[emunney]

Definitely a stinker for sure

[CharityStripe34]

You'd like to think that they at least got their pube game out of the way and can adjust as the series goes on.....right?

[Profound23]

Maybe it's because I'm just so disheartened with our normal bigs but Jeriocho Sims is someone I want to see a lot of in this series. Probably just wishful thinking (that he'd play and play good).

At worst he looks like Gadzuric. With this old, slow, unathletic team (outside of Giannis, KPJ and a few others) we can use a Gadzuric. Hopefully we can find athletic players that also have talent in the offseason.

[German Athens]

Maybe it's because I'm just so disheartened with our normal bigs but Jeriocho Sims is someone I want to see a lot of in this series. Probably just wishful thinking (that he'd play and play good).

At worst he looks like Gadzuric. With this old, slow, unathletic team (outside of Giannis, KPJ and a few others) we can use a Gadzuric. Hopefully we can find athletic players that also have talent in the offseason.

I said at the beginning of the year, we could use a Thon. Having bigs who can move in space is such an important ability, and it literally doesn’t require any basketball skills. We just haven’t prioritized it in 7 seasons.

It’s hard to ever point to a thing like that and say someone like Jericho could change this series, because he isn’t very good, but I’m there too.

[machu46]

I’m still so mad about this game.

I rewatched the highlights, and I saw 11 of Indy’s 3’s. 9 of them came when Brook was on the floor.

3 of them were a direct result of him being too slow to recover. Then there were others where Kuzma was out of it off-ball, but still had to cover the weakside by himself.

There was another where pascal or someone had it in the post against a small and both Brook and Kuz helped off their guy and had their feet in the paint too. Easy kick out, and wide open look.

We’re constantly getting in bad spots defensively with that starting group, and aren’t quick enough to recover.

The other two threes I saw were a step-back pull-up 3 by Turner with the clock running down against Bobby, and a kick out where Giannis helped off the strong side corner on a nembhard drive against Bobby.

Read on Twitter

I don't fully agree with Nate but this is definitely partially correct too. I think we (Brook included) got caught overhelping/helping in situations where we didn't need to help, but a decent amount of it was also that we still struggle to keep guys in front of us and then we have to either give up the layup or help and pray the rotations are tight (they aren't).

I do think a more mobile big, and maybe more importantly, a more mobile lineup in general, helps here, but we'll see. Still waiting for Doc to give the Kuzma PF/Giannis C lineup a try at some point but given how long it's been and how poorly Kuzma is playing right now, maybe that's just never coming and maybe it'll be bad if it does.

And then of course beyond the defense is the fact that we simply need to have our good shooters knocking down open shots. Despite all the defensive issues and shooting 2/17 or whatever from 3 in the first half, we were still hanging around for a good chunk of the game. It's a winnable series if we figure our **** out but unfortunately there just isn't really much reason to think we will.

[German Athens]

I’m still so mad about this game.

I rewatched the highlights, and I saw 11 of Indy’s 3’s. 9 of them came when Brook was on the floor.

3 of them were a direct result of him being too slow to recover. Then there were others where Kuzma was out of it off-ball, but still had to cover the weakside by himself.

There was another where pascal or someone had it in the post against a small and both Brook and Kuz helped off their guy and had their feet in the paint too. Easy kick out, and wide open look.

We’re constantly getting in bad spots defensively with that starting group, and aren’t quick enough to recover.

The other two threes I saw were a step-back pull-up 3 by Turner with the clock running down against Bobby, and a kick out where Giannis helped off the strong side corner on a nembhard drive against Bobby.

Read on Twitter

I don't fully agree with Nate but this is definitely partially correct too. I think we (Brook included) got caught overhelping/helping in situations where we didn't need to help, but a decent amount of it was also that we still struggle to keep guys in front of us and then we have to either give up the layup or help and pray the rotations are tight (they aren't).

