1. The Dubs still aren't playing championship basketball. No consistency. This one is mostly on the starters, but we don't really have any opportunity for those "sparkplug off the bench changes the game" moments with the depth we have right now.
2. The refs really messed up. I think we got the worse end of it but Milwaukee also had good cause to be mad. When you've given out techs to Kerr, Budenholzer, Curry, Antetokounmpo (four of the most likable guys in basketball), and then some, that should be a sign that the problem lies within.
3. Grats to PBJ for having a solid run of minutes in his hometown pro debut! If we get more of that level of play from him I think we'll be pretty happy.
4. Kuminga has been a real bright spot. This two-way play is what I was hoping from him this season.
5. Milwaukee's defense is legit. Extremely coordinated, smart about switching or not, high effort. They don't concede easy shots anywhere in half-court and usually not even in transition. And this is without Jrue Holiday! Their offense is just OK, but even so it's hard to imagine they don't make ECF at minimum, barring significant injuries.
6. Klay is still missing shots short more often than not, especially later in the game. It's probably a conditioning thing, but it makes one wonder if his surgically-repaired legs can even sustain peak condition anymore. You can see why they hold him out of back-to-backs. At least the playoffs don't have b2bs.
Hey, at least we have a chance to get revenge on Nembhard and the Pacers tonight!
I think we may be starting to see why DDV was essentially let go by the Kings.
He shot 5 for 15 in the Milwaukee game. He's got a 20 game sample now (although still low by attempts) and his is TS is 51% on about 5 attempts a game. This is right in line with his historical numbers.
I think he's still been pretty valuable because of his D, but both he and JMG not being able to shoot well has changed what the second team can do. Both Otto Porter and GPII were good shooters (in GPIIs case, 67% TS on 3.7 attempts a game).
JMG was awful again last night. fouled out in 13 minutes with -9; 1-4 shooting (all threes), 3 TOs, and 2 rebounds. Can the Dubs just realize that he's no longer any good at basketball and waive him?
How many players on this team ranked 11th in ORtg have a TS% > .600? Can't be that many, right? Wrong. It's 8/15. Steph/Dray/Wiggs/Loon/Lamb/Jerome/Wiseman/PBJ all make the cut. Kuminga and Moody are above league average TS% and trending up.
The problem is the players who have the 2nd and 3rd most shots are lower efficiency in JP and Klay. And league average offense has crept up and up, so .600 TS% is no longer unheard of. Combine that with allowing the most FT on defense and subpar rebounding and you end up with a middle of the pack defense and a middle of the pack team.
We now have 3 games (IND, BOS, @MIL) in which we have subbed Poole for Wiggs in the starting lineup. Still a small sample size. That lineup got smoked by an undermanned Indiana on the road on the back end of a back to back. That lineup got smoked in MIL without Holiday, there best perimeter defender (a guy you might want against a lineup of 30,11 & 3). Against Boston, that lineup did great. But is Boston the outlier here? Sure, they were fired up for the game. But from there side, you could make an argument that it was a trap game: historically great Boston vs. the 11th place team in the West at that time.
I am gonna pound this like a breakfast steak. If Wiggins is out, I don't understand putting Poole in that slot. The drop in size and defensive is palpable. It also limits Poole's minutes with the second unit that was starting to not suck. On the bright side, Moody got 10 minutes, mostly in garbage time. Another wet firecracker.
Question is, how long will Kerr go with this before he changes up? Luckily, Wiggins returning will make the point mute. But it won't answer the question as to why Kerr opts to flip Poole for Wiggs.
Finally back home. Got to settle in to see: our guys running away from Bucks players and getting fouls called. Bucks guys running towards our players and getting no calls. The refs let everyone know this wasn’t going to be allowed to be a game early. The Warriors tried to make a game of it late in the half. Nope.
I thought of something very original. You may use it but please do credit me as I expect to be copyrighting it: “Don’t MESS with MESSI!” Do you get it? Like “mess?” It’s a pun.
Giannis is so annoying... everything just bumper cars and flailing to take advantage of the refs erring on the side of the offensive player. Can't understand why that hook didn't get called... Bucks were super physical from the jump and then made all their mid-range jumpers on top of it... then they also got ~90% of the 50/50 balls. There were like 7 instances where the ball got deflected and rolling on the floor or bouncing between players, only for a Buck to pick it up and find an easy bucket off the chaos. Sigh, I'm happy with the split, onto the next.
Celtics beat the Lakers 122-118 in overtime. All four Pacific Division teams have lost tonight. (Kings lost to 76ers; Warriors lost to Bucks; Suns lost to Rockets; Lakers lost to Celtics)
Damn, this Lakers-Celtics game would be pretty exciting if I wasn't rooting for the earth to open up and swallow them both. Given how swingy it's been, that result is probably still on the table.
Game thread at https://dubnationhq.com/p/game-thread-warriors-try-to-avenge?sd=pf
Next game starts at 4:30pm!!
My takeaways from the Bucks game:
1. The Dubs still aren't playing championship basketball. No consistency. This one is mostly on the starters, but we don't really have any opportunity for those "sparkplug off the bench changes the game" moments with the depth we have right now.
2. The refs really messed up. I think we got the worse end of it but Milwaukee also had good cause to be mad. When you've given out techs to Kerr, Budenholzer, Curry, Antetokounmpo (four of the most likable guys in basketball), and then some, that should be a sign that the problem lies within.
