2021 NBA Playoffs Gamethread
- Thread starter JohnnyTheBone
- Start date
Why do I have to suffer through this Nichols/Taylor drama when ESPN should just go live to Jimmy Eat World?
I want whatever drugs he's having. I'm thoroughly confused by how good he looks right now.
Phoenix is playing excellent basketball. Not only are Paul/Booker/Ayton playing at a high level, but they got a great game from Bridges, who at this point might be closer to being a fourth key guy than a role player, and Johnson/Crowder remain dependable. Losing Craig and Saric might shorten the rotation though.
For Milwaukee its tough to go 2-0 down, but there were some positives. Giannis is healthy and more importantly, Phoenix doesn't appear to have any answers for him on defense. You'd have to think that going home, you should expect more out of Middleton/Holiday and less from Phoenix role players.
For Milwaukee its tough to go 2-0 down, but there were some positives. Giannis is healthy and more importantly, Phoenix doesn't appear to have any answers for him on defense. You'd have to think that going home, you should expect more out of Middleton/Holiday and less from Phoenix role players.
He was the one only + on the entire team at 3. Everyone else was a minus.
He's the best player on the court pretty decisively, but it's just not enough. Middleton or Jrue needs to step up.
+/- in individual games isn't worth much, but it still feels noteworthy that in two games Giannis is a combined +4 in 75 minutes (the only Buck in game 2 to have a positive +/-) and in his 21 minutes on the bench, the Bucks are -27. Maybe Middleton/Holiday are wiped from playing without Giannis at the end of the ECF, or from having to be the primary source of offense at the end of the semis against Brooklyn, but this is a disaster for them.
Only starter on bucks with a positive in game one, only buck positive in game 2. He’s a beast.
BUTTTTTTT the suns are sick
Their depth is pretty much nonexistent the rest of the way. As someone who comfortably had Phoenix in 5 there is not a real chance this “could” be 2-2 if the Suns continue running out of players. This would be so typical of Chris Paul’s playoff luck.
Even with no Saric or Craig, they still go seven deep, starters are all quality plus the two Cams off the bench. MIL has 5 reliable guys at this point, the starters minus Tucker plus Connaughton.
As bad as Middleton and Holiday were on offense, that end wasn't the big problem for Milwaukee. Phoenix had a 129 offensive rating, .627 TS%, and shot 20/40 on 3s. Milwaukee has to fix their defense first.
Milwaukee's defense could be better, but I also thought Phoenix made a lot of tough shots, especially in the fourth. Booker sank a couple of contested threes, Bridges and Crowder each hit tough jumpers as the shot clock was about to expire; plus they gave up some long offensive rebounds which can be blamed on going small and not competing, but also can be attributed to random luck.
I wouldn’t discount Forbes and Portia from contributing. Payne is a pure 1 so he doesn’t provide any versatility. The Suns entire reliable non-1 bench now consists of.......Cam Johnson.
Guys like Kaminsky and Nader are going to have to play some minutes which not only negates the Suns second unit depth advantage they had two games ago but now placed them in some potentially difficult situations moving forward should they have any further injury/foul issues.
Yeah, Ayton staying out of foul trouble is a huge priority for Phoenix. He managed to do that last night despite Giannis shooting 18 free throws, but if Ayton can't play 40+ minutes it leaves a lot of time for Milwaukee to feast inside.
Jrue was asked to pick up Pail full court out of the gate and did an incredible job on him. Without Jrue’s defense and taking Paul out of the offense in the 1H the Bucks wouldn’t have had a chance. The price you pay for this is that it pretty much eliminates anything he can give you offensively as he isn’t Superman. That’s the type of team sacrifice I’d look for in my Tokyo guys....not trying to replace.
That was my take, too. I have no particular rooting interest, but I'd almost be encouraged if I'm the Bucks because the Suns were shooting out of their mind and getting lots of bounces, but in the main the Bucks stayed competitive. Heading back home, that has to be give some encouragement;
On the flip, the Suns are really the only team that looks like a championship team, especially when Jrue (who was, indeed, truly great on defense) and Middleton are clanking shots. Yeah, the Suns shot better than could be expected and they were getting some luck on long rebounds and such -- but damn they move the ball well and the reality is they just have a lot more guys who can put the ball in the hoop. Paul looked pretty injured/mediocre vs the Lakers and Clippers (until the final game), but since that final game vs the Clippers he's been HoF great.
Also interesting is Giannis clearly bowling over Crowder and being rewarded with 2 free throws.
Looks like Scott Foster's skills won't be necessary in this game. Suns shooting like garbage and playing no defense. Bucks have 2 turnovers as the half. Two.
The Suns complete lack of depth at Center is why alot of folks have argued for playing big and going at Ayton. If he's in foul trouble the Suns options are Frank the Tank and Jalen Smith (who has played 4 minutes total in the last two series). Loosing Saric really did matter for them.