PG: Bucks Beat Boston, Series Tied 1-1

[bizarro]

I'd be all for running some stuff to get Middleton and Lopez post-ups on mismatches. I guess Bud would say the problem with this is that we really like to go uptempo and this slows things down, but I agree with you- a little diversity is never a bad thing and you ought to have different stuff in your pocket.

I'd agree on this. The thing on postup mismatches is they need to get good position. Middleton can postup 18 feet out and fire fadeaways and make them but I wish he wouldn't. When faced with a shorter opponent he could get better position where he is much more lethal.

If we don't use Lopez's size to brutalize Tatum if that is how they guard him there is absolutely no reason for him to be on the floor. When the other team has size like Drummond or Embiid Lopez is such a mismatch that it gives the Bucks a huge advantage. However if the other team just throws a SF like Tatum or Tobias Harris on him and Lopez still sits on the perimeter then Lopez is the liability.

Agree. In fact, the spot where he posts-up is probably more important than the mismatch, since he can shoot over most guards/wings anyway. Run some quick-developing things to get him the ball down by the baseline, midrange. He loves that spot.
Getting him on mismatch AND also getting him down to a good spot is probably time-consuming for our pacing anyway.

Brook should be easy to get the ball to in good position on a favorable matchup. That's there all day if we want it- especially with defenses so focused on/worried about Giannis in the paint. I have no clue why we never use it.

The post-up is definitely a wrinkle that should be added. BUT, it's not a go to. I'd like to see them try it here and there with both Brook and Giannis and, honestly, I'd favor it to get Brook going. I personally feel the pick and pop play with Lopez is key. Screen Giannis high with that giant of a man and get him in more favorable one-on-one driving match-ups. My concern with Giannis in the dump-in is he is struggling mightily in the finishing department right now. The Celts are allowed to be uber physical and he's just missing almost everything or going to the line (not a bad thing when he shoots like he did last night). If you start him back-to-the-basket you are taking away what he is most comfortable with: space, face-on drives, and forward momentum and it takes away half the floor. He doesn't have a polished fade away or back-down game as of yet. I'd rather they continue doing what they did last night with the high screen work. Giannis is most dangerous going to the basket with the entire floor to work with. He simply needs to keep playing more controlled and finding his open teammates.

[jr lucosa]

Good call Ive been sleeping on Hulu live (even though I see commercials for it constantly).

[PedroGrande]

We now have this game and that Charlotte one where we played at least half a game of switching. Can anyone think of any other games where we did more than just a couple of minutes of it? I remember the Hornets game they barely scored at all once we started switching and in this one we went on a 28-2 run.

I dont know if Bud doesnt like switching until he has no choice or he knows that it will be a lot more effective if we use it rarely because:

- Its "unexpected" for other teams and is less likely for opposing teams to prepare adjustments
- Its more effective if used with energy and cant be effectively used as a main strategy on the long term because of the physical and mental fatigue;
- Less time for other teams to find flaws or to adapt to it during games.

He switched a lot in atlanta right?

[Frank Nova]

Just wanted to say eat a dick Boston. That is all.

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[mke_design]

Has Paul “the wheelchair” Pierce made his closing statements yet?


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[AussieBuck]

We now have this game and that Charlotte one where we played at least half a game of switching. Can anyone think of any other games where we did more than just a couple of minutes of it? I remember the Hornets game they barely scored at all once we started switching and in this one we went on a 28-2 run.

I dont know if Bud doesnt like switching until he has no choice or he knows that it will be a lot more effective if we use it rarely because:

- Its "unexpected" for other teams and is less likely for opposing teams to prepare adjustments
- Its more effective if used with energy and cant be effectively used as a main strategy on the long term because of the physical and mental fatigue;
- Less time for other teams to find flaws or to adapt to it during games.

He switched a lot in atlanta right?

I honestly can't remember but he did have Horford/Milsap as his bigs so I suspect any scheme would work fine with them.

[FlagsFlyForever]

I've ragged on Horst for his Snell deal, the DJ pick (whom I STILL don't think as good, but he's serviceable which exceeds my expectations), and the DDV pick (team Huerter), but his peripheral acquisitions (reactions were Hill: loved and I'm glad people have come around on him, Mirotic: loved, Pat: good, Lopez: eh) have been excellent.

You didn't like the Lopez deal? I thought signing Lopez for $3 million was one of the best moves the Bucks have made in years.

[hege53190]

I'd agree on this. The thing on postup mismatches is they need to get good position. Middleton can postup 18 feet out and fire fadeaways and make them but I wish he wouldn't. When faced with a shorter opponent he could get better position where he is much more lethal.

