2021 NBA Playoffs Gamethread

Auger34

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Kaminsky in the game…another big Milwaukee run.
I don’t know who Monty should play but it can’t be Kaminsky anymore
 

Auger34

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The 4 best players on milwaukee tonight:
Giannis
Jrue Holiday
Frank Kaminsky
Can Payne
 

DeadlySplitter

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Bucks can win it all with Giannis at this level. Have to win one on the road with Middleton/Holliday having one good game together out there.

Do the Suns have anyone on their roster besides Ayton that can slow Giannis? Was that going to be Saric before his ACL tear?
 
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Jimbodandy

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Bucks can win it all with Giannis at this level. Have to win one on the road with Middleton/Holliday having one good game together out there.

Do the Suns have anyone on their roster besides Ayton that can slow Giannis? Was that going to be Saric before his ACL tear?
Saric doesn't really slow down people. Everyone builds a wall to slow down Giannis. It's all about help and hedging, but not letting the other guys kill you from outside. Giannis is gonna do Giannis stuff in general. But tonight, Jrue played well too. And the Suns just played shit defense overall. Bucks with 27 assists on 43 buckets and 9 turnovers as of this post. That's partly on Phoenix.
 

Kliq

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Holiday and Middleton actually show some level of competency and lo-and-behold Bucks cruise to victory. A nice reminder that home court really does matter in the NBA. The the thing with Milwaukee that makes them really tough is that they pretty much don't play any bad defenders; Phoenix made a lot of tough shots at home, I don't think Milwaukee played that bad on defense. Booker needs to be a lot better, but he is going to have some off nights when the defense is at this kind of intensity.

Phoenix is in trouble right now because they simply don't have an answer for Giannis and the best hope for him seems to be to keep whacking him and hoping he mentally loses it at the free throw line (13/17 tonight) and even that isn't great because as we saw tonight, it can get some key players in serious foul trouble.
 

PedroKsBambino

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This version of Giannis—who aggressively gets to the paint, can post up when matchups suggest, and is ok from the line—is a problem.
 

jose melendez

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This has been a confirmation for me that Giannis is, in fact, the best player in the game period including LeBron, Durant and Curry. He may not be the single best offensive player, but the fact that he consistently--rather than selectively--plays elite defense, puts him in a different stratosphere. Also, his teammates are so limited and inconsistent. After Middleton and Holliday, there's just not much there, and both of those guys--especially Holliday--are kind of trick or treat.

Phoenix may have 7 of the 10 best players in this series, and they should probably win, but with Giannis like this, it may not be enough.
 

jon abbey

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This has been a confirmation for me that Giannis is, in fact, the best player in the game period including LeBron, Durant and Curry.
I feel like you either missed or are forgetting the Bucks/Nets series in which Durant almost singlehandedly won the series against a healthy Bucks team.
 

jose melendez

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I feel like you either missed or are forgetting the Bucks/Nets series in which Durant almost singlehandedly won the series against a healthy Bucks team.
I remember--he was incredibly. But he didn't win. And if he doesn't get the weird Jeff Greene game, he loses in 6 despite playing amazing.

And the Nets bench is probably better than the Bucks bench--though certainly the Nets bench played incredibly poorly in that series.

Injured Harden and Blake vs. Middleton and Jrue, not that decisive an edge for Mil.
 

jon abbey

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I remember. But he didn't.

And the Nets bench is probably better than the Bucks bench--though certainly the Nets Bench played incredibly poorly in that series.
Yeah, the Bucks won game 7 in OT, can't get much closer than that. And with Kyrie out and Harden hobbled, it wasn't just the bench but the entire supporting cast. Durant had a hobbled Harden and his next best teammate was the remnants of Blake Griffin, Durant won game 5 singlehandedly and almost game 7 too. MIL had the next three best players after Durant/Giannis in game 7 and still came an inch away from losing in regulation (Durant's toe on the three point line).
 

Kliq

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I feel like you either missed or are forgetting the Bucks/Nets series in which Durant almost singlehandedly won the series against a healthy Bucks team.
I don't know if Giannis is the straight-up best player in the NBA. I do think he is getting overlooked in regards to this Nets series; where Durant was so fantastic he got all the headlines, but Giannis averaged 32 and 13 and shot 57% from the floor and was a complete monster, including 40-13-5 in Game 7 to send Durant home. The narrative from the series seems to be the Bucks are super-lucky that Brooklyn was so banged up and it's almost a fluke they made it to the Finals. There is some truth to that, but it's also true that the Bucks beat the Nets because Giannis was a complete killer in that series.

