PG: Bucks Ground Rockets

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

I think Mids should come off the bench if we want to start Ajax. I’m planting my flag on that

I know it's SSS theater, but that lineup is -35.2 so far.

I'm happy that the Bucks seem to have a promising young guy. But there's no reason to mess with the top lineups. They're killing everyone.

for this year agree unless midds is sitting out anyway. but the more minutes he gets in that role the better he'll be in the long run when midds is out. id make him the automatic next in line starter with the other starters anytime anybody 2-4 is taking a break

[ShootingtheJ]

Midds initiated to close Finals games…

That was 3 years, 4 injuries, and 6 inches on his vertical ago.

Lol at a suggestion that Mids had 6 inches of vertical to lose.

[tedbrogen]

The four free throws was I believe, a tech on Brooks for saying something to the ref, another tech on Brooks for continuing to go at the ref, and two techs/ejection for Ime for saying something to the refs.

It didn’t appear it was a flopping call on the first tech on Brooks but more he said something to the ref. He had been on the refs all game after the replay review when him elbowing Pat in face cost him two points. He thought Midds should’ve gotten a flagrant for slapping him on the arm after that.

He’s hilariously delusional. Rockets down seven with just over two minutes left and he’s calling for the ball on an ISO post up. That’s the double edge of the sword with those fiery defenders (Smart, Brooks, Morris), they think they are better than they really are on offense. So, they end up trying to do post-up ISOs when it’s horribly inefficient. Gotta be something about the confidence that makes them good defenders makes them overconfident on offense.

[ShootingtheJ]

Cam Payne is the first legit offensive back up PG we've had since before George Hill got old, but defensively he's a disaster. Unbelievably weak, he just gets bullied constantly.

[Bucksmaniac]

Cam Payne is the first legit offensive back up PG we've had since before George Hill got old, but defensively he's a disaster. Unbelievably weak, he just gets bullied constantly.

And it’s real tough when he has off games like tonight, he’s the hardest guy for me to evaluate of our rotational guys, MarJon being next in line probably.

[MickeyDavis]

Giannis chronic knee issue has been a concern for awhile. But playing 39 on a B2B tells me that the procedure he had done over the summer worked well.

[tedbrogen]

Love AJJ, super cool he got to play the dream role, but with the way the Rockets swarm the ball on defense, it would have been a game for Dairy Bird to feast. Cross court passes out of the doubles to an open AJG would have been a lot of fun.

Griffin really is falling in love with AJJ, which is awesome.

I honestly think Beas will be the SG traded. Someone will overpay for the veteran shooting. Horst will turn it into a multi team deal, because he only does multi team deals, and land us a defender like Dunn.

Horst won't deal his young pets, and finally has the power to do what he wants with Buds gone.

I think they wanted someone who could stay in front of Fred and chase him off the three point line. The D at times looked like Bud’s drop with Dre chasing over screens and forcing the Rockets to live and die in the midrange.

I am enjoying the switching they have been doing lately. Trying to follow up switches by getting a big back onto the other team’s big. Even some pre switching at times. They are still bleeding some points at times and giving up some wide open threes but it looks a lot better than before and they can actually get stops now because they usually have one of Brook or Giannis at the rim (assuming they are in the game when Portis is the only big, it’s still a layup line because he can’t protect the rim).

[tedbrogen]

Giannis chronic knee issue has been a concern for awhile. But playing 39 on a B2B tells me that the procedure he had done over the summer worked well.

Also not having to initiate EVERY offensive possession by having him driving and barreling into a wall of players is probably helpful.

[nagawicka]

Say what you want about Griff, if Bud was here there is no way AJJ plays that much tonight.

He would have played Payne 30 minutes before letting AJJ play 36.

Bud would've played George Hill 30 minutes before playing Cam Payne at all before playing AJJ even garbage regular season minutes.

