Hawks @ Bucks: First Blood -- Part 2

[jayu70]

Epic beatdown, the good thing is it still only counts as one win.
Hoping for a bounce back game on Sunday.

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[jayu70]

Love the support from Cam's teammates

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[HMFFL]

^
Trae being a strong leader.
We didn't seem prepared to play or interested. We need a team effort game three and Trae must play like we know he can.

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[HMFFL]

Fast Break Points
Atlanta 13
Milwaukee 27

Points in the paint
Atlanta 30
Milwaukee 62

Biggest lead
Atlanta 0
Milwaukee 41

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[Jamaaliver]

Fast Break Points
Atlanta 13
Milwaukee 27

Points in the paint
Atlanta 30
Milwaukee 62

Biggest lead
Atlanta 0
Milwaukee 41

Those Fast break Points came largely from Trae turnovers and missed 3-pointers.

Spoiler:

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Those points in the paint -- are an indictment on Capela and Collins.

This next game would be a good time to start Gallinari.
And perhaps experiment with some zone.

Build that wall fellas.



One huge caveat that no one is talking about and could explain the malaise...Hawks haven't been home since before Game 7 against Philly. That's more than a week on the road. For anyone who's ever traveled extensively for work, that can start to wear at you after so long.

Spoiler:

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I wish we had an extra day off for travel before Game 3.

[Jamaaliver]

Hawks vs. Bucks: Brook Lopez's stellar defense helped Milwaukee take away Atlanta's easiest sources of offense

Lopez was everywhere on defense in Game 2 against the Hawks

The Bucks maintained a version of their drop coverage in Game 2, but rather than sinking all the way to the basket, Lopez played much closer to the level of the screen.

The difference was night and day. He's above the extended foul line on this play, and rather than wait for Young to come to him at the rim, he's actively backpedaling as Young attacks to protect against that drive without sacrificing the floater. In essence, he is trying to defend both possibilities at once, and he does so wonderfully. He catches Young in the air without a plan here and the result is a turnover.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/GenuineAggressiveAntarcticfurseal-mobile.mp4

Plays like that were frequent in Game 2. When Young tries to get into his floater a bit quicker, Lopez gets up and swats it away. The secondary benefit to defending Young this aggressively is that it takes away his quickest decision. He doesn't have the easy option of the floater to walk into, so he has to take more time processing what is in front of him. That gives Jrue Holiday more time to scamper back into the play. He credited Lopez for giving him that chance after the game. "Trae's a great young player in this league, and he's hard to guard," Holiday said. "So, me getting beat, Brook is always there to protect my back and everybody's back." In doing so, he helped generate several turnovers.

This is the essence of pick-and-roll defense, a cat-and-mouse game between the big man and the ball-handler in which the big tries to take away as many options as possible. In Game 2, Lopez took away all of them, and that wasn't just exclusive to Young. Not only does he manage to take away the floater, but his hips are angled towards Clint Capela to take away the lob pass.

If Milwaukee gets this sort of defense out of Lopez moving forward, Atlanta won't have any obvious adjustments to make. They exploited a hole in Milwaukee's defense in Game 1 that no longer exists. This is the best version of Milwaukee's defense, the one that takes away the things it typically strives to take away without sacrificing anything else in the process. When an elite rim-protector proves capable of holding his own in space against a three-level scorer, his defense no longer needs to compromise on anything.

CBS Sports

[shakes0]

Hate being right, but as I posted yesterday this game was always going to be a blowout. Not the least bit surprised we lost by 30+.

Has no bearing on the next game, I expect us to use this as the kick in the ass we need.

[BigO]

Refs had better be prepared to call this tonight.

Hawks frustrated with officiating
So, why does this matter now? Because sources say the Atlanta Hawks are not happy that the league is continuing to look the other way on the matter in the Eastern Conference Finals. In the Hawks’ Game 1 116-113 win over the Bucks on Wednesday, Antetokounmpo — by the Hawks’ internal count — ranged between 11.5 seconds and 13.3 seconds on his eight attempts but wasn’t whistled once.
– via Sam Amick @ The Athletic

We already know the last 2 minute report stated as much.

It's **** joke that the refs allow him to do a 5 second pre routine before even giving him the ball. Giannis even sits there telling the ref to hold onto the ball so he can complete his routine. Then he gets the ball and takes another 13 seconds to do his other routine. Disgusting that the league allows this. What happened to trying to speed up the game? Refs should give him the ball as soon as they can and then start the 10 second count.

Do you know how soft it looks when players, coaches and fans complain about two seconds? Talk about snowflakes. I hope the same complainers get pulled over for going 73 in a 70 mile zone. It's embarrassing for a coach to complain about that and I have high regard for McMillan.