Bucks Survive Intense Game 3! Will The Clippers Ever Learn? 6.10.21
It’s a Thursday night of NBA playoff action and we have two games tonight.
(2) Brooklyn Nets vs (3) Milwaukee Bucks
Brooklyn Nets (2-1)
The Nets played horribly offensively and this game was close. They probably should have won but they just missed shots. Obviously the Bucks defense was good but KD got so many looks he can hit and he just missed them. Joe Harris missed a lot of shots he usually hits. The Nets almost had the game in the bag but it came apart down the stretch. Still, the fact that this was close doesn’t worry me that much about the Nets.
The first quarter of this game was awful for Brooklyn. No ball movement that we saw in the first two games and they were just awful. The defense was good on everybody except Giannis and Middleton. Middleton hit some tough shots but the Nets defense was playing too high on Giannis and he scored there as well as on the fastbreak.
The Nets shot 5/25 (20%) in the first and just 1/9 from 3 (11%). They trailed by 21 at one point as Middleton and Giannis scored all 30 of the points for the Bucks in the first. But the Nets quickly made adjustments in the 2nd and they worked to perfection, immediately erasing that lead and getting back into the game.
The Nets started to dare Giannis to shoot and it worked. Giannis was 0/4 in the 2nd quarter and they got him to shoot 2 3’s. So they slowed down Giannis and then offensively they just put a giant red X on Brook Lopez. Bruce Brown was Lopez’s matchup so Brown kept becoming the screener and he hit floater after floater. He was 5/6 in the 2nd and he helped the Nets get back into the game.
The Nets shot 62% in the 2nd while the Bucks shot just 27%. The Nets outscored the Bucks 31-15 in the 2nd and they trailed by just 3 at the half even with KD shooting 2/10 from the field. If the Nets offense got going just a bit, they could win.
In the 3rd both offenses kept doing the same thing. Middleton/Giannis pick and rolls and the Nets kept attacking Lopez. Durant was 4/9 in the 3rd, all of the shots were good and he got some traction. The Nets limited the Bucks 2nd chance points and they dared them to shoot the ball. The Nets took the lead for the first time for a brief moment, trailing by two entering the 4th.
The 4th was just a battle of wills. Both teams kept struggling to score. The Nets tied the game with 6:09 and nobody scored for more than 3 minutes as their seemed to be a lid on the basket. But then KD finally got going. Back-to-back mid-rangers to match Middleton and then he hit the cold-blooded 3 with 1:23 left, putting the Nets up 3.
He scored 7 straight points and the Nets had the game, it was right there. But alas, they couldn’t hold on. Middleton scored quickly, then Harris got another wide open mid-range shot and he missed again. The Nets got a stop but they went much too early. Bruce Brown got another floater but Lopez contested well as Brooklyn left nearly 10 seconds on the shot clock left.
The Bucks got the ball and Jrue Holiday made a beautiful spin in transition to score, giving the Bucks the lead, 84-83. The Nets called timeout and their inbounds play was awful. Durant went to the corner and couldn’t get the ball and then they tried to inbound it to Brown but the ball got away. The Nets luckily got the ball but it was in Bruce Brown’s hands. He drove down the land and forced a bad shot as that inbounds play was a mess. Middleton hit 2/2 free throws and now the Nets called their final timeout, trying to force OT.
KD got the ball near the hash-mark. He went left, off of one-foot, contested 3. Normally a player would miss this badly but because he’s KD he just missed it long. The Nets were inches from another 5 minutes, instead it’s a 2-1 series.
KD was 11/28 from the field, 30 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals. 16 points and 6 rebounds for Bruce Brown but 17 shots? That’s a big no-no from me. Irving had 22 points and 3 steals on 9/22 shooting.
Harris was 1/11 but he kept getting so many good looks. The bench shot a combined 3/11 from the field and the Nets as a team shot 36% from the field and 25% from 3 with just 8 free throws.
Offensively I am not worried. Statistically, Joe Harris was the best shooter this year and the looks he was getting? He’s not going 1/11 again with those looks. KD kept getting good looks in the pick and rolls. Sure PJ Tucker made it tough but KD makes those shots, has done that all his career. So if he gets those same 28 shots, I’m betting he has more than 11 makes.
My problem is Bruce Brown. I get he was working in the first half, that’s fine. But he got 7 shots in the 2nd half? Including 2 in the final 30 seconds. That’s unacceptable. 17 shots overall is especially bad when Irving only got 22 shots and seems an after thought. Irving and Durant need to get the shots and everybody else works off of that.
Defensively I love what they did. They packed the paint and then they did a good job contesting 3’s. They forced Giannis to shoot 8 3’s and he was 4/9 from the line. You’ll take that. Giannis was 9/14 in the paint. Outside of that he was 5/15. The Nets defense is fine, Blake has done a great job with Giannis.
