Fortunately, that is not the case when it comes to beating the Bucks (again).
Giannis complained about effort (which is always a great sign!)
and the Bucks stormed out to a 16-2 lead in just 2 minutes.
They made every shot they took.
Early in the 2nd quarter, they were up by as much as 17 points.
Surely they won that game and it has sparked a turnaround for their entire season right?
Oh, damn, that score says they lost by 6?
Well, at least they were awesome for the first 2 minutes!
Listen, do I think the Bucks will spend all year in 14th in the East?
But what this game did tell us is no different from what the first meeting told us.
The Bucks have a matchup problem when facing the Celtics.
The second their magnet ball bullshit stopped, so did their chances to win this game.
Sorry, don’t get mad at me, this is just the reality of the two rosters.
To be honest, I’m not sure how the Bucks solve their Celtics problem.
It’s not like there’s a trade out there that will turn their trash into blue-chip talent.
And now here they sit as far away as ever from contending.
Interesting how he was able to close out here without sliding under his foot isn’t it?
We’ve now reached the point where 31/12/6 has become the standard.
Nikola Jokic and Jayson Tatum.
That’s it, that’s the list.
What makes Tatum special is you’re getting elite production on both ends of the floor.
Appreciate what we are watching, because players like this do not come around often.
He came in and IMMEDIATELY started making off movement 3s.
To me, this development is the biggest reason for his jump.
He’s no longer just a C&S guy.
I mean, he’s making a gigantic impact on the best team in the NBA.
Is Pritchard’s development and improvement not what MIP should be about?
I think it is.
The Bucks scored just 48 total points, never scoring more than 23 in either quarter.
They finished 36/20% with 8 TOs while only getting to the line 9 times.
So, not only were the Celtics finally much better at providing resistance, they did it without fouling.
Honestly, once the prayers stopped dropping the Bucks became very easy to guard.
Just 15 points in that 3rd quarter, what we saw was a championship response from a championship team.
How could it not?
It didn’t matter who it was, they were Dame hunting.
Killer Whale offense like you read about.
This is important for two reasons
1.
He can’t defend for shit
2.
Teams are always, especially in a playoff series, going to hunt Dame and make him work defensively.
If his legs are cooked and he has no lift/range on his shot, he’s a minus player.
Sorry, that’s the truth.
(Also, notice how Giannis was able to close out AGAIN without ending in the landing zone?
Considering he’s a career 41.6% shooter, that is pretty drastic.
We’ve seen Hauser shooting ruts before, I’m not sure we’ve seen them span 8 games.
Just something to keep an eye on.
- Everything about the first 24 minutes of this game.
For the second straight game, we saw the Celts fall in a quick 16-2 hole.
For the last handful of games, I’ve hated how the Celts have started these games.
The point is, over the course of 82 games, you cannot live like this.
Sure you may win the game now, but it’s a long season.
His hip was hurt not his brain.
Those may as well have been turnovers.
At times when Tatum had a smaller player on the block, I don’t need him fading away.
Go at the guy, you’re Jayson Tatum.
The Ugly
- It remains insane that Giannis plays under a different set of rules.
Weird how that works isn’t it?
When it happens to Tatum, they get a “sorry, we missed it!
“, yet when it happens to Giannis it somehow is always called.
Again, all I’m looking for is consistency.
Why is that so hard?
The bailout fouls on drives I can live with.
But the blatant ignoring of the actual rules of basketball when it comes to Giannis is what is indefensible.
Last night may have been one of the worst cases we’ve had all year.
But hey, whatever.
The Bucks are 2-8 and a complete disaster, even with the help.
Meanwhile, the Celts wagon keeps on rolling to an NBA leading 6-1 road record.
