Lost offense, Giannis injured?

[TW]

Watching the Bucks lose their 3rd straight to the Heat, it appeared like Giannis was suffering quite a bit from the ankle he turned in the first quarter. What puzzled me was why they went to an offense where he was on the point, and the other 4 guys just stood around in spacing, waiting for him to drive and shoot. There was nearly zero movement off the ball. Watching that total lack of offense, I began to wonder exactly why they didn't create opportunities. They even abandoned screens, hoping that they'd catch the Heat off guard and someone who was frozen in a spot would be able to hit a 3.

Bud better pull a rabbit out of his hat before Sunday, or this could be a super humiliating end of the season for the Bucks on Sunday. They seem to have totally lost their fire.

 

[FlaPack]

Yes he was hurt, how bad not sure but he was not explosive at all. As much as that hurt they were up 12 going into the 4th. A few things

• Spacing and rotations on offense were poor since they got in the bubble. Just not crisp and sharp but they had issues the 3-4 games before the bubble also
• The bench was awful. Korver, Connaughton were awful.
• Matthews was MIA. His shot was off and his defense was suspect
• Interior defense was a strong suit all year was bad. Not so much Giannis and Lopez more Matthews and anyone who came off the bench. Middleton is not a great defender but his lack of length vs Crowder hurt
• Speaking of Middleton he carried this team vs Miami
• Giannis is what he is until he gets a midrange game. They dared him to be a spot shooter and that not his strength. You can get away with that in the regular season but not in the playoffs
• Bud needs to take some heat. Rotations were a head scratcher at times. The system works fine in regular season but so far suspect in the playoffs
• The bubble hurt this team. They feed off energy especially the bench. It’s just different, no home court, pretty much in quarantine
  

 

[TW]

Watching both Connaughton and Bledsoe, both have had a rough go since coming into the bubble. I wonder if they might still be weak from the virus. It may not be totally visible, but it looked like both slow down pretty quickly on the court. Stamina not so good.

Above all, they haven't been moving and creating opportunities. They're just hunkering down. When I see someone picking up the dribble and nobody makes a move to get clear to take a pass, I ask myself what they're doing.

I'm in a quandry. Is it that the Bucks aren't as good as people think, or are they that badly wounded that they can't play at the elite level.

I do like what I've been seeing out of Lopez. This guy has become a solid defender, and fairly decent on offense. He hustles all the time.

I know they're down by 3, but if they do get things squared away, I think they are capable of ripping off 4 in a row. Not a big chance of it happening, but it is possible. The question is, whether the really want it bad enough any longer, or are they ready to go home.

 

[FlaPack]

Watching both Connaughton and Bledsoe, both have had a rough go since coming into the bubble. I wonder if they might still be weak from the virus. It may not be totally visible, but it looked like both slow down pretty quickly on the court. Stamina not so good.

Above all, they haven't been moving and creating opportunities. They're just hunkering down. When I see someone picking up the dribble and nobody makes a move to get clear to take a pass, I ask myself what they're doing.

I'm in a quandry. Is it that the Bucks aren't as good as people think, or are they that badly wounded that they can't play at the elite level.

I do like what I've been seeing out of Lopez. This guy has become a solid defender, and fairly decent on offense. He hustles all the time.

I know they're down by 3, but if they do get things squared away, I think they are capable of ripping off 4 in a row. Not a big chance of it happening, but it is possible. The question is, whether the really want it bad enough any longer, or are they ready to go home.

Bledsoe has a bad hammy and I believe it impacted his movement especially on defense

My theory is the bubble impacted each team a bit different. As an example Phoenix, I get it was just seeding games but they looked unbeatable. On the flip side Denver who is clearly better than Utah struggled and took a one man show by Murray to pull it out. And what I mean by impacted both physically and mentally. Giannis might be a good example. He’s a new dad, can’t be easy to be locked up for weeks and months. I wound imagine it’s draining. In a normal environment he’s home and “comfortable”. Reality is each team started form square 1. No home court and when teams or a player get hot it carries over kinda like getting a hot goaltender in the Cup.

Also Miami was a nightmare matchup.They play great help defense and really close out on 3’s and Butler, Crowder are quality defenders. I had Miami in 6 or 7 going in