Middleton made tough shots, didn’t get too many easy ones. Jrue Holiday, like Irving, was an afterthought offensively. The Bucks shot 19% from 3 and they missed 7 free throws. The only thing I can say are the fouls, Harris had 6 and Brown had 5. Claxton had 4 as well. So other than the free throws, I am fine with the Giannis defense and defense in general.
Offensively KD and Irving need to run the show. Bruce Brown can’t shoot that much, especially late. The Nets also have to get to the line. But just by playing the percentages, Irving, KD, and Harris won’t play this badly in Game 4 and I’m confident they’ll be fine.
Milwaukee Bucks (1-2)
I can’t tell you how the Bucks won this game. Their defense was ok but watching the game, it was the Nets missing more often than not. The offense was literally Giannis isolations, or Giannis/Middleton pick and rolls. Jrue Holiday did almost nothing offensively until the end. The Bucks led by 21 early on. They scored 30 points in the first and then after that, 56 points in 36 minutes. It was ugly, it wasn’t pretty, but as they say, a win is a win.
The Bucks dominated this first quarter. They were the aggressors as their home crowd really amped them up. Middleton was hitting shots that he simply wasn’t in the first two games and they were using Giannis off ball as a screener again and he got to the rim in transition. The Bucks made their offensive adjustments and they dominated.
Middleton and Giannis had 30 in the first quarter, scoring all of the Bucks points. The Bucks defense was pretty good. They put pressure on Durant and Tucker didn’t pick up early fouls and he did a great job on KD. The Bucks led by 21 at one point and then that was the high point. Things didn’t get better from here.
Giannis started to settle for the rest of the game, a game where he shot 8 3’s, which is absurdly bad decision making. The Bucks offense was awful without Middleton and Giannis scoring, as they scored 100% of their first quarter point. KD was still dormant but Bruce Brown had 10 in the 2nd as they attacked and attacked Lopez in the pick and rolls.
Milwaukee shot 27% from the field in the 2nd and their lead was just 3 at the halftime break.
The 3rd quarter was sluggish offense for both sides. Giannis hit some jumpshots but he was their only offense. KD got going a bit but the game remained the close. The 4th quarter was the same thing for both sides but with 100x more intensity as things came down to the wire.
Nobody scored for about 3 minutes but KD scored 7 straight and put the Nets up 3 with just over a minute left. But credit to the Bucks, they executed things perfectly down the stretch. Middleton scored quickly and then Joe Harris missed again. The Bucks didn’t score but they perfectly guarded the Bruce Brown floater as Lopez closed out perfectly.
They elected not to call a timeout and Holiday made a great move to the rim, scoring and giving the Bucks the lead. They denied KD the ball on the in-bounds and then the ball was loose and it ended up being a Bruce Brown out of control drive, which he missed. Middleton hit 2 free throws and then the Bucks watched as KD almost forced OT with his 3, but their offense and defense in that final minute was excellent as Milwaukee scrapes by with a win.
35 points and 15 rebounds for Middleton, by far his best game of the series. 33 points and 14 rebounds for Giannis, but 1/8 from 3 and 4/9 from the line. That’s a yikes. That was it. Those were the only people in double-figures.
Holiday was 4/14, Lopez was 1/7, the bench was horrible. The Bucks shot 38% from the field and they were 6/31 from 3 (19%). They missed 7 free throws but still somehow won. But I am far from impressed.
Yes Brook Lopez was decent defensively with 6 blocks and some good contests. But KD going 11/28 isn’t happening again and they’re going to go at Lopez more and the Bucks can’t expect to be this good again. Joe Harris and Irving also struggled, something that is also unlikely to happen again.
Offensively I don’t know why Giannis keeps settling. It’s obvious what works but he and the Bucks get away from it. Him shooting 8 3’s is such a good thing for Brooklyn. His free throws are still a problem as Giannis hasn’t been that dominant in this series. Middleton was good, but can he do it again? That remains to be seen.
I don’t know why Jrue Holiday isn’t getting the ball. Why can’t he run some pick and rolls with Giannis? You got him to be a 3rd option and yet he didn’t do anything in this game offensively. You’re going to need him to beat the Nets. The shooting has to be better from both the 3-PT line and they cannot keep missing free throws like this.
It feels like the Bucks escaped with this win as the Nets probably should have won. The Bucks had one good quarter and then that was it. I don’t imagine them winning Game 4 simply because they didn’t make adjustments, Middleton made shots and KD/Irving/Harris didn’t. Really as simple as that. Hopefully the Bucks can prove me wrong, but I find it very hard to believe that they win Game 4.
Middleton and Giannis scored 68/86 of Milwaukee’s points (79.1%). Highest percentage of points by a duo in a playoff game ever. That’s cool, but like I said, that’s likely not enough to beat the Nets twice.
