Milwaukee Bucks 2019 playoffs Rd 2 vs Boston Celtics

[FVBrewerFan]

Hill has been great, no doubt. I don't feel PC and Sova are getting enough credit. Fun fact, PC is 2nd on the team in rebounds this series, and it's really not even close. Not for guards- 2nd in rebounding PERIOD. Sova plays really outstanding defense, may not get a ton of boards but blocks out his own man at least. Does the little things on offense. A put back here, a 3 there, nice pass. Just always makes the right play.

[tmwiese55]

Yup, Ersan is such a solid player. Yet a ton of Bucks fans wanted him run out of town during his normal early season slump. And even going into the playoffs a big chunk calling for DJ Wilson to play above him. Ersan is exactly what you need in a vet, makes the smart play, knows where to be positionally, not afraid of contact/hustle/boards/tipouts, etc. Just a solid bench player.

[PinaMadness]

Kyrie whined his way out of Cleveland because he didn't want to be in Lebron's shadow. The dude has been "me first" his whole career. I would be interested to see him and Durant on the Knicks next year. I'm guessing it doesn't work at all.

I know, right? Let's get the two moodiest players in the NBA on the same team in dysfunctional New York where the media pressure will rise immensely.

[homer]

The Celtics bench compared to the Bucks in this series is horrible. One of the biggest reason why the Bucks are dominating the Celtics is because of the play of the bench or lack there of for the Celtics.

 

I think the Bucks bench are outscoring the Celtics bench by nearly a triple digit lead. Haven't looked at the stats if this is true or not but it is probably really close.

 

I think the whole "bench is shortened in the playoffs" can go away. Bucks are showing that the bench can be important. I think that myth stemmed from teams that had bad benches didn't play them.

[tmwiese55]

Good point, yea if you're playing 42 yr old Jason Terry you should trim your bench and give those 12 mins to someone else. BUt if all your guys are good it might be best to continue to have a fresh energized team. Other than your true stars like a Giannis who if needed you can now play an extra 6-7 mins if needed. Especially knowing all the off days in the playoffs.

 

It'l be interesting what they do with Brog when he comes back. George Hill has simply been great. Project Pat has been great as well. So outside of Snell/Brown mins I don't see a lot of easy mins to take from someone else other than one or two here or there. Actually maybe Lopez would be the one to give up the most and play more wing heavy lineups. That would've made sense this round, next round though Gasol is a traditional/slower big that theoretically Lopez matches better than Horford.

[homer]

Good point, yea if you're playing 42 yr old Jason Terry you should trim your bench and give those 12 mins to someone else. BUt if all your guys are good it might be best to continue to have a fresh energized team. Other than your true stars like a Giannis who if needed you can now play an extra 6-7 mins if needed. Especially knowing all the off days in the playoffs.

 

It'l be interesting what they do with Brog when he comes back. George Hill has simply been great. Project Pat has been great as well. So outside of Snell/Brown mins I don't see a lot of easy mins to take from someone else other than one or two here or there. Actually maybe Lopez would be the one to give up the most and play more wing heavy lineups. That would've made sense this round, next round though Gasol is a traditional/slower big that theoretically Lopez matches better than Horford.

 

Don't forget Dante. I'm guessing Snell is a goner...if they can find someone to take him.

[adambr2]

Snell is really the last "bad" contract on the team. They've done an amazing job to not only dump bad contracts but get a major asset in Hill in the process.

[coolhandluke121]

I'd give up something of value to unload Snell if that's what it takes to keep everyone. I still say they should keep everyone anyway, even though it would be a huge tax bill. They got an arena from the taxpayers and they will be building their brand, which will help recoup some losses.

 

Anyway, I think it will take some serious sweetener to unload Snell's salary, but I'd be certainly be happy if they could trade Brown or Pat C, plus the #30 pick in the draft, to unload him. Their window is now, and I'm not sure there's enough playing time for everyone when Brogdon and DDV are healthy. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's not. So giving up the future potential of Brown and a pick is an easy choice to retain someone really important to their current chances of a title, like Hill.

 

If a team asks for Wilson or DDV, it would be a tough call. Would rather they just pay the tax, but it's not up to me. I could live with it if it means keeping Mirotic, Hill, Brogdon, and Khris. I think it's going to be really hard to keep Lopez.

[FVBrewerFan]

Good point, yea if you're playing 42 yr old Jason Terry you should trim your bench and give those 12 mins to someone else. BUt if all your guys are good it might be best to continue to have a fresh energized team. Other than your true stars like a Giannis who if needed you can now play an extra 6-7 mins if needed. Especially knowing all the off days in the playoffs.