3. Grats to PBJ for having a solid run of minutes in his hometown pro debut! If we get more of that level of play from him I think we'll be pretty happy.
4. Kuminga has been a real bright spot. This two-way play is what I was hoping from him this season.
5. Milwaukee's defense is legit. Extremely coordinated, smart about switching or not, high effort. They don't concede easy shots anywhere in half-court and usually not even in transition. And this is without Jrue Holiday! Their offense is just OK, but even so it's hard to imagine they don't make ECF at minimum, barring significant injuries.
6. Klay is still missing shots short more often than not, especially later in the game. It's probably a conditioning thing, but it makes one wonder if his surgically-repaired legs can even sustain peak condition anymore. You can see why they hold him out of back-to-backs. At least the playoffs don't have b2bs.
Hey, at least we have a chance to get revenge on Nembhard and the Pacers tonight!
Reposting Bucks stats to show good they are in rebounding and defense:
9 in off. rebound % !!! (26.0%)
3 in def. rebound % !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (78.2%)
2 in total rebound % !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (52.7%)
Defense:
2 in points allowed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (107.5)
4 in opponent points in paint!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (46.8)
11 in opponent fastbreak points (12.8)
1 in defensive efficiency!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 in opponent shooting % !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (44.6%)
8 in opponent three point % !!!!!! (34.2%)
2 in opponent two point % !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (50.4%)
3 in blocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (6.0)
26 in steals (6.5)
1 in opponent assists!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (21.3)
29 in opponent turnovers (12.7)
I think we may be starting to see why DDV was essentially let go by the Kings.
He shot 5 for 15 in the Milwaukee game. He's got a 20 game sample now (although still low by attempts) and his is TS is 51% on about 5 attempts a game. This is right in line with his historical numbers.
I think he's still been pretty valuable because of his D, but both he and JMG not being able to shoot well has changed what the second team can do. Both Otto Porter and GPII were good shooters (in GPIIs case, 67% TS on 3.7 attempts a game).
JMG was awful again last night. fouled out in 13 minutes with -9; 1-4 shooting (all threes), 3 TOs, and 2 rebounds. Can the Dubs just realize that he's no longer any good at basketball and waive him?
How many players on this team ranked 11th in ORtg have a TS% > .600? Can't be that many, right? Wrong. It's 8/15. Steph/Dray/Wiggs/Loon/Lamb/Jerome/Wiseman/PBJ all make the cut. Kuminga and Moody are above league average TS% and trending up.
The problem is the players who have the 2nd and 3rd most shots are lower efficiency in JP and Klay. And league average offense has crept up and up, so .600 TS% is no longer unheard of. Combine that with allowing the most FT on defense and subpar rebounding and you end up with a middle of the pack defense and a middle of the pack team.
We now have 3 games (IND, BOS, @MIL) in which we have subbed Poole for Wiggs in the starting lineup. Still a small sample size. That lineup got smoked by an undermanned Indiana on the road on the back end of a back to back. That lineup got smoked in MIL without Holiday, there best perimeter defender (a guy you might want against a lineup of 30,11 & 3). Against Boston, that lineup did great. But is Boston the outlier here? Sure, they were fired up for the game. But from there side, you could make an argument that it was a trap game: historically great Boston vs. the 11th place team in the West at that time.
I am gonna pound this like a breakfast steak. If Wiggins is out, I don't understand putting Poole in that slot. The drop in size and defensive is palpable. It also limits Poole's minutes with the second unit that was starting to not suck. On the bright side, Moody got 10 minutes, mostly in garbage time. Another wet firecracker.
Question is, how long will Kerr go with this before he changes up? Luckily, Wiggins returning will make the point mute. But it won't answer the question as to why Kerr opts to flip Poole for Wiggs.
It's a tough steak. Someone pass the A1 sauce.
Finally back home. Got to settle in to see: our guys running away from Bucks players and getting fouls called. Bucks guys running towards our players and getting no calls. The refs let everyone know this wasn’t going to be allowed to be a game early. The Warriors tried to make a game of it late in the half. Nope.
I thought of something very original. You may use it but please do credit me as I expect to be copyrighting it: “Don’t MESS with MESSI!” Do you get it? Like “mess?” It’s a pun.
Giannis is so annoying... everything just bumper cars and flailing to take advantage of the refs erring on the side of the offensive player. Can't understand why that hook didn't get called... Bucks were super physical from the jump and then made all their mid-range jumpers on top of it... then they also got ~90% of the 50/50 balls. There were like 7 instances where the ball got deflected and rolling on the floor or bouncing between players, only for a Buck to pick it up and find an easy bucket off the chaos. Sigh, I'm happy with the split, onto the next.
Kuminga is 36-54 6-15 since he starting getting 20+ minutes a game lol
Celtics beat the Lakers 122-118 in overtime. All four Pacific Division teams have lost tonight. (Kings lost to 76ers; Warriors lost to Bucks; Suns lost to Rockets; Lakers lost to Celtics)
Davis missed both FTs with less than a minute left. The game would've been much different if he hit them.
Celtics were probably happy to concede 2 early Westbrook buckets in OT, knowing he'd continue to shoot them out of it.
Westbrick having a very westbrickian OT.
Damn, this Lakers-Celtics game would be pretty exciting if I wasn't rooting for the earth to open up and swallow them both. Given how swingy it's been, that result is probably still on the table.