(4) LA Clippers vs (1) Utah Jazz
LA Clippers (0-2)
God this team never learns. They were dominated in the first half because they decided that playing Zubac and Cousins would be good for their defense. Spoiler Alert: it wasn’t and Donovan Mitchell had 27 points in the first half, attacking and hitting shots at will. The Clippers offense was decent, but they still trailed for most of that first half. In the 2nd half they trailed by 21 in the 3rd but played a small ball zone to get back into the game, taking the lead midway through the 4th.
But in typical Clippers fashion, the Jazz dominated the last 6 minutes of this game, reigning 3’s from all over the place. The Clippers couldn’t keep up and now they’re done 0-2 in this series. They just can’t seem to figure out how to win in the playoffs.
That first half was so bad. I’m surprised the game was somewhat close because the Jazz got whatever they wanted. We talked about Mitchell’s 27, but he was getting easy shots. Mitchell was 5/5 against PG in the first quarter as PG couldn’t control him. The screens with Zubac were killing LA just like Luka killed them attacking Zubac in round one.
Offensively they were scoring but they missed a lot of open shots and their 3’s just weren’t falling. PG was struggling again and the bench wasn’t producing that much. The urgency of being down 0-1 wasn’t there. The Jazz led by 13 at the half and it didn’t get better in the 3rd.
The Jazz pushed the lead to 21 early on in the 3rd and the game was seemingly over, but surprisingly, the Clippers responded. They finally played with some urgency and cut into that lead. They pressured Mitchell a lot more up top, sealing off driving lanes he got in the first half. They played zone and took away Utah’s ball movement and made them a one-on-one team.
It worked like a charm as the Clippers went on a 26-9 run over the course of about 7 minutes. But the Clippers didn’t end the 3rd quarter strong as they allowed two Jordan Clarkson 3’s and they trailed by 7 entering the 4th. But you saw that the Clippers could lock in defensively and win this game.
The Clippers continued to play well as back-to-back Reggie Jackson 3’s gave them a 101-99 lead with 6:37 left. The crowd was quieted, Donovan Mitchell kicked a chair out of frustration on the bench, everything was working. Then the Clippers imploded. Here’s how the last 6:37 of the game went for them offensively;
4/14 shooting, 2/9 from 3, 13 points. Marcus Morris missed 3 wide open 3’s, Kawhi didn’t score and got locked up by Bojan Bogdanovic.
The defense wasn’t any better down the stretch;
6/11 shooting, 3/5 from 3. Joe Ingles was allowed to literally walk into a wide open 3 that put the Clippers down by 10. That was game over, it summed up the game. Nobody knowing what to do, blown assignment, game over.
29 for Reggie Jackson who had 16 points in that 3rd quarter and was their most consistent offensive player. PG had 27-10-6, good game but he wasn’t that efficient again. Still a lot better than Game 1.
Kawhi was 8/17 from the field as he has been awful after dominated Dallas. Bojan Bogdanovic shut him down for long stretches of this game, which is just unacceptable. Marcus Morris was 4/11, the bench didn’t do anything. LA, the best 3-PT% in the league this year, went 11/30 from 3.
The Clippers offense was poor again. Lots of missed shots, possessions with no ball movement. Don’t know why Rondo isn’t playing in this series, they need his floor general skills badly. Don’t get me started defensively. I don’t know why Ty Lue wanted to go big in this game, the Jazz are small and portable. So much spacing and passing and movement, a big guys worst nightmare.
Mitchell dominated for this whole game, 45 in Game 1 and now 37 tonight. The Clippers refused to guard Luka and now they’re doing the same with Mitchell. Utah hit 20 3’s as the Clippers haven’t learned anything.
I thought after being down 2-0 and 3-2 against Dallas, the Clippers would understand you have to play with urgency and force. In this game and series, you see flashes of it but for the most part it’s lackluster stuff on both ends. It’s just embarrassing really. Now they’re down 0-2 again, losing both road games without Mike Conley playing. Utah is far better than Dallas with their ball movement and shooting, this seems like the same thing we saw last year.
I don’t really know what to say. After everything that’s happened in the postseason these last two years, you expect change. But the Clippers love to be repetitively mediocre and it looks like they’re going to lose this series because of it.
Utah Jazz (2-0)
The Jazz are showing why they’re the better team across the board. Ball movement, coaching, defense, even superstar play. Mitchell has been special this postseason and especially in these two games. He dominated the 2nd half of Game 1 and then dominated the first half of Game 2, picking apart the Clippers drop coverage.
Rudy Gobert is so good defensively with his length and ability to just make people not want to go to the rim. The Jazz hit 20 3’s, won the paint battle, the bench battle, everything that mattered they won. Bojan shut down Kawhi (yes you read that right) and Utah looks unbeatable.
I don’t see them losing this series with how things are going. Their offense has been this good and they haven’t had their floor general in Mike Conley who hasn’t played yet in this series. The Jazz are looking dominating in all facets right now as they look to tighten their grip on the Clippers and try and advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2007.
What Are Your Thoughts From The Two Games Today? Leave A Comment Down Below!
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