Heat vs Bucks - 28th November at 8:30 (?)

[old skool]

That's not the only determining stat for performance, especially one that has more to do with who you're lined up with in game and how you do as a group. Bam was our best player tonight. Don't take much stock in this game. We'll see what happens when we have Jimmy and Herro in the lineup.

I agree about not putting too much stock in this game.

My point about Adebayo and Antetokounmpo was that Bam did not pretty much go head to toe. Milwaukee's starters were outscoring the Heat starters throughout the game; Milwaukee starters all finished with a healthy +/. Miami was winning the bench battle. When both teams played their starters in the 4th, Milwaukee won somewhat comfortably, outscoring the Heat 27-18 to close the game.

Miami will be better with Herro and Butler available. Adebayo looked tired in the 4th Q playing 42 minutes. Milwaukee will be better if they stay healthy and develop cohesion with their new schemes.

Bucks might get better offensively, but unfortunately not defensively. Their defense guys are poor offensive players, so playing them actually hurts their offense as well. I don't see the Bucks hitting another level outside of the 2 man game between Giannis and Dame.

The Bucks are an interesting study in committing to a top heavy roster, with obvious concessions to poor depth and limited capability mid-roster.

While there is folly trying to draw definitive conclusions from small sample early season results, Milwaukee is getting improved results on both end of the court, especially at the end of tight games.

After 18 games, Milwaukee has the NBA's 4th best Ortg, the 21st Drtg, and the 11th Net Rating. But over the last 9 of those 18 games, Milwaukee has the 3rd Ortg, the 14th Drtg and the 2nd best Net Rating. Improvements in every area, with the biggest improvement coming on defense. (For comparative purposes, Milwaukee's Defensive Rating in the last 9 games is 114.6, compared to Miami's 113.1 - not a huge gulf.)

Per NBA.com the results have been even better in "clutch" situations this season. In the last 5 minutes of games with the teams within 5 points or less of each other, Milwaukee has the 1st Ortg, the 3rd Drtg and the 1st Net Rating. That explains their 8-2 record in those "clutch" games and belies your narrative that the Bucks best defenders hurt their offense. Milwaukee's Drtg in 42 minutes of "clutch" situations is a 3rd best 95.8, compared to Miami's 23rd best Drtg of 116.9 in the clutch and a 5-5 record in those games.

Those results mirror the flow of the game last night. Milwaukee led big early with their starters, fell back when they played a lot of reserves, and surged ahead again at the end with the starters back together on the court. Milwaukee will be vulnerable any time their top players are not fully available. Their roster is top heavy. But that top heavy roster has improved significantly in defense performance, especially in the clutch where it is winning games by dominating.

[greg4012]

Meh. Not disappointed with the loss. Knew we likely were not going to pull the game out when the score was dead even heading into the 4th. We just don't have a closer when Jimmy and Herro are not on the court and so we needed at least a 10-12pt cushion against a team like Milwaukee. As others said, Bam has been amazing; he literally went toe-to-toe against the best power forward in the game and almost pulled off the win shorthanded.

Sitting at 10-8 now. The ones that got away are the Chicago and Knicks losses (up 20 in both games). Had we pulled those out we'd be sitting pretty comfy at 12-6 right now.

Adebayo was -16 for the game. Antetokounmpo was +18. It was not very close.

[carnageta]

Meh. Not disappointed with the loss. Knew we likely were not going to pull the game out when the score was dead even heading into the 4th. We just don't have a closer when Jimmy and Herro are not on the court and so we needed at least a 10-12pt cushion against a team like Milwaukee. As others said, Bam has been amazing; he literally went toe-to-toe against the best power forward in the game and almost pulled off the win shorthanded.

Sitting at 10-8 now. The ones that got away are the Chicago and Knicks losses (up 20 in both games). Had we pulled those out we'd be sitting pretty comfy at 12-6 right now.

Adebayo was -16 for the game. Antetokounmpo was +18. It was not very close.

+/- is a meaningless stat when looked at solely. Look at the moments of truth (as Spo would say); Bam stopped GA many times when it mattered most and scored for us on the other end when we needed it most. Down the stretch, who won the game for the Bucks? It wasn't Giannis; it was Damian Lillard and Kris Middleton.

[dolphinatik]

awesome game for Bam and JJJ. With Jimmy and Tyler it just gets easier.

[powerball1373]

Like I said, when the first major injury happens early in the season because of running up the score when the game is already decided may change a lot of people's minds. For instance... how will you feel about it if someone like Bam tears his ACL trying to win a game by 23 instead of just double digits.

For a league that's been worried about the amount of games the players are playing and injuries, they're now tossing in incentives to make teams play harder and longer very early in the season.

Idk about you, but I haven't watched a game yet where the stars are in because they're trying to run up the score.

It's early with this new tourney but some things are already happening, it may take a few seasons. Instead of the games being over because you've won the game and you sit your stars, **** like this may make teams have to run their better players back on the court. This doesn't feel like the professional version of basketball anymore, I expect they'll start putting 4 point circles out on the court.