 

It'l be interesting what they do with Brog when he comes back. George Hill has simply been great. Project Pat has been great as well. So outside of Snell/Brown mins I don't see a lot of easy mins to take from someone else other than one or two here or there. Actually maybe Lopez would be the one to give up the most and play more wing heavy lineups. That would've made sense this round, next round though Gasol is a traditional/slower big that theoretically Lopez matches better than Horford.

 

Don't forget Dante. I'm guessing Snell is a goner...if they can find someone to take him.

 

TMW is talking about playoff rotation, Dante hasn't been playing so Brogdon coming back won't affect him.

[OnTheBlack]

Kyrie Irving will never be a champion.

 

He won one with Cleveland.

 

Meh. That is all Lebron.

 

 

I'll admit I overestimated Kyrie, but they definitely don't win that Championship without him hitting one of the biggest shots in NBA history.

[OnTheBlack]

Ok, let me put it another way. Kyrie Irving will never be a champion on a team where he has to be "the man". Yes, he won a ring under Lebron's massive shadow (and yes, he did make the shot in game 7, but so did Steve Kerr, IIRC).

 

Irving last night said "I have to do more. For me, the 22 shots, I should have taken 30."

 

The Celtics went farther (further?) last year without him. He's immensely talented. He reminds me of Russell Westbrook. Amazingly talented. Could be (and maybe is) a top 5 player, but when the pressure is on, and he has to carry a team, he just wants to play hero ball. He just comes down the court and chucks up one after another ill-advised shot. Sometimes those shots go in, but that is not how great teams operate.

 

Just .... these last 3 games, he's off balance, rushing shots. Early in the shot clock. Going into the paint and taking contested layups against a defense built specifically to keep him from scoring in the paint.

 

Irving just feels like he could be in that class of top 10 players, but I don't think he is. But he should be. He has that kind of talent.

 

He also said, "I'm that great of a shooter." He's not totally wrong, he is a great shooter, but to your point, a guy like him, the leader of a deep and talented team, you just see it, when he's not hitting shots, and he's going through the worst slump of his career right now, that team falls apart.

 

Obviously part of the equation is the Bucks D, just like Steph's shooting for Golden State. Houston is forcing him to miss some like we're forcing Irving, but he's also pretty damn good at hitting contested shots. When he starts missing shots like that, it seems like it just takes the rest of the Celtics out of it. You can almost see them getting dejected.

He's more worried about getting himself going than getting the rest of the guys going.

 

 

Also, how badly is Heyward playing? They're just built badly. The Bucks have the perfect balance with little ego. The Celtics....man, the Bucks really haven't even played that great in this series and yet they're just stomping the Celts. I thought the Bucks would have to earn it a bit more, that there would be a couple games that would go down to the wire and the Bucks would have to get some stops.

 

But damn this feels good. I'll even take the obnoxious comments from CHL.

[OnTheBlack]

Ok, let me put it another way. Kyrie Irving will never be a champion on a team where he has to be "the man". Yes, he won a ring under Lebron's massive shadow (and yes, he did make the shot in game 7, but so did Steve Kerr, IIRC).

 

Irving last night said "I have to do more. For me, the 22 shots, I should have taken 30."

 

The Celtics went farther (further?) last year without him. He's immensely talented. He reminds me of Russell Westbrook. Amazingly talented. Could be (and maybe is) a top 5 player, but when the pressure is on, and he has to carry a team, he just wants to play hero ball. He just comes down the court and chucks up one after another ill-advised shot. Sometimes those shots go in, but that is not how great teams operate.

 

Just .... these last 3 games, he's off balance, rushing shots. Early in the shot clock. Going into the paint and taking contested layups against a defense built specifically to keep him from scoring in the paint.

 

Irving just feels like he could be in that class of top 10 players, but I don't think he is. But he should be. He has that kind of talent.

 

He also said, "I'm that great of a shooter." He's not totally wrong, he is a great shooter, but to your point, a guy like him, the leader of a deep and talented team, you just see it, when he's not hitting shots, and he's going through the worst slump of his career right now, that team falls apart.

 

Obviously part of the equation is the Bucks D, just like Steph's shooting for Golden State. Houston is forcing him to miss some like we're forcing Irving, but he's also pretty damn good at hitting contested shots. When he starts missing shots like that, it seems like it just takes the rest of the Celtics out of it. You can almost see them getting dejected.

He's more worried about getting himself going than getting the rest of the guys going.

 

 

Also, how badly is Heyward playing? They're just built badly. The Bucks have the perfect balance with little ego. The Celtics....man, the Bucks really haven't even played that great in this series and yet they're just stomping the Celts. I thought the Bucks would have to earn it a bit more, that there would be a couple games that would go down to the wire and the Bucks would have to get some stops.

 

But damn this feels good. I'll even take the obnoxious comments from CHL.

