PG Clippers - No Giannis, No Middleton, No Problem - Bucks win 6th straight

[tedbrogen]

AJ Green is a legit playoff rotational player, come at me.

[tedbrogen]

Doc outcoached TyLue. All TyLue had to do to win that game was have his guys keep attacking the paint once they were in the bonus. Would have been easy points and killed the crowd/momentum. Instead he let his stars keep bombing bad threes.

[tydett]

A lot of the Bobby/Pat stuff was compounded by the fact that we are chasing a title, now, and that even though they were definitely put in the worst positions possible by the previous coaching staff, would they be able to be fixed by the playoffs - and more importantly, if they couldn't be fixed, then who could the Bucks find who could contribute towards a title run.

That Doc has been able to get Bobby and Pat looking much better should be celebrated as a credit to coach and players, not something that should be used vindictively, imo. Bobby has looked much better passing the past few weeks than I think he's ever looked in his Bucks career. Feel like if the coaching staff challenged him to get 2 assists per game that he's somebody who'd thrive on that. The 18 second backdowns that ended in a shot between two defenders 6 feet from the lane just were not working at all, and they've mostly been completely eliminated.

[Shaffty]

Read on Twitter

[tedbrogen]

I think this has been covered. Bad coaching with no system makes role players look awful. Good coaching with a system gets the most out of them by playing to their strengths and away from their weaknesses. Simple as that.

I’ve said for multiple seasons now that Bobby’s biggest strength is that when Giannis is out, he can go and get you buckets himself. That’s not as easy as it seems in the league, generating efficient looks for yourself while also being able to play offball and space the floor. He replaces some of the points you lose when Giannis is out, which is huge because only Dame can create for himself and others if Giannis and Midds are out.

[LUKE23]

Dame/Beasley/Jae/Giannis/Brook (224 minutes): +24.8 net rating

[PG Graveyard]

Dame/Beasley/Jae/Giannis/Brook (224 minutes): +24.8 net rating

Not a knock on Mids but he may be best served to come off the bench for a while. Keep his minutes down while maximizing those minutes.

[j_hilge444]

Dame/Beasley/Jae/Giannis/Brook (224 minutes): +24.8 net rating

Not a knock on Mids but he may be best served to come off the bench for a while. Keep his minutes down while maximizing those minutes.

Oh no...not again

[LUKE23]

I'm not willing to go there yet. It's a 300-minute difference between the two lineups so would still need to see a much larger sample.

Bucks normal starting five has the best 5-man net rating besides Denver (and they are only +.3 behind). I think we need to see what that lineup can do for an extended period under Doc.

[old skool]

Rivers deserves credit for using so much zone defense. The Bucks were lacking front court size with Antetokounmpo out. They maximized minutes and energy with the bigs by running so much zone.

Portis was very effective. His offense was great, obviously. For some reason, the Clippers didn't attack him inside, so his plus/minus was great.

I think the Clippers were tired in the 4th Q. The Bucks were over the foul limit with about 10-minutes left in the quarter, but rather than go to the basket and get to the FT line, they were content to hoist 3-pointers. 14 of their 20 4th Q FGAs were from behind the arc.

Watching the last 15 minutes of the Clipper TV feed, their announcers repeatedly commented that the Bucks played with a high level of energy throughout the game. In the 4th Q the Play-by-Play guy kept referring to how the "Blazers" were doing. He also called AJ Green "the rookie".

The Fiserv Forum crowd was great. Of course the loudest cheers came when George missed a pair of foul shots to activate the Wings promotion.

With Giannis and Middleton out, I was surprised that Beauchamp sat in favor of Galloway.

Marjon was out with 2 injuries

Thanks. I was wondering that, but couldn't find an injury report post game.

[M-C-G]

Dame/Beasley/Jae/Giannis/Brook (224 minutes): +24.8 net rating

Not a knock on Mids but he may be best served to come off the bench for a while. Keep his minutes down while maximizing those minutes.

It would be such a smooth move to bolster the bench and not interrupt a starting group that is on a roll. But I will still say, who closes out the quarters is much more important than who starts them, especially come playoff time.

[CharityStripe34]

Yeah, starters with either Khris or Jae have been slaying teams all season, even under Griffin. It was the bench that would get demolished up until January and flip the games. Which is why so many wins against crappy teams were way closer than they had to be.

The pleasant surprise is that Crowder, mostly, has looked solid and active on defense. He helps unlock the Freak-at-C lineups as well.

Get healthy Freak & Khash in the next week or so and I think we'll start seeing the Bucks beat the piss out of teams.

[emunney]

Can we give Doc some props for playing Green over Pat down the stretch? Better shooter, better defender, better ball handler. I really hope that kid gets a shot at making a shortened playoff rotation. Let's start building his confidence, kid can play.

Loved to see him putting that 30 footer on tape yesterday. Agree that it will be a shame if he can't get out there when it counts. Doc does seem to trust him and it's easy to see why.

[jimmybones]

Like seriously keep him in his house in Milwaukee and do whatever ice/heat/creams idk whatever the homeopathic recommendations are. This type of long rest saves you from missing a year for surgery.

This is all complete rubbish. Everything you've posted.

What about the magic spray that Euro soccer teams use? (green font)

I know you are in the medical field, do you mind sharing your title or job? I work in a similar field, less medically trained than you it seems but still know some of this stuff and I love your insights. Thanks man

[tydett]

Number one goal for AJ Green should be that I don't have to type "AJ Green basketball" in order to get him on the first page of my Google search

[-Jragon-]

There's wayyyyy more upside than downside for us to use this trip to rest Giannis IF he has ANY nagging injuries that keep flaring like ankles/Achilles:
*he'll be up to 15 days of rest rehab and it only costs us 4 non-Giannis games
-- we can afford it because we just won 6 straight and aren't fighting for our playoff contention to an extreme level.
-- even if Giannis plays all 4 games, we likely have one lethargic game and go 3 - 4 on the trip...
-- Without Giannis and with Dame/Bev/Portis etc I think we can still likely go 2 - 4
-- resting Giannis from games15 days and having him at Superman ready mid spring likely only costs us 1 in the win/loss column... more upside than downside

[-Jragon-]

Idc if Boston gets the 1 seed.. if we are healthier than them I think we win any East series this year

[-Jragon-]

Now that coaching is sorted and Dame is HIM again... health is top priority imo over seeding races or MVP awards because we have the talent to win it all

[jschligs]

Idc if Boston gets the 1 seed.. if we are healthier than them I think we win any East series this year

It's nearly impossible to catch them being 8 games back and only 20 games remaining. Would take an epic collapse by Boston. I don't think anyone cares about the 1 seed any more.

And everyone here agrees health is more important. What we don't agree with is your back alley rehabilitation plan for Giannis.

[LUKE23]

2 seed is the goal. Avoid Boston until ECF and get two homecourt series.