PG: Bucks Scorch Heat for 5th Straight

[Daver]

Gary Bird is a nickname I came up with feel free to use no big deal please attribute properly

Ok ill give you tbe props everytime i use it.Speaking of trent i sure hope horst makes him a priority this off season.You never have enough 3 pt shooting eslecially some1 shooting it over a 42% clip.Thats insane

[JimmyTheKid]

For those who said in the first quarter that the Bucks were not trying, they were giving up, they were soft and using travel as an excuse (although no players said anything like that, only "fans")

Read on Twitter

Giannis is a treasure. Bucks looking like a contender. All is right in the world, sports world that is.

[chonestown]

I dvr'd the game, so it switched over to the vile Celts towards the end of the 3rd and I couldn't see the conlusion. Sounds like the youngs showed out a bit. Anybody want to break off a synopsis for Ol' Bones Chones?

[MissKhriddleton]

Dame lowkey having one of the best years of his career. I think?

[Daver]

Dame lowkey having one of the best years of his career. I think?

Hasnt Dame always been lowkey as you say.Didnt watch him alot in portland but from what i heard hes never been a rah rah type guy has he

[buckboy]

The lead doesn't evaporate when KM doesn't play? Shock

Even DavidDunn is tired of this.

[CharityStripe34]

W's are certainly preferable to L's. Only two behind the Knicks. Just wish some of those close games against the Top 3 went our way, we'd be in potential position to move into the three (or even two) seed if someone slips up. Still, the four seed is important to start the playoffs at home. One game left a piece against Cleveland and New York. Hopefully by then we can take those.

Lots of games against the West coming up.

[Siefer]

There are deals we can't refuse of course, but I'm pretty disinclined to do something massive. Bobby and/or a Pat move if they make sense, but this team is starting to cook. Per Cleaning the Glass - in the month of January: 4th in ORTG (121.2), 4th in DRTG (110.5), 3rd in Diff (+10.7).

[Shaffty]

What's amazing to me is how delusional some NBA players are. So Butler took a look at all the teams in the NBA and said "Yeah, Phoenix gives me the best shot at a title."

Reminds me of when KD thought Kyrie and the Nets were the place to be.

no i believe he looked at all the nba owners and thought 'yeah that one will give me 150million dollars'

[paulpressey25]

There are deals we can't refuse of course, but I'm pretty disinclined to do something massive. Bobby and/or a Pat move if they make sense, but this team is starting to cook. Per Cleaning the Glass - in the month of January: 4th in ORTG (121.2), 4th in DRTG (110.5), 3rd in Diff (+10.7).

The only challenge I see is we’ve got some guys who are critical to this run, but inconsistent (Rollins. GTJ, Dairy, Ajax). If these guys can have more consistent performances, we could make a run.

So agreed. Stand pat for now.

[emunney]

Gary Bird is a nickname I came up with feel free to use no big deal please attribute properly

Going with Gary Spice

[skbucks1985]

What's amazing to me is how delusional some NBA players are. So Butler took a look at all the teams in the NBA and said "Yeah, Phoenix gives me the best shot at a title."

Reminds me of when KD thought Kyrie and the Nets were the place to be.

no i believe he looked at all the nba owners and thought 'yeah that one will give me 150million dollars'

I certainly don't think you're wrong about Phoenix being the team most likely to give him a max extension. But I also do think that Phoenix is probably the most turnkey fit for Butler, with Houston being 2nd. You do Beal for Butler and Butler is better than Beal and so the Suns are better. Everyone else has to do a multiplayer deal and so you worry about giving up too much and there's also the worry about chemistry/culture concerns.

[Siefer]

There are deals we can't refuse of course, but I'm pretty disinclined to do something massive. Bobby and/or a Pat move if they make sense, but this team is starting to cook. Per Cleaning the Glass - in the month of January: 4th in ORTG (121.2), 4th in DRTG (110.5), 3rd in Diff (+10.7).

The only challenge I see is we’ve got some guys who are critical to this run, but inconsistent (Rollins. GTJ, Dairy, Ajax). If these guys can have more consistent performances, we could make a run.

So agreed. Stand pat for now.

