Eastern Conference Finals: Milwaukee Bucks vs Toronto Raptors

[Jenkins5]

Lopez Lopez Lopez! How big was he tonight! Helped carry us back. Brogdon gave us big spark early to keep us in it. Great to get game 1 locked away

[DuWayne Steurer]

Bucks simply wore them out. Toronto has no bench. Bucks dominated every 4th quarter stat.

 

I think the Raps were able to get past Philly because Philly also had no bench. They're going to have to play some of their bench guys. When you see the BUcks outboarded the Raps 18-6 in the 4th quarter, that's a pretty telling stat.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Okay guys, it's game one. Go home!

[pacopete4]

My God, Lopez is just brutal.

 

This didn’t age well.

[FVBrewerFan]

It cannot inspire confidence for the Raps to throw everything they have at us, have Lowry go berserk, have us make 25% of our 3s, and still lose by 8.

 

Not to mention Giannis had a good night, but not exceptional. And a bad night from Middleton. Just shows, Bucks just have so many more ways to beat you.

[homer]

Bucks simply wore them out. Toronto has no bench. Bucks dominated every 4th quarter stat.

 

I think the Raps were able to get past Philly because Philly also had no bench. They're going to have to play some of their bench guys. When you see the BUcks outboarded the Raps 18-6 in the 4th quarter, that's a pretty telling stat.

 

Yup. Bucks got a lot of key offensive boards in that 4th quarter.

[nate82]

 

I think the Raps were able to get past Philly because Philly also had no bench. They're going to have to play some of their bench guys. When you see the BUcks outboarded the Raps 18-6 in the 4th quarter, that's a pretty telling stat.

 

Having your starters play as many minutes as they did compared to the Bucks starters and the Bucks being rested also helped. If the Raptors don't get some solid play out of their bench it could be a long series for them. The closer the game is the better for the Bucks as the Raptors can't rotate Kawhi out like the Bucks can rotate Middleton, Giannis and Bledsoe. The Bucks are just a deeper team and probably the deepest team in the playoffs right now.

[PinaMadness]

My God, Lopez is just brutal.

 

This didn’t age well.

Why? I was referring to his perimeter shooting. He was 4 of 11, and several of them were bricks. (He had just thrown one of those bricks when I posted that) But to his credit he knocked down a couple in crunch time and did just about everything else near perfect.

[Jenkins5]

My God, Lopez is just brutal.

 

This didn’t age well.

 

Not well at all, hero of the night on both sides of the court

[trwi7]

My God, Lopez is just brutal.

 

This didn’t age well.

Why? I was referring to his perimeter shooting. He was 4 of 11, and several of them were bricks. (He had just thrown one of those bricks when I posted that) But to his credit he knocked down a couple in crunch time and did just about everything else near perfect.

 

4-11 is 36% which isn't bad at all.

[OnTheBlack]

 

I think the Raps were able to get past Philly because Philly also had no bench. They're going to have to play some of their bench guys. When you see the BUcks outboarded the Raps 18-6 in the 4th quarter, that's a pretty telling stat.

 

Having your starters play as many minutes as they did compared to the Bucks starters and the Bucks being rested also helped. If the Raptors don't get some solid play out of their bench it could be a long series for them. The closer the game is the better for the Bucks as the Raptors can't rotate Kawhi out like the Bucks can rotate Middleton, Giannis and Bledsoe. The Bucks are just a deeper team and probably the deepest team in the playoffs right now.

 

 

The Raptors have a few guys who can play on their bench. Kinda surprised they didn't go to Norm Powell more after he started out and hit a couple threes. He's a guy who can defend and rebound well for his size.

 

But I don't see how the Raptors can go with the Bucks. They lost on a night when Lowry was 7 or 8 from 3 at one point, Kawhi didn't play great, but he played pretty well, meanwhile Giannis had a really average night by his standards. Middleton shot poorly.

 

This has to be just completely demoralizing if you're Toronto. This was the game they needed to win the way they played and they ended up losing by 8 with Leonard gassed badly at the end of the game.

 

If the Bucks shoot just average in the first half from 3, this game woulda been a blowout.