Up by 32 in the 4th, Boston is fouling intentionally to try to run up the score. This is the top basketball league? It's a joke. What's worse, I expect this running up the score bleeds into the non IST games so it's possible this stupid running up the score could end up making stars play harder longer and with that of course more injuries not less like we've heard about for the last x number of years to prolong player's careers. Give it time, playing harder longer will have its effects.

Spoiler:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Ok, so it happened in a few games yesterday only (versus every single IST game). Meh. They'll probably change that tiebreaker next season if enough players feel that way. Overall, I still think the IST has def been a net positive and nothing to complain about. Why wouldn't you want more meaningful and fun games to watch?

[AirP.]

Idk about you, but I haven't watched a game yet where the stars are in because they're trying to run up the score.

It's early with this new tourney but some things are already happening, it may take a few seasons. Instead of the games being over because you've won the game and you sit your stars, **** like this may make teams have to run their better players back on the court. This doesn't feel like the professional version of basketball anymore, I expect they'll start putting 4 point circles out on the court.

Up by 32 in the 4th, Boston is fouling intentionally to try to run up the score. This is the top basketball league? It's a joke. What's worse, I expect this running up the score bleeds into the non IST games so it's possible this stupid running up the score could end up making stars play harder longer and with that of course more injuries not less like we've heard about for the last x number of years to prolong player's careers. Give it time, playing harder longer will have its effects.

Spoiler:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Ok, so it happened in a few games yesterday only (versus every single IST game). Meh. They'll probably change that tiebreaker next season if enough players feel that way. Overall, I still think the IST has def been a net positive and nothing to complain about. Why wouldn't you want more meaningful and fun games to watch?

Meaningful? I think the new rules of having the stars play more is what is making the games more interesting.

[powerball1373]

It's early with this new tourney but some things are already happening, it may take a few seasons. Instead of the games being over because you've won the game and you sit your stars, **** like this may make teams have to run their better players back on the court. This doesn't feel like the professional version of basketball anymore, I expect they'll start putting 4 point circles out on the court.

Up by 32 in the 4th, Boston is fouling intentionally to try to run up the score. This is the top basketball league? It's a joke. What's worse, I expect this running up the score bleeds into the non IST games so it's possible this stupid running up the score could end up making stars play harder longer and with that of course more injuries not less like we've heard about for the last x number of years to prolong player's careers. Give it time, playing harder longer will have its effects.

Spoiler:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Ok, so it happened in a few games yesterday only (versus every single IST game). Meh. They'll probably change that tiebreaker next season if enough players feel that way. Overall, I still think the IST has def been a net positive and nothing to complain about. Why wouldn't you want more meaningful and fun games to watch?

Meaningful? I think the new rules of having the stars play more is what is making the games more interesting.

Key word being more meaningful. At the end of the day, they're still regular season games, but I don't think you can deny that there have been a higher ratio of more interesting/better games in the IST games than the non-IST games. I can understand not caring about it, and plenty of people don't, but to actually be so against it is a little weird. I mean, I wouldn't care if they cancelled it next season, just saying that I enjoyed the few IST games I managed to catch this year and I'm curious how the actual tourney games will play out.

[AirP.]

Ok, so it happened in a few games yesterday only (versus every single IST game). Meh. They'll probably change that tiebreaker next season if enough players feel that way. Overall, I still think the IST has def been a net positive and nothing to complain about. Why wouldn't you want more meaningful and fun games to watch?

Meaningful? I think the new rules of having the stars play more is what is making the games more interesting.

Key word being more meaningful. At the end of the day, they're still regular season games, but I don't think you can deny that there have been a higher ratio of more interesting/better games in the IST games than the non-IST games. I can understand not caring about it, and plenty of people don't, but to actually be so against it is a little weird. I mean, I wouldn't care if they cancelled it next season, just saying that I enjoyed the few IST games I managed to catch this year and I'm curious how the actual tourney games will play out.

Spoiler:

I don't enjoy watching basketball on cartoon like floors for starters, it's rough on the eyes but mostly I don't like what the long-term effects that could happen. I think we all can we all agree that if players give more effort more of the year, especially early in the season when most haven't gotten into game shape (which takes about a month of real games) that it could/should lead to more injuries which could lessen the rest of the season and real playoffs? This has been such a discussed topic in the last decade that people have been talking about shortening the season... yet here we are, going against the grain just for money when the league is doing so well financially. I highly doubt any of the medium to highly paid players care about the financial incentive much, but the lower contract guys do so they will give more effort in these games where in turn eventually the other players in the game will too.

Another aspect I absolutely hate is emphasizing the point differential which since it's creeped into the NBA in this tournament it could get an expanded role in the NBA which would lead to more hard play which will equate to more injuries, it will also push offensive players even more than the current ruleset does with the 3 ball.

Overall... I just don't like where everything is heading and how just winning isn't enough. I'm fine with change if it makes sense, the play-in was a recent and incredible addition to the NBA, it incentivized winning even if you weren't a good team, this though was just a money grab which I believe will have negative long-term effects for the league, the longer it's around (point differential which means something) the more it will be adopted and have adverse effects. Short term I'm sure people will like it, it's shiny and new and we know how much people like shiny and new things. Boy, those Boston fans were all into hack a Drummond only up by 20 on Chiago, incredibly compelling basketball.