[Neuromancer56]

Khris Middleton and Malik Beasley are the same player imo

Kris has a better midrange, Beasley a better 3. Khris has better reverse layups, Beasley better dunks. Khris is a better passer and higher BBIQ.

[Milbucks96]

I legit don’t understand the value in bringing Khris off the bench. It wouldn’t solve any of our problems. I like AJJ and I hope he plays a lot more but I’m not sure he should be starting for us just yet. And even if he should, why wouldn’t he replace our worst starter and take the spot of our 3rd best player lol. I’m so confused

[Neuromancer56]

I wonder how ime ages as a coach.

He'll bang the GM's and owners Moms instead of their wives.

[tedbrogen]

Khris Middleton and Malik Beasley are the same player imo

Kris has a better midrange, Beasley a better 3. Khris has better reverse layups, Beasley better dunks. Khris is a better passer and higher BBIQ.

Khris has scored 40 in the finals and was a closer in multiple ECF and finals games. You can have Midds initiate the offense in even the most pressure packed situations and you’ll probably get a good look. Beas is really good at hitting open threes when someone else does all the work to create the shot with their gravity.

Yep, two sides of the same coin.

[randy84]

I do find it amusing that Simmons seems to be monitoring the Bucks pretty closely, despite talking down the Bucks for months lol.

Read on Twitter

Cryptic "next few months".

[Plossum]

I'm not sure Payne will play much of a role for us moving forward from here. Griff seems pretty comfortable spacing the minutes of Dame/Giannis/Midds to cover the PG role.

[tedbrogen]

I legit don’t understand the value in bringing Khris off the bench. It wouldn’t solve any of our problems. I like AJJ and I hope he plays a lot more but I’m not sure he should be starting for us just yet. And even if he should, why wouldn’t he replace our worst starter and take the spot of our 3rd best player lol. I’m so confused

Yeah, the current starting lineup is now more than fine since they’ve started to do less stupidly aggressive things on D. Their net rating is ridiculously good. And they end up pulling Midds pretty early in the first anyways because it seems he’ll be around 30 mpg all season (likely more in the playoffs and occasionally if a game goes to OT). So putting Dre in as the first sub when Midds gets pulled after five minutes seems to be a nice balance for now. If Dre keeps making strides, maybe he could steal Beas’ spot if Beas can’t continue at this high of a clip from three.

[tedbrogen]

I'm not sure Payne will play much of a role for us moving forward from here. Griff seems pretty comfortable spacing the minutes of Dame/Giannis/Brook to cover the PG role.

I assume you mean Midds but I LOVE the idea of Point Brook ISOing at the top of the key.

[Neuromancer56]

I'm starting to turn into a believer. We're still not good enough to beat the Celtics, but we're better than everyone else in the East and we're steadily improving. The coaching is not looking like a complete train wreck any more.

[tedbrogen]

I'm starting to turn into a believer. We're still not good enough to beat the Celtics, but we're better than everyone else in the East and we're steadily improving. The coaching is not looking like a complete train wreck any more.

Yep, the last couple games are nice confidence boosters that the staff is at least doing the sane thing and turning games into efficiency track meets by trying to protect the rim and attack the paint. Good luck keeping pace with Dame/Giannis/Midds/Brook. They put up 128 tonight on the second best defensive while shooting league average from three and missing two rotational players.

Interested to see how they fair against some good teams on the road.

Anyone have the Bucks current SRS?

[BigO]

Thoughts:

1) Not sure what the fascination is with who starts. What matters is minutes played and who finishes.

2) Posters are right about AJJ. I think this was his breakout game, since he was there at the finish. And Bud would not have played him that many minutes.

3) i like the hybrid defenses that Griffin is trying, but they're still not working. Rockets shot 53% overall and 41% on threes. You don't win that many games giving up those percentages.

4) A lot of the Rockets success in holding down scoring from opponents is how slow they play and they do run back on defense after every missed shot, like the Bucks used to do under Bud.

5) Bucks won tonight because of rebounding. One of the few times. They have been rebounding better lately.