[OnTheBlack]

 

4-11 is 36% which isn't bad at all.

 

 

I'm guessing at the time he was talking about how they looked. He missed a few badly. One I believe didn't touch the rim and just clanked off the backboard to the right of the rim.

[owbc]

That might up being the closest Toronto gets to winning a game in this series unless they have some absurd shooting night.

 

It’s kind of cool how both the Brewers and Bucks are succeeding on some variation of the MVP + depth formula.

[adambr2]

That might up being the closest Toronto gets to winning a game in this series unless they have some absurd shooting night.

 

It’s kind of cool how both the Brewers and Bucks are succeeding on some variation of the MVP + depth formula.

 

I'd be pretty surprised if they don't win at least 1 game in Toronto. I do expect to take Game 2, though.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I'm Paul Piercing this one. Toronto doesn't have the depth to last a series with the Bucks. They have enough star power to beat them once or twice, but there is no way that 7-man rotation has the legs to do the 130 points thing the likely four times they'd have to do it. Giannis was manageable last night, they scored 100 and lost because Lopez dropped 29. Everything fell in place for the Raptors and they lost. Still kinda feel a split in the first two, but I just can't see that team playing at the Bucks pace for that long when they already look tired.

[Mr Southpaw]

Nurse will need to go with his bench earlier. Toronto starters need to have more bench time earlier in the game and hope the Bucks have another bad shooting performance. It is the only way they have a shot at pulling out Game 2.

 

Bud just needs to keep putting pressure on them both defensively and offensively. I have no problem seeing Sterling Brown and Dj Wilson, heck even Tony Snell, coming in to ratchet up the defensive intensity. Make everything hard for them while they are on offensive end and get out fast, shooting early in the shot clock after four or five quick passes on our end.

 

This team can be very special! I am in a place I have not been since 1971.

[coolhandluke121]

The fact that the Bucks came out so rusty and cold while the Raptors shot the lights out and still couldn't pull too far ahead probably tells you everything you need to know about this series. The Bucks have an embarrassment of riches, and even on those rare nights when nothing else works, Lopez can still just take over in the paint. That said, it may be more a case of Gasol being washed up than Lopez being good at this point. Gasol is just a statue out there most of the time, even compared to the plodding Lopez.

 

Not loving Bledsoe though. He's a physically gifted defender but I think Lowry schooled him. And a big difference with Bledsoe, compared to Hill and Brogdon, is how much teams sag off him. He's just not getting the same lanes and it has a big indirect effect on the offense. Lowry might choke in the playoffs a lot, but he won't make Bledsoe's life easier by being a bonehead like Kyrie.

 

Brogdon and Khris both defended Kawhi well. Brogdon does surprisingly well against bigger wings - it's the quick guys who give him fits. And you won't hear me complain much about Khris, because he does his job just by virtue of the fact that the Raptors feel they have to put Kawhi on him and tell him not to leave Khris alone. Khris could have been better but I'm not concerned about it. He's still a part of a team formula that's nearly unbeatable in a 7-game series.

 

Lopez matches up much better with Toronto. I think small lineups will generally work better, but it really doesn't matter. No matter who's playing when, as long as they have spacing and their shooting averages out, they'll just overwhelm the Raptors. Don't expect a lot of blowouts, but the Bucks look clearly better.

[coolhandluke121]

Just looked it up out of curiosity. This was the 5th game all year where their top 8 guys were all available. Juggernaut. Putting forth an all-time great regular season and then playing even better in the post season.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Gasol has been outstanding for the Raps defensively prior to last night. They aren't playing the Bucks without him. Offensively he's been really bad. But the switch defender role he is playing leaves Lopez wide open for threes.

[Mr Southpaw]

The Bucks can play much better than they did in Game 1. Toronto is about what they are. Bledsoe, Middleton, Niko, and most of the bench not named Malcom can play much better. Leonard, Gasol, and Green can probably play a little better. If I were to bet, I would say Bucks in five with Toronto winning Game 3 or Game 4.

 

Just keep the pressure on them, don't let off the gas.

[tmwiese55]

I don't see how not defending the 3 at all is a winnable scheme at this level.

