Eastern Conference Finals: Milwaukee Bucks vs Toronto Raptors

[CheezWizHed]

Toronto didn't play great, but we played horrible and it took 2OT for them to win.

[TURBO]

SCREW that Drake PUNK!

[adambr2]

I think we should quit acting like the series is a given, or at least the players should, because simply showing up as we have in Games 1 and 3 is not going to cut it.

 

We should frankly be down 2-1.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

They'll get blown out in game 4 and fold in game 5. It's more fun to win it in Milwaukee anyway.

[PinaMadness]

Well, I thought all along this would be the game they lose but it took 2OT and Giannis and Middleton bringing their B game and Bledsoe his F game. We should have this wrapped up in 5, 6 max.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I think we should quit acting like the series is a given, or at least the players should, because simply showing up as we have in Games 1 and 3 is not going to cut it.

 

We should frankly be down 2-1.

 

It's a good thing "should be's" don't count then

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I think we should quit acting like the series is a given, or at least the players should, because simply showing up as we have in Games 1 and 3 is not going to cut it.

 

We should frankly be down 2-1.

 

No we shouldn't. Game 1 was very typical of how the Bucks have won all year, outlasting teams in the late third and fourth. This is a 58 win team they're not playing the Pistons. The wins are wins.

[pacopete4]

Giannis stunk. Didn’t show up. Disappointing.

[PinaMadness]

And free throw shooting has to improve. 66.7% isn't gonna cut it.

[adambr2]

I think we should quit acting like the series is a given, or at least the players should, because simply showing up as we have in Games 1 and 3 is not going to cut it.

 

We should frankly be down 2-1.

 

No we shouldn't. Game 1 was very typical of how the Bucks have won all year, outlasting teams in the late third and fourth. This is a 58 win team they're not playing the Pistons. The wins are wins.

 

Exactly, these aren't the Pistons, and they're not necessarily going to be able to get away with winning that way all series against a 58 win team.

[adambr2]

They'll get blown out in game 4 and fold in game 5. It's more fun to win it in Milwaukee anyway.

 

In most cases yeah, in this case I would much rather wipe the smug look off Drake's face and end his team's season right in front of him.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

If you're actually worried the Bucks are gonna drop this series, losing 3 of the next 4 against a team with no legs and an injured superstar, that just needed double OT at home to beat us on our worst night with Giannis shooting 5/1000 then nothing I say will comfort you. This series isn't in jeopardy. They just took an uppercut from a very good but inferior team. They don't have three more of those in them. The Bucks are fine.

[adambr2]

Well, I thought all along this would be the game they lose but it took 2OT and Giannis and Middleton bringing their B game and Bledsoe his F game. We should have this wrapped up in 5, 6 max.

 

B game? Middleton was 3 for 16 and couldn't crack double digits. I'd hate to see his F game. He was marginally better than Bledsoe which is saying nothing.

[Pugger]

Free throw shooting has killed us tonight.

 

Shooting overall the entire game killed us tonight. Toronto's D was tough but we were missing layups and uncontested jumpers. Let's hope this was just an off night for us and we take care of business Tuesday night.

[PinaMadness]

Free throw shooting has killed us tonight.

 

Shooting overall the entire game killed us tonight. Toronto's D was tough but we were missing layups and uncontested jumpers. Let's hope this was just an off night for us and we take care of business Tuesday night.

When was the last game we shot well? Overall, they've not been very impressive shooting the ball this postseason. We'll win this series but if we continue to shoot the ball the way we have been lately, we might get swept by Golden State. They never have an off night shooting.

[adambr2]

The demoralizing thing about today is was such a winnable game in which just one of our guys stepping up like Lopez in Game 1 changes the entire outcome. No one did.

 

Middleton just had a rough game. He'll be fine. Bledsoe is different. I'm getting pretty convinced that he's a guy who just can't handle the bright playoff lights. He looked like a total head case, and not for the first time this postseason.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

The expectation will be losing to GS. But I'll still take a lot of satisfaction in making Toronto go away.

[GAME05]

Middleton wanted to hit that winner in the 4th Q so bad he just didn't seem to care that it was a bad shot at a bad time with tons of people around him. Bad bad decision.

 

Just no reason Bledsoe shouldn't be trying to drive to the basket every chance he gets. Considering Giannis would be in the lane and everyone would still be paying attention to him, Bledsoe should be seeing little defensive help or at least a kickout to an available player. But every time the playoffs come around he thinks he's Steph Curry.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Middleton wanted to hit that winner in the 4th Q so bad he just didn't seem to care that it was a bad shot at a bad time with tons of people around him. Bad bad decision.

