Would you feel better if they grinded their way through 4 quarters going back and forth all night before pulling out a squeaker? Or is dominating the Bucks most of the night bad somehow? Maybe it would be better to allow the 18-5 run earlier?
Lillard went 4-4 for 10 points in under 3 minutes down the stretch (before he missed the dunk). Sometimes, guys get hot. On the other side, the C's missed a few wide open looks from 3 in that stretch. Make miss league. Before that point, Dame was 7-18 from the floor (finished 11-24). Giannis was 7-20. The C's forced 19 turnovers. Tatum/KP/Jrue went 5-21 from deep, but our bench went 6-10 and got 31 points.
"[A]llowed the Bucks to close it to 3" is a weird way of putting it as I presume you saw the game.
We never really had a big lead though. The Bucks hung around and hung around which we all know can be dangerous if the leading team becomes just a little bit complacent. A 15-pt lead in the NBA is 5 possessions which can evaporate in 90 seconds if your guard is down.
Unlike middle school coaches, NBA coaches are not trying to win every game. Tinkering with lineups and not showing your hand is way more paramount compared to a random middle school coach.
Those of us who have watched aren't surprised when Hauser is ok. He has been ok for a long while now. But he looks good. Like he gives up fewer advantages than most people. Sure, the system helps. But when he's forced to man for 5-7 seconds, he can do it. He's aware off ball too. I really hope they lock him before he figures out what he's worth.
This. a 15-pt lead when the other team has Giannis and Dame and Marc Davis (I know, but another variable) is shit, and the Cs took their foot off the gas pedal for a few minutes. That's all it takes in 2023. In 1985, sure that game was 99% over at 15pts at the end of the third. But this isn't then, especially when Dame can play superman as well as anyone on earth.
Well, the lead topped out at 18, I think, midway through the fourth.
Yes, I'm selling my stock in the Bucks after this one.
Hauser is in the process of taking one of the larger leaps in the entire league this year. He's doing much better than ok defensively and not to compare those "similarities" but his game has developed similar to Strus of a couple years ago on both ends of the floor.
Simmons, Lowe, etc Translation:
According to NBA.com (maybe tgis link: Milwaukee Bucks vs Boston Celtics Nov 22, 2023 Box Scores | NBA.com ?), DL was 2-4 against Hauser. One of those included an attempt where Holiday was the main defender and Hauser came over to help (which makes me wonder how these stats are generated but that's another discussion) so at the end of the day, as far as I can tell, Dame had a step-back 3P over Sam, a driving layup over Sam, and a key miss down the stretch where Dame thought he got fouled (and the peeps over at Sons of Bobby Dandridge are saying shows how biased the refs were against MIL).
Ha, the media has been spoon-feeding us the Jaylen/KP living in the same building, taking a car to practices/games together, and paling around nonsense. We are getting full on winning/Kumbaya NBA media spin now.
There was a play last night that didn't amount to anything IIRC but showed how much confidence Hauser is playing with at the moment. There was a mini fast break where he received an outlet pass around half court, dribbled a couple times then found Pritch cross-court who had some space, and Hauser IMMEDIATELY followed his pass to the top of the arc ready to receive a return pass and fire away. If I'm remembering the play right it was well-defended or the Celtics didn't quite get a screen in place or something like that so the shot wasn't there but in the moment I remember thinking it was such a great shooter's play by Hauser. Chasing those guys around is such a pain in the ass—it draws a ton of attention even if he doesn't get a look on a given possession, and they have so many other good shooters & scorers that the minute a defense keys on Hauser they will soon be dead in some other way.
Read this as I was getting ready to type the Jaylen/KP/White combo has to be the most lethal combo in the league when a top 5-10 player is resting. JB looked great all game last night. Passing, defense, scoring, all of it. I expect continuous improvement over the rest of the season as Pippen, I mean Jaylen’s continuity with his newer teammates improves further.
I don't think 1/2 is obvious at all anymore (or 3 either) but I agree that this Bucks roster is nothing like the one they had from their Championship year with downgrades everywhere and enormous defensive holes on the perimeter. They are still a pretty good team but way way overrated imo.
Said it in the GT but I think Middleton turning into burnt toast really kills them. They would be truly scary with 2019 Middleton but they have no good third option with 2023 washed Middleton.
He's killing them on both ends. In a playoff series, the Cs would hunt him relentlessly with Brown/Tatum. He was totally unable to stay in front of either. On offense, he just can't get the separation he used to in his midrange game.
I thought Hauser's wingspan was worse too, but it's actually:
Ha, did you watch the 3rd Quarter? I know you miss some games time to time, but relying on stats from NBA.com is a really awful way to access defensive performance.
It's called the Jrue effect. I never loved the Dame for Jrue+ trade before he made his way to the C's.
Having a 7'3" KP playing drop at the hoop is going to mess with Giannis halfcourt rim runs with Jrue getting low on him.
Welcome to the club, brother.
Yeah. We knew that Middleton has had his injuries, but he looked like the chair last night. Still has offensive skills, but he's barely taking up space on D.
I'd be interested in the temporal distribution of the lead changes.
You're a math nerd. I am someone who has been empowered by people like you and technology to hack my way through data. All of which to say, you are far more equipped than me to find the info though I too would love to see your results. I bet Bard/Chat GPT can pull out whatever data you need.
write me a 200 word article on why and how jaylen brown is the greatest celtic of all time.
Magic have a ton of interesting pieces.
No? They probably won't win 55 games, but they've beaten a number of solid teams thus far (Denver, Milwaukee, Lakers, Pacers, Rockets) and they won 3/4 games against Boston last year. I'm not super optimistic playing @Orlando when they're playing well and we're coming off of a major win.
IDK who this is but as I've commented before he's too harsh on the defense for someone who I assume doesn't know the exact tactics the coaches have implemented. He certainly is correct on most of what he says if (big if) he were coaching the defense. Like he knows and understands team defensive concepts and how they all gel together. The way he breaks down the film and gets huffy is the way I do it as a coach when my players aren't following what we worked on in meetings and practices before the game.
I don't pretend to know what will happen tomorrow on the road at 11:30 am after a big home win for the Celtics.... but no I do not think the Magic are particularly good or a legit contender in the East this season.
