Bucks Game Five: “Adjustments” will be the watchword for both the Pacers and Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Bucks defeated Indiana (109-94) in game one of their playoff series. It was a strong statement from a veteran team that played with confidence. Indiana looked lost at times and played a poor first half. They never were able to recover.
Now, Milwaukee has lost three in a row. At times they have been the ones who have looked lost, losing game two at home to the Pacers. Then, in game three- a game that went to overtime- Milwaukee could have stolen one. They were unable to ultimately stop and make the final shot. Their team rebounding was horrendous.
Sometimes in sports, it just does not go the way you want.
That’s life too, I guess.
For the Bucks, the adjustments that have had to make without Giannis and Lillard have been massive. They need to tighten up their play. Let’s see what they can do to try to keep this series alive.
Related: Should the Bucks make this Massive Trade?
Keep shooting (and defending) the three: Win the Three-Point Battle
In NBA circles it is often called a “variance” game. Can a team just go off from three? Tonight, can Milwaukee just shoot the lights out of the ball and win?
In the most recent loss to Indiana on the road Milwaukee was 12-33 from three. (36%). That is respectable. But to truly win, Milwaukee needs to be over 40%.
Conversely, in that same loss Indiana was 22-43 from three. (51%) The Bucks need to make some adjustments here, speciffically they need to close out better to defend these shots.
Win the 3rd Quarter
Anyone who has ever been to a game at the Fiserv knows the start of the 3rd quarter energy can be low. It is almost like fans still need to use the bathroom and get their drinks.
Damian Lillard acknowledged the lack of defense in the third quarter.
“We flew around a lot on defense in the 1st and 2nd quarter and then got that back in the 4th quarter…. We set screens, we moved the ball, we played for each other.”
- TNT Broadcast Interview
In the game one win, Milwaukee even looked “flat”.
In the 3rd quarter of that lone game one win, Milwaukee only scored 14 points and was outscored by 15. That small, little letdown came after an ideal 2nd quarter where Milwaukee scored 39 points, holding the Pacers to 21.
To win this game, the Bucks MUST win the 3rd quarter.
Keep applying defensive pressure: full-court pressure even more.
The argument against applying more pressure in the full court is you don’t want to tire out Damian Lillard, if he plays. But whatever they did, or figured out internally, to slow down Tyrese Haliburton worked. Lillard played energized, inspired basketball while Halliburton played slow and labored in the game one win.
For the Milwaukee Bucks, to take away “space” from their opponent over the whole length of the court really seems to work.
In the NBA regular season, Milwaukee was 19th in the NBA in defensive rating. (Milwaukee was 4th in the NBA regular season in defensive rebounding percentage. ) The great news for the Bucks is Indiana was worse- they were 24th in the regular season in defensive rating.
In this game one win, it showed. The Bucks’s first-half defense looked exceptional at times.
Milwaukee was able to create 12 turnovers while only having 9 themselves. It was awesome to see this team win “the turnover battle”.
The main, big difference also appears to be the play of Pat Beverly. In the regular season, he was not on the roster when Milwaukee played Indiana.
If the Milwaukee Bucks can make these adjustments, we all will be watching a game six on the road. And if not, then this season will come to a dissapointing end.
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