MIAMI — As the Bucks played without their superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was ruled out pregame for a second straight game with a lower back contusion, everything appeared to be fine for them Bucks at the start of Game 3 in Miami. With an early burst fueled by Jrue Holiday jumpers, the Bucks scored 21 points in seven and a half minutes and took a six-point lead on a Brook Lopez hook shot.
And then, it all fell apart.
Following Lopez’s hook shot, the Bucks defended well for the first 15 seconds of the next possession before their two best defenders on the floor made a rare and unimaginable error.
With five seconds left on the shot clock, Lopez, worried about a Kevin Love pick-and-pop 3, left Jimmy Butler and Holiday, concerned about the exact same thing, stayed with Love and together, they surrendered the easiest half-court shot Butler has taken the entire series.
The mistake was the first of a calamity of errors that led to the Heat’s 33-9 run across the next 10 minutes of game action and the Bucks’ eventual 121-99 loss to the Heat. Heading into Game 4 on Monday night in Miami, the Bucks face a 2-1 deficit in the best-of-seven series.
After withstanding Miami’s initial onslaught, the Bucks failed to play with the intensity and focus needed on both sides of the floor to end the first quarter and start the second quarter. Their 21-15 lead turned into a 48-30 deficit from which they could never recover.
“I think there were a couple times where we struggled to score,” Holiday (19 points, five rebounds, three assists) said of that run. “I think we struggled scoring in bunches, and that kind of hurt us. It’s the playoffs. You gotta score.”
The Bucks’ inability to score across those 10 minutes manifested in missed shots and turnovers as they went just 3-of-14 during the Heat’s 33-9 run. The Bucks gave possessions away five different times during that stretch as well.
In Game 2, the Bucks recreated some of the things that Antetokounmpo does offensively. While Holiday may not get to the rim in the same way as Antetokounmpo — Lopez might not score in the paint in the same ways — the Bucks were able to put consistent pressure on the rim in the first quarter in Game 2 and then used that pressure on the rim to create an NBA record-tying 25 3-point makes.
The Bucks could not manage to do the same thing in Game 3. Early in the game, Holiday scored 10 points in the first five minutes.
But as Holiday described after the game, he felt as though those points weren’t doing much to get his teammates involved in the game.
“I think I was trying to get into the paint and score and do all that,” Holiday said of his hot early start and the team’s offensive struggles. “I think, maybe sometimes in the beginning, I gotta look a little bit more to try to dish for 3. Obviously, looking for myself benefits our team, but I think getting to the paint and penetrating and doing all that is good.
“I think my first couple of shots were jump shots, and I’m not sure how many times I touched the paint.”
While Antetokounmpo has his flaws offensively, he puts pressure on the rim at all times. At any moment, from nearly anywhere on the court in any situation, Antetokounmpo could get to the rim. It happens in the blink of an eye. If there is a small crack in a defense, Antetokounmpo can likely find it and exploit it to get to the rim. He is a constant threat to somehow get to the rim for a dunk.
Holiday, while immensely talented offensively, is not going to score at the rim in the same way. He will instead rely on his jumper and creative floating finishes with both hands. While that can be efficient, it isn’t as threatening as Antetokounmpo, and thus not as impactful for his teammates on the offensive end.
After missing two jumpers in the stretch where the Bucks were looking to answer the Heat to hold onto their lead, Holiday made it a priority to get to the basket and create for his teammates:
That pass hit Connaughton’s hand, so he could have potentially caught it, but it just wasn’t the smartest play from Holiday. Even if Connaughton caught it, he might not have actually finished because he isn’t accustomed to finishing in traffic under the rim as Lopez can.
To try to break their scoring slump and re-establish themselves offensively, the Bucks turned to Lopez to start the second quarter. After turning the ball over on the inbounds play of the quarter, the Bucks went to Lopez on the next three possessions, but it didn’t work. Lopez missed his first attempt, made his second attempt and then missed his third attempt as he tried to finish through contact.
After watching Lopez dominate in the paint in Game 2, it was clear the Heat were not going to allow that to happen again without trying to offer some serious resistance. Throughout Saturday’s game, it was clear the Heat had made it a priority to make the Bucks feel them far more often defensively.
“They’re physical,” Grayson Allen (14 points, four rebounds) said. “They get into the ball. They have active hands. They’re always coming down to help on the paint. They do a good job of trying to disrupt us. A lot of the stuff they were getting, they were able to get stops and run, which makes it tough on us defensively.”
From the start of the game, the Heat made it a real priority to be physical defensively.
Middleton picked up an offensive foul a little more than a minute into the game as he tried to clear out Gabe Vincent with the ball in his hands after getting frustrated with what he thought was excessive contact with Vincent off the ball as he tried to get open. All game long, the Heat pressured Holiday up the floor and made him work to get it across the half-court line. Go back and look at Holiday’s errant pass to Connaughton. Holiday barely beat the eight-second count to get the ball into the front court, and then he felt the need to drive because of Caleb Martin’s pressure.
To close out the run, that Heat pressure bothered the Bucks once again as Middleton committed a turnover expecting a foul call that never came.
“Just gotta be better, gotta be stronger,” Middleton said after putting up 23 points, five rebounds and six assists. “I think that’s what caused a lot of our turnovers. Sped us up a little bit. They’re going to play that way, we have to adjust. We have to be stronger. We have to be better.”
The easiest way for the Bucks to handle the Heat’s physicality in Game 4 would be to get their best player back into the lineup. Antetokounmpo is one of the NBA’s strongest players, but also the basis of much of what the Bucks do on both offense and defense. Antetokounmpo’s status for Game 4, though, is unclear.
During his pre-game media session, Mike Budenholzer told reporters that Antetokounmpo is making progress as he tries to return from the lower back contusion he suffered in the first quarter of Game 1, but Budenholzer warned that injuries are not always “linear.” When asked to give more details about the hurdles Antetokounmpo needs to clear to be active for Game 4 or what specific activities Antetokounmpo is struggling to complete, Budenholzer declined to give any details.
Whether or not Antetokounmpo returns to the floor, the Bucks need to be stronger and do a better job dealing with the Heat’s physical defense that will surely be looking to strike another blow against the Bucks for a commanding 3-1 series lead heading back to Milwaukee.
(Photo of Duncan Robinson and Jrue Holiday: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiSmh0dHBzOi8vdGhlYXRobGV0aWMuY29tLzQ0NDE0NjUvMjAyMy8wNC8yMy9idWNrcy1oZWF0LW5iYS1wbGF5b2Zmcy1nYW1lLTMv0gFQaHR0cHM6Ly90aGVhdGhsZXRpYy5jb20vNDQ0MTQ2NS8yMDIzLzA0LzIzL2J1Y2tzLWhlYXQtbmJhLXBsYXlvZmZzLWdhbWUtMy8_YW1wPTE?oc=5
2023-04-23 14:29:46Z
CBMiSmh0dHBzOi8vdGhlYXRobGV0aWMuY29tLzQ0NDE0NjUvMjAyMy8wNC8yMy9idWNrcy1oZWF0LW5iYS1wbGF5b2Zmcy1nYW1lLTMv0gFQaHR0cHM6Ly90aGVhdGhsZXRpYy5jb20vNDQ0MTQ2NS8yMDIzLzA0LzIzL2J1Y2tzLWhlYXQtbmJhLXBsYXlvZmZzLWdhbWUtMy8_YW1wPTE
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Bucks falter against Heat’s physical defense in sloppy, mistake-filled Game 3 loss - The Athletic"
Post a Comment