PG Miami - We have a pulse

[Fotis St]

Some of ya'll need to enjoy the win more.

Its a Win , but we were just not humiliated to be swept too early

We didn't win without Giannis, cause he actually scored 18 points, till he got injured early in the 2nd Quarter

If Giannis is out for Game 5, I am sure Spoelstra will prepare the Heat to stop us.

Miami was a bit relaxed and just out of their game plan ... cause they got used to play against Giannis creating a Wall

Anyway as I have said I wish we win one more just to not have our whole roster not named Giannis devalued on trade talks.

[Cythaps]

- Dragic was 5-17 and 1-9 from three without us playing better defense on him.
- Bud let Khris play 43 regulation minutes and Khris delivered.

That's more or less the whole game and it's exactly just that - one game.

We have seen Khris in more than 500 games. He's 29. He's not gonna transform overnight into a killer. I'm happy he got going but it's just silly to expect a lot of similar performances in the future, like it was silly to expect him to be as bad as he was in the first games vs Orlando. Stop trying to build empires and base franchise decisions on one game that, at the end of the day, only gets us one more chance to play.

[Chuck Diesel]

Not being swept feels pretty huge for some reason.

[ejn1214]

Literally no mention of Brook in this thread, shows just how underrated he is by his own team’s fans. He’s had a great series and added some good rim protection to the great offensive play in this game.

The amount of touches Brook got on offense was criminal. There had to be a 8-10 minute stretch he didn't touch the ball. He had those 2 blocks, and 2 big baskets within a short period. We still didn't run much of an offense. I like getting the switch on middleton with the smaller defender though. Does anyone have stats on when we run that Marvin center lineup. It is hard to watch. Why not give Ersan some minutes over Marvin or Sterling some over Pat?

[H2tObes]

Stud

Read on Twitter

This series is probably 2-2 if Bud just plays him more in 1 of those close games, we're only better than them when Khris is on the floor

[Ryan5UW]

woke up too early had to follow the end on the phone through boxscore. How ded is Giannis?

Giannis was captured on his feet, caught the clap from his teammates & gave it back to each of them walking into the locker room.

He’s gotta learn to be more careful... a mask isn’t the only protection he should have in the bubble.

[truly]

Someone should ask Bud how come Khris managed to play so many minutes and perform so well.

[MickeyDavis]

Middleton was good but let's not exaggerate, he was 12/28, he has good and bad series. He was great against Boston two years ago, he was terrible last year against Toronto. We know him he is not some secret weapon that was unleashed

Exactly

The stud talk is ridiculous. He isn’t prime Kobe. That’s a stud for heavens sake.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

Prime Kobe shot 13-33 in an elimination game when he was the same age as Khris that the Lakers lost.

Sorry, doesn't fit the agenda

[MickeyDavis]

Some of ya'll need to enjoy the win more.

[Bucksfan28]

KD told us Khris could hoop yall.

[MikeIsGood]

Shamelessly stolen from Reddit...

Bud after tonight's game, playing Middleton 48 minutes:

[0BobLobLaw0]

Miami is not better than us. They play a gimmick D on Giannis that Bud and Giannis can't or or refuse to figure out.

They're the 5th seed for a reason.

[Baddy Chuck]

Miami is not better than us. They play a gimmick D on Giannis that Bud and Giannis can't or or refuse to figure out.

They're the 5th seed for a reason.

Coaching and effort can go a long way in a 7 game series. Might not be better then us talent wise on the court but they have a lot where we don't.

[BigO]

Imagine how good the other guys could be if Giannis was willing to drag the Heat's two best defenders away from the ball on a regular basis instead of going for his regardless of how many guys are set and how far from the basket he is.

He was really good today when he played though. Saved them when they would have fallen WAY behind early. Just mix that in with what everyone else is capable of contributing and we'd all forget this bubble **** fast.

Miami is not very good. I continue to firmly believe that. Bucks have totally sabotaged themselves in this series.

Bud has been beyond terrible this entire series. Today was the first time he got GIannis is a good position to start offensive possessions, something even the casual viewer could see was needed. Today I was getting caught up on podcasts and it was infuriating to listen to SVG before game three talking about how the Giannis at the top of the key strategy wasn't going to work, and how we needed to see more pick and rolls with him as the screener or offense initiating at the high post. It's only been obvious to everyone here since before the series started and was said as much.