[OnTheBlack]

Another guy who looks REALLY bad in this series, Brad Stevens.

 

Last year Nate Silver did a poll on who you'd take for the next 5 years between Giannis and Stevens and the results came out 54-46 in favor of Giannis.

 

 

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/brad-stevens-makes-the-celtics-better-than-they-have-any-right-to-be/

 

That was almost a year ago to the day. That was still after people had put Giannis among the best players in the league, though not quite the MVP caliber player he's become this year(and what the hell is gonna happen if he keeps hitting 47 pct of his 3's while shooting 4 a game).

[coolhandluke121]

Another guy who looks REALLY bad in this series, Brad Stevens.

 

 

He doesn't have much to work with. Not his fault Tatum went to Kobe for advice on chucking and Ainge sold their basketball soul for Kyrie. You can only be a great coach when guys are coachable, as the Bucks have been this year.

[brwrsfan]

I find it somewhat odd that DJ Wilson can't get even a few minutes. Good defender, big body. Seems like he could have been useful in trying to slowdown Morris, even in small spurts. I know the bench tends to shrink in the playoffs, but he's only played in total garbage time so far.

 

I'll be there tonight. I feel like the fans think this series is already over, which makes me a little nervous. Hopefully the Bucks players aren't feeling overconfident. I'd really love for the Bucks to lock it up tonight and not have to go back to Boston.

[tmwiese55]

Yup, let this get back to Boston and next thing you know you might be in a game 7 where anything can happen. I'm confident Giannis is not the type to relax.

[homer]

I find it somewhat odd that DJ Wilson can't get even a few minutes. Good defender, big body. Seems like he could have been useful in trying to slowdown Morris, even in small spurts. I know the bench tends to shrink in the playoffs, but he's only played in total garbage time so far.

 

I'll be there tonight. I feel like the fans think this series is already over, which makes me a little nervous. Hopefully the Bucks players aren't feeling overconfident. I'd really love for the Bucks to lock it up tonight and not have to go back to Boston.

 

Just a hunch but I am guessing that Wilson isn't quite up to snuff on the defensive switching they've been doing. Also, Bud likes veterans. Also can't complain about the results so far

[RollieTime]

Looks like Brogdon is expected to play tonight. Great news for the Bucks! Not sure where they are at for a minutes restriction on him, but I would guess he’s only going to play 12-15 minutes to ease him back in and see how his foot holds up.

[coolhandluke121]

Wilson had the yips on his shot like nobody's business, and that would only get worse in the playoffs. Hope that's not a part of his personality because he needs to work that out to be playable. I think he has a ton of potential but my spaz alarms started going off after seeing him in a few dozen games.

[tmwiese55]

I find it somewhat odd that DJ Wilson can't get even a few minutes. Good defender, big body. Seems like he could have been useful in trying to slowdown Morris, even in small spurts. I know the bench tends to shrink in the playoffs, but he's only played in total garbage time so far.

 

I'll be there tonight. I feel like the fans think this series is already over, which makes me a little nervous. Hopefully the Bucks players aren't feeling overconfident. I'd really love for the Bucks to lock it up tonight and not have to go back to Boston.

 

Just a hunch but I am guessing that Wilson isn't quite up to snuff on the defensive switching they've been doing. Also, Bud likes veterans. Also can't complain about the results so far

 

Well the theory was that his athleticism would do much better on the ball screens than the big stiffs like Lopez/Ers/Niko. That's why a big contingent were pushing for him to play. That said, maybe the 'smarts' aspects of the switching wasn't there so could kinda be both ways.

 

I really think it simply came down to proven vets in front of him. You got Niko and Ersan exactly for these situations and so far they've done well. And I think a lot of folks grossly over inflated DJ based on a few good games to want to trust him in playoff games. Say we lose Niko and DJ plays all next year and continues to progress you might have a different story though. Odd stat, thus far in his whole career DJ has scored a total of 301 points in two seasons, and 9% of those points came in the last two garbage mins games of the season this year. Now of course Points isn't all that matters, but it just highlights how little he's done and played.

[Samurai Bucky]

Interesting that this article came out today about Sterling Brown:

 

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2835042-sterling-brown-has-something-to-say

 

Nothing like somebody stirring the pot when the chemistry seems to be very good with this team.

[brwrsfan]

I don't see anything in that article that would shake up chemistry? Some good quotes from teammates in there about both how he handled everything and how he earned playing time this year.

[homer]

There is literally nothing in that article that stirs the pot.

[coolhandluke121]

I wonder if Jabari still thinks he deserves to be one of the stars of the team.

[nate82]

I wonder if Jabari still thinks he deserves to be one of the stars of the team.

 

I don't see why he wouldn't and if he didn't I would question his drive.