‘THIS IS FUN, WE’RE HAVING FUN!’- Me to myself as I’m sitting with a resting heart rate of 160 for 2.5 hours and the Bucks lose.
Welp. Nobody said this was going to be easy. We thought the Bucks were dead when they went down 0-2 to the Nets. And they looked WAY worse in that Game 2 than they looked last night. If memory serves, I think they lost Game 2 in Brooklyn by 800 points. We also thought they were dead when they got boat-raced in Atlanta in Game 4 of the ECF and we thought we had lost Giannis for a year. We were firing Bud, trading Middleton, changing Jrue Holiday’s last name to Bledsoe, and on and on it went. But they found a way in those series, so why not one more time for a title?
The most frustrating thing about last night was wasting an all time performance from Giannis. 9 days after it looked like his knee exploded, he gutted out 40 minutes and put together a 42/12/4 line with a steal and three blocks. He tried to single handedly win the game in the 3rd quarter. To the point where ABC was putting graphics up like this:
Is that good company? A few minutes later they added further context to that quarter by letting us know that it was the most points in a quarter in the NBA Finals since MICHAEL JORDAN did it against the Suns in 1993.
But, sadly, Giannis didn’t have much help. You could actually build a pretty good case that Pat Connaughton was the 2nd best Bucks player in last night’s games. I like Patty C, but if he’s your second best player in the Finals, you’re not going to win whatever game that is.
Khris Middleton had a bad game*, and Jrue Holiday had a REALLY bad game. Jrue’s game was interesting, though. We were begging for him to be more aggressive after Game 1, and he certainly was. He was driving to the hoop the way he was when Giannis was out in the ECF. But he just couldn’t get a bucket at the rim. He took 11 shots in the first quarter and a half, but only made 3 of them. I thought he played solid defense on Paul and Booker when he was matched up on them, but he HAS to bring more on the offensive end. Paul/Booker have outplayed Holiday/Middleton in Games 1 and 2 and it hasn’t been close.
At the end of the day, it’s a make or miss league. The Bucks shot 45% from the field, 29% from distance, and 65% at the free throw line. The Suns shot 49/50/85. I thought the Bucks brought good energy most of the night, but at some point, you have to hit shots more consistently. Booker and Paul hit their shots. And their role players, particularly Mikal Bridges, knocked down their shots most of the night. Torrey Craig was 2/3 from beyond the arc, Cam Johnson was 2/4, Jae Crowder was 3/5. Middleton and Holiday were bad, yes, but the Bucks got next to nothing from Portis/Forbes/Teague/PJ. They may only get 4 to 5 looks a game, but they have to hit 2 or 3 of those to win these games. Lopez was largely invisible as well.
And the other frustrating thing about last night was that the Bucks actually did make adjustments from Game 1. They got torn up in the mid-range game in Game 1, they adjusted, and the Suns responded by hitting 20 3’s. The Bucks gave up too many transition points in Game 1, they won that battle in Game 2. They gave up too many points in the paint in Game 1, they won that in Game 2 as well. The free throw discrepancy from Game 1 was a big talking point, last night the Bucks attempted and made more than the Suns. The problem is that the Suns are a REALLY good team, and can beat you a variety of ways.
Now I expect that the Bucks are going to feed off of the energy at Fiserv Forum on Sunday. I expect that the role players we just discussed will play better at home, and the Suns role players will likely play worse on the road. Hopefully that’s enough to get a (few) win(s) and make this a series. The Suns held serve at home, that’s what they’re supposed to do, if the Bucks can do the same, we’re back to a best of 3. Let’s. Go.
*The Khris Middleton Haters were throwing a parade on Twitter last night, as expected. They wouldn’t be in The Finals without him. That’s a stone cold fact.
PS: I think the most annoying take I was seeing on Twitter last night was the, ‘Bucks just don’t seem like they care,’ take. It happens EVERY TIME your team is losing a big game. I read the same take about the Brewers when they were down 6-1 in Game 7 of the NLCS in 2018, I read the same take after the Packers had a couple of 4th quarter 3-and-out’s in the NFC Championship Game last January, and I saw it last night. As if just ‘trying harder’ would mean they get a win. Trust me, I blog about sports on the internet, ‘trying harder’ isn’t the difference between winning and losing at that level. Maybe in middle school, or high school, or some levels of college, higher effort can equal wins. But this is the NBA Finals. You really think the Bucks aren’t trying to win a ring?? Get LOST.
Double PS: Spin Zone: The tickets for Sunday and Wednesday are dropping at least! From $750 to $500 for Wednesday.
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