This is a 5 or 6 game Bucks series win with any competent playoff coach in place of Bud. Just the most basic stuff - play Giannis (when he's healthy) and Khris 42+ minutes, switch all small-small actions, side PnRs with Giannis as roll man, go under Jimmy PnRs, let Wes do his job. Do all that stuff from the start of the series and this is likely 2-2 or even 3-1 Bucks right now.

Instead they're going to lose in 5, possibly 6.

Excellent post. On the money on every point.

[HaroldinGMinor]

WE'VE GOT THEM RIGHT WHERE WE WANT THEM. I AM DRUNK

[greekbuck34]

That’s on Bud not Giannis

Yeah. Our spacing is awful. Giannis gets the ball. The double team is coming.

Hill/Marvin/Wes have their back on him slowly getting to their spot not in a hurry.
Lopez is 10 feet away from the 3p line for no reason and his defender is near the paint.
Bledsoe is ready for a brick and doesn't move and if he gets the ball hesitates or when he sees that his defender is not paying him any attention he also comes inside for no reason clogging the paint even farther for Giannis.
Middleton has a defender all over him far away from Giannis.
Giannis is getting swarmed and half the guys are not at their spot. Somehow with two guys on him nobody is open unless it's Bledsoe or someone else in the far corner. Evevybody is just standing there watching him either force the issue or turn the ball over.

Only Pat and Donte are smart/quick enough to make frequent fast cut and Giannis finds them for easy layups all of the time.

Other than that nobody is moving and it makes the job of the defenders much easier especially when the drill for the same play over and over again throughout a series.

Bud should have had atleast 5 different plays for Giannis to get the ball in the paint or make use of his gravity and instead we have only a couple that we don't even execute properly.

This is a Bucks forum, not a Giannis forum. If you can't handle perfectly fair criticisms of the way Giannis has played for most of the series and can't see how much healthier the teamwork dynamic has usually been when he's out, then you shouldn't be participating.


There is some truth to guys not being great at knowing what to do off the ball when Giannis has it, but that's mainly because Giannis shouldn't have it behind the arc so damn much unless it's on a fast break, or at least before the defense is fully set. That was the biggest issue in games 1-3.

I think you are the guy who can't handle some things well here. Take a few slow breaths and watch who I quoted first between your post. Unless Bucksfabsince88 is a greek Ray Allen fan he agrees with me that most of the fault for us looking bad on offense is Bud's despite not being a "Giannis' stan".

Giannis is forcing the issue on double teams or gets the ball behind the 3p line in front of a wall of defenders because Bud can't figure a way out of this for two straight seasons. Standing still and watching Giannis against the whole Miamis/Toronto's defense with inconsistent shooters and spacing will never work.

We look better offensively without Giannis because Miami spent all of their time setting their defense against him specifically. They don't give a **** about the others because they don't matter enough to threaten them in a series so they look unprepared most of the time.

[Plossum]

How anyone can be critical of Khris after this series is beyond me. Guy has done everything we could've asked of him.

[carnageta]

Miami is not better than us.

They're the 5th seed for a reason.

I guess there's only 1 way to find out, huh.


May the best team win the series.

[carnageta]

Neither team played good for their standards today.

If Middleton can continue looking like Kevin Durant on the floor, the Bucks can win another game, even without Giannis.


Good luck boys. See ya'll on Tuesday. Enjoy the win. Well deserved.

[Coach Carter]

Bud should've been smarter in this series. Against this type of defense, you set screens to death for your best half court shooter, especially in the 3rd and 4th quarters. To think we're better without giannis is silly. His rebounding and defense are elite. As a coach, you just have to be limit what he can and can't do at the other end. Someone said it earlier...sometimes with these superstars, you put down the coaching clipboard and handover the keys to them. If it works, great! But we saw it fail last year with Stevens and kyrie. Bunch of guys standing around watching kyrie. Minus kyrie, Stevens is now once again coaching like an elite coach. Not to repeat myself, but it's for these type of defenses that have the personal to limit Giannis, where you have to be smarter. If there's a breach in the wall like v Boston last year, allow him to feast.