Around the League - Beasley Boogies to Detroit

[humanrefutation]

That was a foul by White, but Washington could have also stopped on a dime and drawn a foul.

[Profound23]

Brown pushed Tatum from behind and White hit his hand more than the ball, but yeah let's show that replay a few more times and give the Celtics credit lol.

[RiotPunch]

PJ fouled twice on that transition dunk, but the braindead turnovers and missed free throws killed them. And Kyrie playing scared.

[JayMKE]

Damn Dallas had a chance oh well

[Bernman]

The other Celtics have really saved Tatum here. Wont matter if they win it all but man has he been terrible.

So far, the collective has out-weighed the individual brilliance of one player.

But the Celtics just held serve. Mavs can still come back like the Bucks did...but they probably won't.

[RiotPunch]

That was a foul by White, but Washington could have also stopped on a dime and drawn a foul.

Yeah, he even looked back and saw the strong contest from multiple dudes coming.

[MikeIsGood]

Jrue was peak Jrue tonight. Good for him.

I wish he could have been the 4th or 5th option on the Bucks. That's not a back-handed compliment; I really wish he could have been. he's absolutely perfect for them and it sucks it's with the Celtics of all teams.

[RiotPunch]

Jrue was peak Jrue tonight. Good for him.

I wish he could have been the 4th or 5th option on the Bucks. That's not a back-handed compliment; I really wish he could have been. he's absolutely perfect for them and it sucks it's with the Celtics of all teams.

I will die on the hill of you do the Dame deal 10/10.

Not dictating his destination is on Horst, though. I get the Bogdan situation traumatized him, but you can't allow predatory executives the opportunity to bid for his services.

I do wonder if we could've cobbled together the value necessary to add Dejounte, while keeping Jrue. That would have taken scoring/handling duties off his plate more.

[Mags FTW]

Lively -30 in the series so far.

[Badgerlander]

Watch on YouTube

Still loving Jrue

[MickeyDavis]

Summer League starts in 32 days. I'm more interested in that than this series.

[Matches Malone]

If Boston gets a ring with Jrue, then I think it's only fair the Bucks get a ring with Marcus Smart.

[rilamann]

Id be pretty annoyed if i was a wolves fan considering how brutal the non luka mavs have been

Denver and Minnesota both gotta be pissed.

NBA these days is all about matchups. Celtics looking to be the worst possible one for Dallas.

Boston is legit and might have won it regardless.

But I don't know if I ever seen a team luck out get every possible favorable match up and avoid every bad match up like Boston has in these playoffs.

Milwaukee with Giannis, a healthy Knicks team and Denver would have all had a great shot agianst Boston in a 7 game series and Boston avoided every single one of them.

And 3 months ago it seemed highly likley that Boston might play NY in the 2nd round.

3 months ago it seemed highly likley that Boston might play Milwaukee in the ECF.

3 months ago it seemed highly likley that Boston might play Denver in the Finals if Boston made it that far.

Lucky bastards.

[paulpressey25]

Sigh

Read on Twitter

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[RiotPunch]

Sigh

Read on Twitter

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Gonna be a rough day for Horst if Jrue wins Finals MVP.

[Chessboxer]

Mavs offense sputtering. We really do have it good on that end. Giannis can just drive on anyone and Dame can almost always get his shot with Khris doing everything he does.

Again finding myself angry that we didnt get a crack at Boston

Looking forward to next season, the Bucks match up so well with Boston.

[GrandAdmiralDan]

Jrue was 3rd option here, he's the 4th for the C's. Was 3rd last series. Makes little difference. He was #2 for us in the regular season & played like an all-star. He just choked. Now he's playing more w/ an attitude. This doesn't happen if he stays here.