 

I feel like you mention this every time a team shoots over 40% for a game against the Bucks, and yeah, it's frustrating to watch. But the BUcks went 60-22, have the best defensive rating in the league, went 9-4 against the top 4 teams in the East, swept Houston in two games, went 1-1 vs Golden State, swept Denver....

 

What they're doing wins games. They win the majority of the time against the best teams.

 

Yes, there are nights when a team gets hot from 3 and they get burned. Over 82 games (or even 7 games) is that sustainable? I'm gonna say "probably not".

 

I mention it every time because it's frustrating as hell. I just want them to defend it. Even if it means a few more points given up in the paint, just defend it half-assed, half the time, is all I'm asking.

 

Ya'll are just missing the bigger pic. In the NBA you can't cover everything, the players are too good. The trade off in this strategy is great interior paint defense vs the most efficient shot in the game, dunks. Second, this strategy is huge for rebounding. This is a big factor in how they went from one of the worst rebounding teams in the league to the best in one year. Third, they allow 3s but try to do it the best way possible in that they don't allow many corner 3s and they are coached properly to know which guys to leave. So they push the %s as much as possible in their favor by trying to have the blah guys shoot instead of Danny Green etc. Again, it s the NBA so you can't stop everything and sometime the best guys are gonna get their shots and sometimes a team will just get lights out and there's nothing you can do. But the idea is that will be very difficult to get hot enough to beat this high paced efficient offense 4/7 games. Long story short, this D strategy has led to the #1 D rating in the league and yet people are complaining.

[coolhandluke121]

Some good 3-point runs by opponents are inevitable. Fortunately, regressing to the mean is also inevitable, and it has favored the Bucks dramatically all year. I've lost count of the number of bad games or bad halves where lots of people rightly pointed out that the opponent can't shoot this well consistently and the Bucks just have to weather it, which they do. You're going to have games like that once in a while, and it's a testament to Milwaukee's incredible talent that they keep them close and ultimately win so many of them.

[Mr Southpaw]

Some good 3-point runs by opponents are inevitable. Fortunately, regressing to the mean is also inevitable, and it has favored the Bucks dramatically all year. I've lost count of the number of bad games or bad halves where lots of people rightly pointed out that the opponent can't shoot this well consistently and the Bucks just have to weather it, which they do. You're going to have games like that once in a while, and it's a testament to Milwaukee's incredible talent that they keep them close and ultimately win so many of them.

 

The talent you speak of is truly there, along with great depth. Trust in Bud and everything will work out. He has a great feel for the game and.... he has Giannis.

[xisxisxis]

Some good 3-point runs by opponents are inevitable. Fortunately, regressing to the mean is also inevitable, and it has favored the Bucks dramatically all year. I've lost count of the number of bad games or bad halves where lots of people rightly pointed out that the opponent can't shoot this well consistently and the Bucks just have to weather it, which they do. You're going to have games like that once in a while, and it's a testament to Milwaukee's incredible talent that they keep them close and ultimately win so many of them.

Yep. The Raptors played about as good as your gonna see for 36 minutes against this defense. Once they started missing shots, game over as the bucks just accelerated past them. Nothing miraculous like missing none of their shots, just back to being efficient on offense.

 

As pointed out by many and recognized by most basketball analysts with any credibility, the defensive scheme is why the Bucks are so unbeatable. They hold the other team down making them succeed by being lights out from the longest 3's and if the Bucks offense struggles the team is always in striking distance and when the offense turns around the bucks win. They hold the other team down and if the offense is clicking you see 20+ point wins. Only when the bucks can't get going on offense at all and the other team hits there shots the entire game do the Bucks lose. I'll take the over on their approach EVERY time and I'd be ahead 69 to 23.

 

While the Celtics had there issues they just came off of a sweep of the Pacers and were likely playing their best basketball of the year, the Bucks ripped off their head and crapped down their necks... The Raptors won't lose their heads, but they will go down this series with minimally better success than the Celtics.

[tmwiese55]

Another thing to add to the points above regarding depth. This whole series is games every other day, no more extended breaks. After playing a 7 game series and needing to play all their guys 40 mins this is a huge advantage for MKE