I think my favorite thing about Giannis right now is that he is extremely unflappable and seems intensely focused. He has obvious flaws but he doesn't shy away from them or let them hinder his confidence. He will miss some jumpers in horrible fashion, just complete air-balls, but he'll come right down the floor and try and jam it on somebody next time. He hasn't been altered to change his free-throw routine despite constant taunts from fans, opposing players and coaches and so far he has made an acceptable-amount of them in the Finals. In Game 3 there was a little incident where he was getting up after falling near Booker, and Booker kind of non-nonchalantly pushed him back down. A lot of players, even stars, would have gotten really mad about that little push but Giannis just went back to the huddle and came back out and kicked ass.
 

coremiller

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The other big edge for Giannis over Durant, Steph, LeBron, etc. is that in addition to being a great scorer he's also an enormously impactful defensive player.
 

Kliq

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Durant is a very good defender, probably underrated. LeBron is overrated in some ways but still capable of moments of intense defense and is super-strong. Giannis is an excellent help defender when he is engaged. Maybe not the most disciplined guy, but you can afford to be a little undisciplined when you have that kind of incredible length and agility. In Game 2 there was a play where an offensive rebound was given up, and Mikail Bridges (who is probably in the top 3% of NBA athletes) got the ball for an easy-reverse lay-up, and Giannis just flew in and jumped like 15 feet in the air to block it and launched a fast-break for an easy lay-up. The most apt-comparision for him through the first three games of the Finals has been Hakeem; he is unstoppable right now around the basket and has made some incredible defensive plays.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Its anyone's guess how this series turns out but if a person is selling a Giannis/Bucks can't win in the playoffs narrative at this point, they are probably best avoided - they may well be basketball savants but they are simply in face-saving territory now.

That isn't to say the Bucks are coming back in this series but the fact that these two teams are in the championship essentially illustrates that there are multiple paths to winning it all. Giannis has his flaws as others have noted here but they may well not be as limiting as some basketball fans previously thought.
 
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Euclis20

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A random thought today - the Bucks' 3 best players (Giannis/Middleton/Holiday) were the 15th, 39th and 17th players picked in their respective draft classes. Has any finals team had a top 3 with a similar [lack of] draft pedigree, all taken outside of the lottery? I would imagine that the top 3 for the Suns (Paul/Booker/Ayton were picked 4th/13th/1st) is much more typical.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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A random thought today - the Bucks' 3 best players (Giannis/Middleton/Holiday) were the 15th, 39th and 17th players picked in their respective draft classes. Has any finals team had a top 3 with a similar [lack of] draft pedigree, all taken outside of the lottery? I would imagine that the top 3 for the Suns (Paul/Booker/Ayton were picked 4th/13th/1st) is much more typical.
The 2018-19 Raptors team comes to mind. Kawhi was 15th, Lowry was 24th, Siakim was 27th, Van Vleet was undrafted. I don’t think there was a lottery pick on the roster.
 

HomeRunBaker

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A random thought today - the Bucks' 3 best players (Giannis/Middleton/Holiday) were the 15th, 39th and 17th players picked in their respective draft classes. Has any finals team had a top 3 with a similar [lack of] draft pedigree, all taken outside of the lottery? I would imagine that the top 3 for the Suns (Paul/Booker/Ayton were picked 4th/13th/1st) is much more typical.
The 2005 Championship Spurs had some uniqueness to their starting lineup in the playoffs. After Duncan it was Manu (57), Bowen (UFA), Parker (28), and Mohammed (29).
 

Ale Xander

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Berkshire is Albany TV market (see NFL posts by me and YTF) why are they giving flood warnings here.
 

DamageTrain

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Is it me, or is this game quite dull and a bit sloppy? I haven’t watched much of the series, but tuning in now I’m having trouble retaining interest.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Is it me, or is this game quite dull and a bit sloppy? I haven’t watched much of the series, but tuning in now I’m having trouble retaining interest.
If nobody clicked the gambling thread......This is often how these deep series evolve once they have a few games under their belt. The defenses know the offensive sets better than the offenses do. It can make for less transition, less offensive continuity and more contested shots.
 

Kliq

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I was flipping between the game and wrestling, but from what I've seen I see intense defense, but also very good ball movement and some tough shot making by both teams. It's good, intense playoff basketball.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Is it me, or is this game quite dull and a bit sloppy? I haven’t watched much of the series, but tuning in now I’m having trouble retaining interest.
I watch these games specifically for the breakdowns and what players do when they have to freelance when a set is mucked up. Its way more interesting from that perspective imo.

Btw, some of Booker's finishes that half were insane. That left-handed runner in particular. Whoa...
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Booker is so skilled. Connaughton could have been called for a foul as he used his weight to push Booker backwards off his spot so Book just contorts and hits a fadeaway.