If we don't use Lopez's size to brutalize Tatum if that is how they guard him there is absolutely no reason for him to be on the floor. When the other team has size like Drummond or Embiid Lopez is such a mismatch that it gives the Bucks a huge advantage. However if the other team just throws a SF like Tatum or Tobias Harris on him and Lopez still sits on the perimeter then Lopez is the liability.

Agree. In fact, the spot where he posts-up is probably more important than the mismatch, since he can shoot over most guards/wings anyway. Run some quick-developing things to get him the ball down by the baseline, midrange. He loves that spot.
Getting him on mismatch AND also getting him down to a good spot is probably time-consuming for our pacing anyway.

Brook should be easy to get the ball to in good position on a favorable matchup. That's there all day if we want it- especially with defenses so focused on/worried about Giannis in the paint. I have no clue why we never use it.

The post-up is definitely a wrinkle that should be added. BUT, it's not a go to. I'd like to see them try it here and there with both Brook and Giannis and, honestly, I'd favor it to get Brook going. I personally feel the pick and pop play with Lopez is key. Screen Giannis high with that giant of a man and get him in more favorable one-on-one driving match-ups. My concern with Giannis in the dump-in is he is struggling mightily in the finishing department right now. The Celts are allowed to be uber physical and he's just missing almost everything or going to the line (not a bad thing when he shoots like he did last night). If you start him back-to-the-basket you are taking away what he is most comfortable with: space, face-on drives, and forward momentum and it takes away half the floor. He doesn't have a polished fade away or back-down game as of yet. I'd rather they continue doing what they did last night with the high screen work. Giannis is most dangerous going to the basket with the entire floor to work with. He simply needs to keep playing more controlled and finding his open teammates.

I also think getting Brook going in the post would be much more effective than Middleton. I think it would be so easy. Bud is way smarter than me but how hard would it be to run some actions where Brook pins Tatum and gets the ball 5-8 feet from the hoop. How doesn't that work? Giannis could even be the high side post to get his guy out of the lane and get an easy entry pass to Brook.

It doesn't have to be the go to offense or used more than a couple times a game but I am surprised I haven't seen that wrinkle for this series. It would at least make Boston think about the downside of guarding Brook with a SF.

[mke_design]

I've ragged on Horst for his Snell deal, the DJ pick (whom I STILL don't think as good, but he's serviceable which exceeds my expectations), and the DDV pick (team Huerter), but his peripheral acquisitions (reactions were Hill: loved and I'm glad people have come around on him, Mirotic: loved, Pat: good, Lopez: eh) have been excellent.

You didn't like the Lopez deal? I thought signing Lopez for $3 million was one of the best moves the Bucks have made in years.

Yeah that’s a hot take for sure. Most point it as best signing in the entire NBA.


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[PG Graveyard]

We now have this game and that Charlotte one where we played at least half a game of switching. Can anyone think of any other games where we did more than just a couple of minutes of it? I remember the Hornets game they barely scored at all once we started switching and in this one we went on a 28-2 run.

I thought in the last Boston regular season game we did some switching. Could be wrong though. I think it is definitely our best option vs. Boston all the time. I would even let Lopez switch a little. Anything has to be better than a Horford 3 since he makes them at about a 60 percent clip vs. us.

[skones]

I've ragged on Horst for his Snell deal, the DJ pick (whom I STILL don't think as good, but he's serviceable which exceeds my expectations), and the DDV pick (team Huerter), but his peripheral acquisitions (reactions were Hill: loved and I'm glad people have come around on him, Mirotic: loved, Pat: good, Lopez: eh) have been excellent.

You didn't like the Lopez deal? I thought signing Lopez for $3 million was one of the best moves the Bucks have made in years.

Yeah that’s a hot take for sure. Most point it as best signing in the entire NBA.


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The Lopez deal IS one of the best acquisitions of last offseason if not THE best. I'm speaking from a point of view at the time.

It's not a hot take at all.

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[HKPackFan]

If I'm the Bucks I'm inviting Biz Markie back for every halftime show for the rest of the playoffs.

Have him do the national anthem too

OH SAY CAN YOU

OH SAY CAN YOU SEEEEEEE

I'm pretty sure I heard maybe squad 6 singing some biz Markie in garbage time. That was funny.

[paulpressey25]

You didn't like the Lopez deal? I thought signing Lopez for $3 million was one of the best moves the Bucks have made in years.

Yeah that’s a hot take for sure. Most point it as best signing in the entire NBA.


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The Lopez deal IS one of the best acquisitions of last offseason if not THE best. I'm speaking from a point of view at the time.

It's not a hot take at all.