I do think a more mobile big, and maybe more importantly, a more mobile lineup in general, helps here, but we'll see. Still waiting for Doc to give the Kuzma PF/Giannis C lineup a try at some point but given how long it's been and how poorly Kuzma is playing right now, maybe that's just never coming and maybe it'll be bad if it does.

And then of course beyond the defense is the fact that we simply need to have our good shooters knocking down open shots. Despite all the defensive issues and shooting 2/17 or whatever from 3 in the first half, we were still hanging around for a good chunk of the game. It's a winnable series if we figure our **** out but unfortunately there just isn't really much reason to think we will.

Yeah, I think it’s worth being clear on this front. We’re putting brook in a position to absolutely fail with that starting lineup. He functions well when guys stay in front and can stay attached around screens, when the team scrambles quickly and as a unit, and then having guys off-ball reading and reacting well.

With that said, I’m tired of defending Brook, too. Even when we had the best perimeter defender in the league, and another really good one like Wes, we would still go through stretches of other teams getting easy, in-rhythm, open looks with some regularity.

If Brook is a defensive asset when you can pair him with all-defensive guards, or have guards do the harder task of containing or staying attached, then Brook isn’t actually a defensive asset in the way we’ve thought of him as. He’s a perk not a foundation.

We aren’t in the situation where we’re better just by simply benching him, but the frustration is really about our identity being shackled to him and his limitations and us never fully embracing what the defense could have looked like outside of him.

With all my negative Brook posts lately, I also want to be clear that I want him back next year if it’s on sub-mle money, but I’m also inching closer to the idea that I’d happily let him walk regardless of the contract if the next coach is going to be just as shackled to him as both Bud and Doc have been.

When our best theoretical lineups, and the ones we’ve obsessed about since 2019, don’t include the player who’s currently the third highest paid on the team, we’ve got ourselves a problem.

[German Athens]

Also, I think I’m more firmly in the camp that Horst has just been the coach’s lackey for the past 7 seasons. He just goes out and gets the players the coach wants.

You definitely want them working well together, and that’s not an inherently bad thing, but you also want the GM to push certain things to the coach. I don’t think that’s ever been here under Horst.

With that in mind, this is probably the first time we’ve ever even theoretically had the answers to some of our biggest weaknesses over the years - big wing who can play small ball 4 who also has the mobility and size needed for the likes of the Tatum’s, and mobile 5 to contain ball handlers while also providing some form of rim protection better than Bobby.

I think that’s probably to Doc’s credit, but unfortunately for us, it was at the expense of Middleton, and Kuzma and Sims aren’t actually *good* basketball players. Beyond that, I don’t trust Doc to actually play the right collection of guys.

[Plossum]

Doc just getting us into to position to avoid going up 3-1. Dude is playing chess.

[emunney]

I’m still so mad about this game.

I rewatched the highlights, and I saw 11 of Indy’s 3’s. 9 of them came when Brook was on the floor.

3 of them were a direct result of him being too slow to recover. Then there were others where Kuzma was out of it off-ball, but still had to cover the weakside by himself.

There was another where pascal or someone had it in the post against a small and both Brook and Kuz helped off their guy and had their feet in the paint too. Easy kick out, and wide open look.

We’re constantly getting in bad spots defensively with that starting group, and aren’t quick enough to recover.

The other two threes I saw were a step-back pull-up 3 by Turner with the clock running down against Bobby, and a kick out where Giannis helped off the strong side corner on a nembhard drive against Bobby.

Read on Twitter

I don't fully agree with Nate but this is definitely partially correct too. I think we (Brook included) got caught overhelping/helping in situations where we didn't need to help, but a decent amount of it was also that we still struggle to keep guys in front of us and then we have to either give up the layup or help and pray the rotations are tight (they aren't).

I do think a more mobile big, and maybe more importantly, a more mobile lineup in general, helps here, but we'll see. Still waiting for Doc to give the Kuzma PF/Giannis C lineup a try at some point but given how long it's been and how poorly Kuzma is playing right now, maybe that's just never coming and maybe it'll be bad if it does.

