Products You May Like
Giannis dropped 38 points and 20 rebounds, but when it mattered the most, he didn’t want the ball. And he’s frustrated, but the Bucks saw this coming even if they were the title favorites to start the year.
The 8th seed Heat beat the 1 seed Bucks. The Bucks had the best record in the NBA. And during the regular season, when leading after the 3rd quarter, they had the best record at 51-3. But in both Games 4 and 5, the Bucks collapsed. Heck they were up 16 in Game 5. And Giannis now joins Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan as one of 6 number 1 seeds in NBA history to lose to the 8th seed.
Now, you’re going to hear a lot of takes in the media about Giannis not being that guy. About him only being a run and dunk man. And recency bias is used to get a lot of takes off. But be real for one second, the Bucks collapse wasn’t just Giannis. The Bucks allow Butler to get a wide open 3 here which he misses. They can’t properly inbound the ball? Jrue Holiday misses a free throw. Coach Bud doesn’t call timeout after this Butler make. What are you doing bro?
Yet it still falls on Giannis and Coach Bud to coral his team in when they’re unhinged. Giannis should be the one stepping up. But the Bucks didn’t make it any easier. But we all saw this coming. And this issue goes back for years.
Coach Bud makes no adjustments. We’ve been hearing that for years.** Budenholzer learned from Gregg Popovich who has called adjustments overrated.
Let’s look at that trend.
And we saw it again. The Bucks went up 16 with Giannis demanding the ball in the post, running in transition, and Middleton operating more on the perimeter, so why did you go away from that?
Look after the Bucks went up 16. They didn’t do a single Middleton Giannis pick and roll as the Heat cut into leadd by 8 in the first 4 minutes. Why didn’t you do a single Giannis post up? Instead in a half court setting, it was a Giannis iso?
Giannis is the most dominant player in the NBA. **Yet his game isn’t complete.** And that is ok if the thing you’re dominant at is so over powering. An NBA offense should be designed to put your player in the best position to win. For example, the Heat with Butler will often times clear out, run a pick and roll, have a guy run under the hoop to pull a defender away from the rim giving Butler more space to drive or at the minimum, have space to take a midrange. This doesn’t make it easy, but makes it easier for Butler to play to his strengths.
The Heat are also not your typical 8th seed. No one wanted to play this team. ****We’ve seen players talk about 1 game in a series being enough to gain momentum. Game 1 when Giannis went down could have been enough the give Butler and the Heat more hope that they could upset the Bucks and play with a different level of urgency.
Butler averaged 37.6 points on 60% from the field, 44% from 3. Literally one of the best playoff series performances we’ve seen. But people still believed in Giannis and the Bucks to come back down 3-1. But you’re not gonna win with Jrue Holiday shooting…wait am I reading this correctly…40% from the field and 29% from 3? What? (***************************show Jrue Holiday lowlight)***************************
This isn’t the perimeter guard centric clutchness we’ve grown used to seeing with Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, KD, Steph but Giannis is a power forward. You have to set him up, but if you do, he becomes nearly unstoppable.
Giannis isn’t just a run and dunk man anymore. Not only has he developed multiple ways of scoring, but he’s become a much better playmaker.
But let’s talk about the free throws. A weakness. One of the reasons we’ve even seen LeBron shy away from late game drives over the years. Being able to make free throws at a normal 75% rate is almost a neccessity for a superstar down the stretch. Giannis shot worse than Shaq in Game 5.
If we’re talking about failure, this season is a failure. But I understand where Giannis is coming from. The season isn’t for nothing. You’re working towards something, but if the expectation is to at least get to the conference finals, it’s a failure even if it is out of your control with injuries. And Giannis didn’t look he was better in any key area. Yet he’s also not putting any of the blame on any other teammate or in the news for leaving the Bucks. No, he continues to fight with this team. Man was about to retire in 2020.
What I mean by that is, surrounding Giannis are pieces that I think are good fits. Barring the unrealistc Bucks get Dame, Brook Lopez is a floor spacing big, Khris Middleon is a sniper that can create his shot at an above average level.