Decent stats for Jrue so far
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Decent stats for Jrue so far
Jrue and Middleton have both been very inefficient tonight, and Jrue's defense hasn't been up to its usual par either.
They're a combined 13/36 from the floor (36.1%) and 2/9 from 3.
Also, Budenholzer minutes alert: Giannis, even if he played every single minute of the 4th, could only hit a maximum of 38 minutes tonight. Likelihood is, he doesn't top 36.
Basketball.
It's so easy to imagine this series going to the Bucks without Harden, but at the same time, it just feels like there's too much going against them.
A bad game one from Jrue and Middleton sucks, but it happens.
But the weird minutes restrictions and stuff from Bud? That's a multi-year trend: you can't win by having the best player on the floor if he's just not on the floor for huge chunks of time. That's not how it works.
Then you have stuff like this reffing: Durant's fouled out through 3 quarters but he's still in the game for the 4th cause the refs just decided not to call 2 of them, despite them being blatant.
How are you supposed to overcome stuff like that, as a player?
Meanwhile, KD and Kyrie both on pace for 43+ minutes.
Bud, read the room.
Also, yeah
8 point loss. Giannis played 35 minutes, Durant played 40, Kyrie played 45.
That matters.
Bucks starters played a total of thirteen minutes together.
I wouldn't touch Bucks with a 50 foot pole. Nets are playing like they actually wanna win a championship.
https://twitter.com/outsidethenba/st...929582597?s=20
Bud really hasn't learned anything.
Nets in 6.
James Harden got an MRI. That is a large piece of the puzzle if it is something
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemaz...s-mri-results/
We saw what playing an injured Davis did to Lakers
Last edited by 13 - 3; 06-06-2021 at 10:19 AM.
Giannis is 26 years old. He's averaging exactly 36.0 minutes per game these playoffs. Last year, aged 25, he averaged 30.8 minutes per game in the playoffs. Bud's refusal to play him serious, heavy minutes, is absurd. He's not injury prone, he's not unwell, he's not old, and he's not whiny. There's zero reason to hold him down to 36 and under almost every night. Here's the kind of minutes other all-time greats were playing in the post-season at the ages of 25 and 26. I've included players from different eras and across different positions to show that this isn't just a weird thing where only PGs play heavy minutes like this, or that it was only a thing that happened in the 90s.
Jordan:
Age 25: 42.2 mpg
Age 26: 42.1 mpg
Lebron:
Age 25: 41.8 mpg
Age 26: 43.9 mpg
Shaq:
Age 25: 38.5 mpg
Age 26: 39.4 mpg
Garnett:
Age 25: 43.3 mpg
Age 26: 44.2 mpg
Tim Duncan:
Age 25: 42.2 mpg
Age 26: 42.5 mpg
John Stockton:
Age 25: 43.5 mpg
Age 26: 46.3 mpg
Larry Bird:
Age 25: 40.8 mpg
Age 26: 40.0 mpg
Chris Paul:
Age 25: 41.7 mpg
Age 26: 38.5 mpg
Dwyane Wade:
Age 25: 40.5 mpg
Age 26: 40.7 mpg
It's just absurd that Giannis seems to have a firm minutes cap around 36mpg in this situation. Like I said, if he was old or had a long catalogue of injuries, I'd get it, but neither of those things are true. There's just no real explanation for it. Bud keeps saying it's to keep them fresh and well rested, but if they don't win who cares? If they don't play more minutes now, there won't be any minutes later for them to be fresh for. Does Bud think he's keeping Giannis well rested for Cancun or something?
I mentioned it earlier in this thread, but the Bucks starters only logged 13 minutes together the entire game. They won those minutes, even with Jrue and Middleton shooting like garbage.
The minute Harden went down, it should have been like blood in the water. Bud should have immediately realised the importance of stealing this game, and piled those minutes on. Those starters should have logged 25 minutes together, and the Bucks should be up, having stolen one on the road.
But this is the difference between regular season and post-season coaching. Post season coaches desperately need to be able to adjust on the fly, improvise, change game plans, take advantage of anything that comes up. You can't just walk in with your game plan set in stone before opening tip off, that's how you lose winnable games. That's all Bud does.
Sometimes it feels like Bud could just send in a piece of paper to the refs detailing when in the game clock he'd like to make substitutions and not even show up to the game. He's about as inventive and dynamic as the paper would be.
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