And then of course beyond the defense is the fact that we simply need to have our good shooters knocking down open shots. Despite all the defensive issues and shooting 2/17 or whatever from 3 in the first half, we were still hanging around for a good chunk of the game. It's a winnable series if we figure our **** out but unfortunately there just isn't really much reason to think we will.

Yeah, I think it’s worth being clear on this front. We’re putting brook in a position to absolutely fail with that starting lineup. He functions well when guys stay in front and can stay attached around screens, when the team scrambles quickly and as a unit, and then having guys off-ball reading and reacting well.

With that said, I’m tired of defending Brook, too. Even when we had the best perimeter defender in the league, and another really good one like Wes, we would still go through stretches of other teams getting easy, in-rhythm, open looks with some regularity.

If Brook is a defensive asset when you can pair him with all-defensive guards, or have guards do the harder task of containing or staying attached, then Brook isn’t actually a defensive asset in the way we’ve thought of him as. He’s a perk not a foundation.

We aren’t in the situation where we’re better just by simply benching him, but the frustration is really about our identity being shackled to him and his limitations and us never fully embracing what the defense could have looked like outside of him.

With all my negative Brook posts lately, I also want to be clear that I want him back next year if it’s on sub-mle money, but I’m also inching closer to the idea that I’d happily let him walk regardless of the contract if the next coach is going to be just as shackled to him as both Bud and Doc have been.

When our best theoretical lineups, and the ones we’ve obsessed about since 2019, don’t include the player who’s currently the third highest paid on the team, we’ve got ourselves a problem.

Practically speaking, you basically have to center Brook in your defense and go to lengths to avoid him having to cover a lot of ground. We had issues in the past with Brook having to cover from the rim to the corner in Bud's scheme. We have issues now with Brook having to rotate out and defend in space. So while it's accurate to say the defense being bad isn't Brook's fault, Brook's defensive reputation is built on a very narrow foundation -- he's got to be near the rim to have that level of impact. It's a lot like what we've seen with Gobert: there's a lot of exaggeration about how bad they are defending in isolation, and the bigger problem is that the defense requires them *near the rim* to be what it's supposed to be. If they have to step out on the perimeter, the defense is in a sense already beaten.

Would it help him and us a LOT if we benched Prince? Yes, it would, because the more guys other than Brook who can move, the less Brook has to move.

[MissKhriddleton]

,

What's your confidence level in winning the series?

[GoldenAntlers]

Maybe it's because I'm just so disheartened with our normal bigs but Jeriocho Sims is someone I want to see a lot of in this series. Probably just wishful thinking (that he'd play and play good).

At worst he looks like Gadzuric. With this old, slow, unathletic team (outside of Giannis, KPJ and a few others) we can use a Gadzuric. Hopefully we can find athletic players that also have talent in the offseason.

I said at the beginning of the year, we could use a Thon. Having bigs who can move in space is such an important ability, and it literally doesn’t require any basketball skills. We just haven’t prioritized it in 7 seasons.

It’s hard to ever point to a thing like that and say someone like Jericho could change this series, because he isn’t very good, but I’m there too.

I think most of us have been there since Sims went out with the injury. Stunting his team chemistry with KPJ was a huge blow to our playoff hopes.

[GoldenAntlers]

I’m still so mad about this game.

I rewatched the highlights, and I saw 11 of Indy’s 3’s. 9 of them came when Brook was on the floor.

3 of them were a direct result of him being too slow to recover. Then there were others where Kuzma was out of it off-ball, but still had to cover the weakside by himself.

There was another where pascal or someone had it in the post against a small and both Brook and Kuz helped off their guy and had their feet in the paint too. Easy kick out, and wide open look.

We’re constantly getting in bad spots defensively with that starting group, and aren’t quick enough to recover.

The other two threes I saw were a step-back pull-up 3 by Turner with the clock running down against Bobby, and a kick out where Giannis helped off the strong side corner on a nembhard drive against Bobby.