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Someone here viewed the Lopez signing as the key to a great season within a second of it happening.

[old skool]

The problem with switching is that a team that is prepared for it can set up the mismatches that it desires if they are confident that the Bucks will switch on screens 100% of the time. We saw that enough in the Kidd era.

I thought the Celtics were horrible at identifying the desired mismatch last night. Boston will be better given time to prepare for a defense that switches on screens without regard for the defenders involved and the resulting match ups.

[FrieAaron]

The problem with switching is that a team that is prepared for it can set up the mismatches that it desires if they are confident that the Bucks will switch on screens 100% of the time. We saw that enough in the Kidd era.

I thought the Celtics were horrible at identifying the desired mismatch last night. Boston will be better given time to prepare for a defense that switches on screens without regard for the defenders involved and the resulting match ups.

This is why I think the correct approach is to switch only occasionally. Have to put some onus on the offensive player to recognize the situation and then have to make correct decisions.

[AussieBuck]

Watched about 2/3 of the game again. Some switching and rest just not sagging far works fine. As mentioned by a few this is just not Lopez's series. He can't recover at all in the the pick and pop.

[mattg]

The problem with switching is that a team that is prepared for it can set up the mismatches that it desires if they are confident that the Bucks will switch on screens 100% of the time. We saw that enough in the Kidd era.

I thought the Celtics were horrible at identifying the desired mismatch last night. Boston will be better given time to prepare for a defense that switches on screens without regard for the defenders involved and the resulting match ups.

We can still play our drop coverage without switching and defend the pick n pop, but we need the closest defender from the weakside to stunt over to Horford, and then get the rotation to cover his man after that, etc. We just sorta concede the Horford pick n pop J so far and haven't had any sort of rotation (which is by design because it's the "smart" coverage analytically). This explains things pretty well:

Drops against pick-and-pops present different problems with a slightly tweaked solution. Instead of tagging the roller, defenses “stunt” to the popper — a delaying tactic in which the helper closest to the popper briefly jumps toward him before returning to his original man. If there are multiple players on the stunter’s side of the floor, a second defender will stunt for the stunter as a backup. Just in case the popper catches the ball and quickly swings it to the stunter’s man before he can recover, a defensive teammate is there to help. Of course, if there is a final ball swing (most often to the corner), the final stunter is all on his own.

The purpose of the stunt is to buy the dropper time in recovery. Remember that the dropper is moving away from the perimeter as pick-and-rolls develop, and is primarily concerned with protecting the rim. On the pick-and-pop, the screener moves in the exact opposite direction and adds defensive tension to every additional step the dropper commits toward the restricted area.

As with a regular pick-and-roll, the dropper must read the on-ball defender’s rearview pursuit before returning to the popper. Once he chases down the ball and returns to a proper guarding position, the big can scramble out to the popper on the perimeter. But even against especially talented shooting bigs, droppers cannot cheat up toward the three-point line. They must stick with the ball until the pursuer gets back. Otherwise, they are giving up a layup.

Defensive guards can help out their recovering bigs by rearview pursuing with high hands. With the ball-handler moving downhill and the popper spacing up and away from the screen, the ball-handler generally throws the ball backward to find his popper. Guards that drag out the pick-and-roll an especially far distance — meaning they intentionally dribble away from the screen to draw the dropping big away from the popper — lengthen this throw even more.

If the rearview pursuer chases with high hands, he adds an extra layer of difficulty to this throwback. The ball-handler either has to reverse pivot around the pursuers’ hands, or throwback overtop. Whether it’s from the footwork of the reverse pivot or the increased hang time of the throwback, high hands can sometimes buy an extra tick for the dropper to find the popper.

I'm cool with switching occasionally depending on who Boston has in. I'd look to do it more when Rozier is in for Kyrie.

[Chuck Diesel]

I dunno, they were leaving Lopez wide open and he was taking/hitting the shots he always does. Don’t wanna just throw that away.

[mattg]

I mean the pick and pop is the counter to drop coverage that we play. They also have a guy that happens to be killer at that shot in Horford. Not buying it being a Lopez problem as much as a scheme adjustment OR we just stay true to our principles and identity all season and ride it out. Giving that shot is the analytically correct play, and having Boston build their offense around that pick and pop vs. our juggernaut of an offense should be easy wins if we play to our potential.

[rilamann]

Yeah that’s a hot take for sure. Most point it as best signing in the entire NBA.


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The Lopez deal IS one of the best acquisitions of last offseason if not THE best. I'm speaking from a point of view at the time.

It's not a hot take at all.

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Someone here viewed the Lopez signing as the key to a great season within a second of it happening.

Since when have you liked Brook Lopez?