Milwaukee Bucks news: Individually, stopping Giannis Antetokounmpo or Damian Lillard is an extremely tall task in itself. However, now that they’re on the same team, there’s no denying that this new superstar pairing will cause quite a few problems for opposing defenses.
One particular Eastern Conference coach, however, appears to have already found the answer.
Milwaukee Bucks Will Have Trouble Facing Former Star
Defending Giannis, with his elite combination of size, skill, and just overall total dominance, is probably going to be a puzzle that won’t be solved anytime soon. I mean, there are a number of defensive schemes that can prevent the former back-to-back MVP from an offensive explosion on any given night, but it’s almost unthinkable that this man won’t be able to significantly impact the game when he’s on the court.
Great as he is, Dame Lillard is a different conversation. In fact, an anonymous Eastern Conference assistant coach firmly believes that Jrue Holiday of the Boston Celtics is the man who’s going to be capable of competently defending Dame when these two teams face off:
“I’m very interested in how he’s going to defend this year because of the trade,” the coach told Jon Krawczynski and Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “I think Boston’s going to enhance that, and I think if they meet Milwaukee in a (playoff) series, he’s the piece that can stop Damian Lillard.”
Holiday is already one of the best defenders in the NBA, and if the Celtics are indeed going to be able to “enhance” that, then the rest of the league will be in trouble. In fact, it actually makes a lot of sense that if there was one player in the East that could go head-to-head against Lillard in a seven-game series, it would have to be Jrue.
This probably isn’t going to sit too well with Bucks fans. Holiday was a well-loved figure in Milwaukee before the team decided to ship him off this summer — ironically, in exchange for Lillard.
There’s no denying that the Bucks are going to miss Holiday’s services this coming season, especially considering Dame’s shortcomings on the defensive end. The five-time All-Defense guard will probably make fans miss him more once he flexes his defensive prowess over Lillard when they battle on the court.
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