Milwaukee Bucks Weekly Wednesday Wrap-up

A full slate of games this past section were crammed into a busy week for the Milwaukee Bucks, as they traveled out West for their second matchup with a number of the Conference’s higher-tier players vying for seeding. Treating us to one of the most enjoyable wins of the season, the Sacramento game was more than enough to make up for a mildly disappointing “ya blew it” performance out in San Francisco. In any respect, the Playoffs are quickly approaching and this team looks every bit the contender we hoped. Let’s wrap-up.

The Week that Was

• Milwaukee 118, Brooklyn 113 (Bucks Hold off Nets)
• Milwaukee 116, Warriors 125 (Bucks Fall in OT to Warriors)
• Milwaukee 133, Sacramento 124 (Brook & His Donnybrook Bungles Kings’ Beam Dreams)
• Milwaukee 116, Phoenix 104 (Sunrise, Sunset)

Brooklyn looked like they were poised to be blown out by Milwaukee after the first half, but a bench crew pushed them back into it before the Bucks shut the window. They could’ve used some of that closing energy against the Warriors too — a game where for about 46 minutes it seemed preposterous Milwaukee should win...and then a final two minutes where it seemed ridiculous they should lose. Oh well, at least the Kings game was a tour de force in the final frame, notching 43 and holding off that energized team until Trey Lyles sparked a fight to close it out. Capping it all off with a win to close out the road trip at 2-1, now that’s a fun way to end the week.

Weekly Wondering

We talk a lot about playoff rotations throughout the year, oftentimes quibbling over who will get spot minutes here and there to finish out the final spots under Bud. With only a month to go until the playoffs start, I wanted to revisit one of my favorite exercises throughout the season: who is in our playoff rotation.

Now, normally I use the scenario of Game Seven against Boston as my prerequisite of figuring out who Bud would rely on in a do-or-die scenario. But with Philly having just beat Milwaukee and creeping in on the second seed, as well as Cleveland looking like a tough out, I wanted to provide my guesses at what an 8-man rotation would look like for each of these potential matchups against the top of the East.

Why eight players? There’s 240 total minutes in an NBA game. I’m allocating around 40 to each of Khris, Giannis and Jrue, so that’s half of them right there. Then, another 25 for Brook. Those are my nonnegotiables. They may be a slight overestimation (probably for Brook since he’s a bit more matchup dependent), but I don’t think they’re far off. That leaves 95 minutes. That could go to five players, with someone probably getting 30 minutes, then a mishmash of between 15-20 for the others. But, for the purposes of this exercise where I’m picturing a Game Seven scenario, I’m assuming by that point one or two players might already be out of the rotation after all the matchup adjustments across the series.

Here’s what I currently have:

Boston

• Core Four (Giannis, Jrue, Khris, Brook)
• Pat Connaughton
• Jae Crowder
• Jevon Carter
• Wes Matthews

Okay, this exercise is the hardest it’s ever been at the moment. You’ll notice there’s no Grayson Allen, an assertion of which I am growing increasingly dubious of in light of Bud relaying on him so much in crunch time. But, I feel like over the course of this series, it will become clear he can’t quite cut it on the defensive end against Boston’s size. For me, it’s the last two spots that are the most interesting. I had Joe Ingles in here initially, but I started seeing visions of Brogdon and other Celts cooking him off the dribble. Same with Bobby Portis. By this point in this series, I fully believe Milwaukee will need to lean wholeheartedly into every ounce of defensive tenacity they have. For that reason, I went with Jevon (whose height, like Allen, does worry me in this series) and Wes over Ingles and Portis. Wes may be controversial, but Milwaukee has missed him as a backcourt defender against some of these elite teams already, IMO. The offense might go in the trash, but they just need to pull out enough stops.

Philadelphia

• Core Four
• Bobby Portis
• Jae Crowder
• Pat Connaughton
• Grayson Allen

I wanted to size up here so Bobby makes the cut. I think he can punish a Philly team that’s average at best protecting the defensive glass. Jae and Pat, again, get the playoff history shoo-in here. The hardest choices came down to Grayson Allen vs. Joe Ingles or Jevon Carter. This could be a nine-man rotation game since I don’t think Philly will be able to take nearly as much away from Milwaukee as Boston, but Allen going off against Philly illustrated his usefulness insofar as they can slack off-ball. The question is whether he can survive defensively against Tyrese Maxey scoot-scoot style or James Harden on a switch. It feels weird to leave Ingles off, but cutting this down to just eight players is hard.

Cleveland

• Core Four
• Pat Connaughton
• Jae Crowder
• Jevon Carter
• Joe Ingles

This one was really hard to whittle down to four. I tried to keep size in the lineup and a bit of offense without sacrificing too much versatility. Again, I have Allen out here, but I’m wondering how that would go over in Bud’s head. My rationale in Carter over him is purely the backcourt of Cleveland; I think Carter is enough of a match for Garland, better at snaking around screens and able to disrupt their rhythm. Excluding Bobby Portis was tough — given Cleveland’s defense, Milwaukee will need some infusion of scoring. For that reason, I went with Ingles over him, whose steady PnR presence has been much-needed all year long. Pat and Jae get the playoff history benefit of the doubt. This could also be a nine-man rotation game.

Plays of the Week Sacramento Game

Normally I obviously highlight five different plays from across the whole week, but the Kings game was so entertaining, I felt it necessary to just pick my entries from that performance for y’all to vote on.

SLOB Alley-Oop

There’s nothing all that strategic about this one, just a connection between two players forged on years of playing together, coupled with a perfect pass at the rim and Giannis’s athleticism being able to provide the photo finish.

Brook-Jae I

This is just classic unselfish basketball from Milwaukee, almost to the point of too unselfish. After relaying the ball all the way around the arc, Crowder passes up a triple attempt to give it to Brook on the block. Lopez pays him off on his cut to the basket for a lay-in.

Brook-Jae II

The thing about Brook Lopez is that when he gets a head of steam, it isn’t all that often that he’ll dish the ball to a teammate. That’s why this play stood out so much, while he takes advantage of Sacramento’s scrambling defense with his lumbering drive, the fact a massive man of his size was able to deftly dump off a pass between two defenders to Jae Crowder for a finish was beautiful.

Veteran Savvy

This play doesn’t even tell the full story — as it starts with Crowder calling out a switch with Allen after Grayson got held up on a screen and Jae prevented Huerter from getting another open three. He fights through screens like a warrior on a battlefield before finally ramming into Sabonis and throwing his body on the ground like a good veteran should to sell the call.

Rocking the D to Sleep

Khris starts by moving around a kinda half-hearted screen by Giannis, but his defender easily catches back up by the time he collects the ball from Holiday. Jrue looks like he might set a screen, but quick as a flash slips it and dashes directly down the lane. Khris jumps in the air, presumably to make that pass to Holiday at the rim. Psych! Huerter has already hopped into the lane to try and stop Holiday, but by that point Middleton has contorted his body and identified an open Grayson Allen in the corner. I audibly “ooh’ed” alone on my couch when I saw this one.

That’ll do it for another wrap-up; let me know what your playoff rotations for those matchups above might look like.