Read on Twitter

I don't fully agree with Nate but this is definitely partially correct too. I think we (Brook included) got caught overhelping/helping in situations where we didn't need to help, but a decent amount of it was also that we still struggle to keep guys in front of us and then we have to either give up the layup or help and pray the rotations are tight (they aren't).

I do think a more mobile big, and maybe more importantly, a more mobile lineup in general, helps here, but we'll see. Still waiting for Doc to give the Kuzma PF/Giannis C lineup a try at some point but given how long it's been and how poorly Kuzma is playing right now, maybe that's just never coming and maybe it'll be bad if it does.

And then of course beyond the defense is the fact that we simply need to have our good shooters knocking down open shots. Despite all the defensive issues and shooting 2/17 or whatever from 3 in the first half, we were still hanging around for a good chunk of the game. It's a winnable series if we figure our **** out but unfortunately there just isn't really much reason to think we will.

Yeah, I think it’s worth being clear on this front. We’re putting brook in a position to absolutely fail with that starting lineup. He functions well when guys stay in front and can stay attached around screens, when the team scrambles quickly and as a unit, and then having guys off-ball reading and reacting well.

With that said, I’m tired of defending Brook, too. Even when we had the best perimeter defender in the league, and another really good one like Wes, we would still go through stretches of other teams getting easy, in-rhythm, open looks with some regularity.

If Brook is a defensive asset when you can pair him with all-defensive guards, or have guards do the harder task of containing or staying attached, then Brook isn’t actually a defensive asset in the way we’ve thought of him as. He’s a perk not a foundation.

We aren’t in the situation where we’re better just by simply benching him, but the frustration is really about our identity being shackled to him and his limitations and us never fully embracing what the defense could have looked like outside of him.

With all my negative Brook posts lately, I also want to be clear that I want him back next year if it’s on sub-mle money, but I’m also inching closer to the idea that I’d happily let him walk regardless of the contract if the next coach is going to be just as shackled to him as both Bud and Doc have been.

When our best theoretical lineups, and the ones we’ve obsessed about since 2019, don’t include the player who’s currently the third highest paid on the team, we’ve got ourselves a problem.

That is what drives me crazy about this organization. They create a plan around specific players and then when those players are gone, instead of adjusting the plan based on who IS on the team, the plan is still largely based around who WAS on the team when the plan was created, and then they scratch their heads when the plan no longer works.

[German Athens]

Practically speaking, you basically have to center Brook in your defense and go to lengths to avoid him having to cover a lot of ground. We had issues in the past with Brook having to cover from the rim to the corner in Bud's scheme. We have issues now with Brook having to rotate out and defend in space. So while it's accurate to say the defense being bad isn't Brook's fault, Brook's defensive reputation is built on a very narrow foundation -- he's got to be near the rim to have that level of impact. It's a lot like what we've seen with Gobert: there's a lot of exaggeration about how bad they are defending in isolation, and the bigger problem is that the defense requires them *near the rim* to be what it's supposed to be. If they have to step out on the perimeter, the defense is in a sense already beaten.

Would it help him and us a LOT if we benched Prince? Yes, it would, because the more guys other than Brook who can move, the less Brook has to move.

Do you know why we don’t go to Brook in the center of a zone more frequently?

I feel like that would keep him closer to the basket even more often than a drop would.

My take is that we can always point to a number of things being the issue when we have defensive breakdowns in the drop, and it’s not just since we’ve jettisoned Bud:

Over-helping off shooters,
guards not staying attached around screens,
perimeter players not denying penetration,
not moving or reacting fast enough off-ball to blow up the other teams momentary advantage

But all of that basically requires perfection outside of brook.

I think a big could help his teammates more if he could come higher in the drop, stymie the on-ball player better, and recover quickly, but that’s not in Brook’s skillset.

I get any good defense requires everybody playing well, but I just feel like our options outside Brook basically require everybody playing to perfection at this point.

I don’t have stats to back it up, but it all just looks so much better when we just switch actions and keep the ball in front, even if we end up having Bobby guarding the ball handler in space.