 

I think people are making way too much of that shot because it missed and there were guys near him but they didn't really contest it. He's made those shots all year. Two of the guys were behind him and no factor at all in what happened. He had a pretty nice look and went for the win. I had no problem with him taking it. Just didn't go in.

[CheezWizHed]

Agreed. My first impression was that it was a bad shot. Then watching the replay, no one was really in his sightline and he stepped into the shot nicely. Sometimes you wait too long and don't get a shot that good.

[adambr2]

If you're actually worried the Bucks are gonna drop this series, losing 3 of the next 4 against a team with no legs and an injured superstar, that just needed double OT at home to beat us on our worst night with Giannis shooting 5/1000 then nothing I say will comfort you. This series isn't in jeopardy. They just took an uppercut from a very good but inferior team. They don't have three more of those in them. The Bucks are fine.

 

I do think we'll win the series. I just think it's more like a 85%-90% chance rather than the mortal lock that some seem to. I think collectively we tend to overuse the "this this and this all went wrong and we still almost won" arguments. I'm losing count of how many times we've played the "our worst night" card in the playoffs so far.

 

Each game is it's own animal. Giannis might go for 40 on Tuesday and Kawhi might go for 50 and we lose by a point. One of Giannis' best games this season, I recall, was a home loss to Philly.

 

Toronto will probably be favored to win on Tuesday, as they were today, and then if the bounces don't go your way all of the sudden you've got a best of 3. Now hopefully we can put that all to rest on Tueaday, but we take way too much for granted against a 58 win team. Leonard could go MJ on us the rest of the series, we just don't know. Again, I do think we'll win this series. We just seem to assume an awful lot for a team that hasn't been to the Finals in almost 50 years. We're not the Warriors -- not yet anyway.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Because not going to the Finals for 50 years means diddly squat for the team playing right now. If people are confident it's because this team has been dominant all year. It is in actuality a 65-win team that rested Giannis because it could. There was a year, I want to say 2012? Where the Packers played the Vikings in Week 17, it went down to the wire and the Packers lost in Minnesota by a FG. The Vikings needed that win to make the playoffs. They then played each other in the Wild Card and the Packers squashed them; it was just a good team fighting for its life and basically everybody knew they wouldn't be able to do it twice.

 

That's what last night was. The Raptors are bruised and bloodied and just used their last bit of energy to squeak out a double OT win on a terrible shooting night for the Bucks (though they didn't shoot great either).

 

I don't know what the Vegas odds are but I feel pretty good about the Bucks handling them pretty easily Tuesday and then coming back to Milwaukee for the formality. I kind of agree about the "Bucks worst night" thing, but I feel the same about people drawing really broad conclusions every time they drop a game.

 

I mean, did people really think the Bucks would go 4-0, 4-0, 4-0 to the Finals? If last night is how they're going to lose, I'll take it.

[coolhandluke121]

Milwaukee is the better team but Toronto is very, very good. Credit to Kawhi for annihilating Khris's offense like prime Pippen while carrying an MJ load on offense. Depth is an issue for them, but there are no back-to-backs and no long flights in this series, and they're not nearly as bad as they looked in game 2.

 

Bledsoe is officially a "yips in the playoffs" legend at this point, and his outside shooting is a long-term concern. Credit the Raptors for sagging way off him, but how is he going to fit with Giannis if this continues? It's ridiculous how little spacing he provides compared to Hill, but sometimes you can just tell he's looking for his jumper anyway. Or he forces it into the lane but can't get a step on a defender playing so far off of him, which results in an automatic turnover when he tries to get cute with his dribble. He had his worst 3-point shooting year in 4 seasons despite tons of open looks, and in these playoffs he makes Monta Ellis look like Steph Curry.

 

I think everybody knows what I'm going to say about George Hill. Suffice to say it's okay if it took you a while to realize how good he is and how important. It wasn't always this obvious unless you were looking for the subtle things vets like him do to help you win and the indirect results of his presence and leadership. Just don't be that guy who doubles down on him being "just a solid backup pg" and it's all good. It would be really hard to start him over Bledsoe at this point because of the commitment he made to the team and all the free agents who are watching their every move, but if this continues, I think we'll see it in game 5.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I yelled at the TV when they came out for the 2nd OT with Bledsoe in the lineup.

[Baldkin]

The demoralizing thing about today is was such a winnable game in which just one of our guys stepping up like Lopez in Game 1 changes the entire outcome. No one did.

 

Middleton just had a rough game. He'll be fine. Bledsoe is different. I'm getting pretty convinced that he's a guy who just can't handle the bright playoff lights. He looked like a total head case, and not for the first time this postseason.

 

George Hill absolutely stepped up. He had 24 on NINE shots.

 

60 fouls called in 58 minutes of play. That was astoundingly horrible officiating. No consistency in what or how the game was called on either side.