My read is they're a shortlist title contender when healthy. It's a big if given the age and injury history of the roster, but this group can win a chip if everyone is present. The clinical dismantling of OKC did not get the attention it deserved (which is fine with me).

[skbucks1985]

For those who said in the first quarter that the Bucks were not trying, they were giving up, they were soft and using travel as an excuse (although no players said anything like that, only "fans")

Read on Twitter

Reading that quote is one of those things that makes me really wonder if we put aside all of the basketball concerns, Butler would still be an awful fit on this team. I could easily imagine Butler being super annoying yesterday constantly complaining about when they're getting to leave and someone, it would probably be either Giannis or Darvin Ham, going up to him and saying something along the lines of 'Will you shut the f up? Its a crappy situation and everyone is trying to do the best they can and you constantly moaning and complaining isn't doing anything but irritating everyone.'

[Perishable517]

Gary Bird is a nickname I came up with feel free to use no big deal please attribute properly

Going with Gary Spice

GTJ = Spice or Spicy

Sent from my CPH2417 using RealGM mobile app

[neiLz]

I member when there was 6 mins left in the 1st quarter and the game thread was calling dame a fat drunk, giannis cant box out, and the rest of the team soft cuz they couldnt play basketball at the top level after flying cross the country.

Then the heat brought in the centerpiece to ice the game and vasquez **** all over the court and let the bucks back in. I member

[Brewhoopfan]

Anybody got that Gianis behind the back pass to Rollins in the corner for 3?

Read on Twitter

While I appreciate the vision, I just can't all a pass getting home on two bounces a great pass. Rollins fielding it like a shortstop and still knocking down the shot is more impressive IMO.

[MickeyDavis]

From that distance and behind the back, 2 bounces is a great pass.

[chonestown]

Gary Bird is a nickname I came up with feel free to use no big deal please attribute properly

Going with Gary Spice

They got the Splash Brothers, we got the Spice Brothers.

They got the golden arches, we got the golden arcs.

[old skool]

A couple of thoughts on last nights game ......

Giannis picks up his second foul in the middle of the 1st quarter (challenge wasted), and plays perfectly disciplined the rest of the game, finishing with just those 2 fouls. You could hardly tell he was defending conservatively in that first half, aggressively but under control. The game might have ended up differently if he had gone to the bench early on with those two fouls.

Trent had an incredible first half. Bail out 3s that had to be disheartening to the Heat defense. Read somewhere last week that he felt it took him a month or so to figure out how and where to get his shots with this team. Enjoy him now, because he will cash in with a multi-year deal this summer.

The first half turnaround was disorienting. The Bucks miss 11 of their first 12 FGAs, but end up shooting 50% from the field before the half is over. Lillard's 6 points in the final second of the half ballooned the lead to 16, but more than that, it stunned the Heat. It felt like the game was almost out of reach at that point.

Jackson Jr. looked like he was moving 50% faster than everyone else on the court. A little like an out of control pinball, but multiple impactful plays in short minutes in the second half. That athletic dynamic dictates that the Bucks do everything possible to develop his game, regardless of any growing pains in the process. Even if he doesn't pan out, his speed and athleticism is really needed on an aging Bucks team that doesn't have a lot of resources or pathways to add quality youthful talent. His +/- of -8 last night adds to a rough stretch for him where he is often the only Bucks rotation player in negative territory, but his physical talents warrant the game minutes investments the Bucks are making.

The Bucks lack traditional point guards and a second back up big, but the team looks very "complete", able to adjust to players not named Dame or Giannis being out. It would not have been surprising if the team looked a bit discombobulated with Middleton and Green sitting out. Instead, they didn't miss a beat, with Trent hot from the arc, Lillard playing like a superstar, and Connaughton and Rollins filling key roles. It's a player's league, but the coaching staff deserves some credit for getting a cast of vet minimums and end of the draft youngsters to provide an excess of NBA quality depth.

Rollins is looking scarily solid. Coming into this season with zero expectations (only 4 career NBA games with over 10-minutes on the court), he is a solid ball handler, decent defender, and can score at the rim, mid-range and from distance - all without forcing anything. Horst needs to figure out how to create an open roster spot so the Bucks can convert his two-way to a regular contract. That would keep him out of restricted free agency and available for the playoffs.