I agree. There is some strange revisionist history people have been engaging with, and I find it quite annoying. I was ecstatic when we traded for Jrue, despite plenty of people bemoaning that we gave up too much to get him. That trade needed to happen. And it allowed us to win a championship. I am on record on this forum, and plenty of other places, suggesting that we had enough to trade for Dame, but the OVERWHELMING response from people was that I was being irrational, and that the Bucks didn't have anywhere close to enough to be able to acquire Damian Lillard. They literally traded almost exactly what I kept proposing (my proposal had us also sending Beauchamp to the Blazers in addition to the rest of what we sent out). Bucks had not only stagnated in their current configuration before the Dame trade, with the way teams were defending Giannis as a result of the other players on the court (including an aging, oft injured Middleton, who I also still love), but Jrue himself was just not nearly as committed anymore on the Bucks as he ended up being after the jolt of being traded TWICE this offseason. Jrue was on record in multiple media outlets as saying he was planning on retiring after his current contract expired, in order to maintain his short term and long term health, and be able to spend more time with his family. And while I didn't want that to happen, selfishly, I completely understood it. More power to him. He had banked dozens of millions of dollars, won a championship, and avoided injuries that would impact his long term health and quality of life. He had already demonstrated how important all of that was to him. When his wife Lauren was suffering through a brain tumor, Jrue walked away from the NBA in the prime of his career. Understandably. Certainly different circumstances, but Jrue had clearly demonstrated his priorities, more than most NBA players ever had, and once again, I don't know how anyone can quarrel with his thought process.

The Bucks entered last offseason in a period of great uncertainty, with all of the typical vultures circling Giannis. Conventional wisdom was that he would not be signing an extension and would become an unrestricted free agent in the 2024 offseason. Quite a bit of reporting, including comments made directly by Giannis, implied that Giannis was hesitant to make another long term commitment to a team with key components that might not be as committed as Giannis was to doing what was necessary to win a championship. I still maintain some of my contacts in local and national media circles, and others who have connections to the team in some way, and the overwhelming informed analysis from those people was that Giannis was talking primarily about Jrue Holiday. Bucks leveraged Jrue and the other assets we had available, to acquire Damian Lillard, and Giannis, not all that many days later, wound up signing a contract extension, to the surprise of many (especially in the national media).

Is all of this forgotten??

Jrue is the 4th or 5th option on offense on that team, and the opposing teams defend him accordingly. Celtics on offense have Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, White, and Jrue. And when one of those guys isn't in there, usually Horford is. Bucks haven't had all of those offensive threats that can hit jump shots. We've had Middleton. I love Brook, and he is a spacer and a threat, but not all that much how we use him. Brook provides next to no spacing in the corners or really anywhere below the break. His perimeter spacing is all above the break when it comes to threes. Giannis provides no perimeter spacing at all. Middleton is a threat in the midrange and can't be left alone on threes, but he doesn't even take enough threes to pull the defense to him beyond the arc. Defenses focus on Middleton in the midrange.

I wish Jrue all of the best, I just don't want to see him succeed on Boston, because... **** Boston. I wish Charles Lee all the best. He was a fantastic assistant coach for the Bucks, and I'm glad he will now get a chance to be a head coach, for Charlotte. I just don't want to see him get a championship while still coaching for the Celtics, because... **** Boston. I absolutely LOVE Sam Cassell. I wish him all the best, and I really hope we wind up being able to add him to Doc Rivers staff as an Associate Head Coach. I don't want to see him win another championship with the Celtics, because... **** Boston.

[GrandAdmiralDan]

We are also far too early in this series for there to be any lasting narratives.

Dallas still can win this series. They kept this game close. They have the best player in this series (Luka).

Luka is banged up, which can't be discounted. But what about Porzingis? Will he play in Game 3? Could he miss one, or more, or all of the games remaining in the Finals? Porzingis certainly didn't look right before he came out. His gait was all wrong, and he may have reaggravated his injury that kept him out for most of these playoffs.

Also, as a Bucks fan, I remember all too well when the Bucks were in the Finals against the Suns, and dropped the first two games, in Phoenix. We won the next four games in a row and won in six.

I would refrain from making many definitive pronouncements yet. Where is Denver? Where is Minnesota? Weren't they supposed to be in the Finals, at various points in these playoffs? I personally believed so.

Celtics could sweep, win in 5, win in 6, or win in 7. Mavs could win in 6 or 7. None of those outcomes I would find at all surprising, at this point.

[fan230]

Whatever the reason, it is clear that Jrue is playing excellent basketball. We miss his defense and his offense. We even miss his passing abilities on offense.

Dame was a hugely exciting acquisition; no doubt about that. But he has been much worse than expected. That is why many in the forum feel wistful that we lost Jrue.

Hopefully Dame next year plays as well as he did in his last year with the Blazers.

We also need to hit on a promising player this draft if we are to keep our window open.

[humanrefutation]

That was a foul by White, but Washington could have also stopped on a dime and drawn a foul.

Yeah, he even looked back and saw the strong contest from multiple dudes coming.

Yep, that's a move Luka has patented this year and I don't know why more guys don't try it.