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Great job by Casey in this one. Very few complaints. I do think he usual starters would be fine if they followed the formula of the last game they played against the Bucks in the regular season (post up JV, play Thon off the court). But, if they aren't doing that, they had to fix the offence some other way and find a way to break those traps. Starting Powell was perfect - loved the move as soon as I heard it.
The issue was more the offence than the defence - and the offence still wasn't great in this one, but was much, much better. The biggest issue in the first few games was being completely unable to break the Bucks' traps. The pass out of the double would inevitably go to JV or Carroll and the offence would have to reset. Eventually the team stopped bothering with picks at all and just settled for contested jumpers. Recipe for disaster. Insert Powell as the guy getting the release valve pass? Instant rim attack, possibly even utilizing another screen, this time against a moving defence, and suddenly those traps aren't so scary anymore. And as such, you saw the Bucks kind of give up on them - players can tell when something isn't working, so even when the game plan kept calling for traps, they were half hearted.
So, we saw DD at his best for the first time this series. Great game from him. If the team has unlocked this Bucks defence, this should continue, and we've got a real chance to take the next two. We'll see what Kidd has in terms of a further adjustment.
Lowry was solid - only decent shooting, but back to his usual dominance of every play on both ends. There were some defensive hiccups, especially early, but he found his footing and killed it on both ends in the second half, powering the Raps to the win after that back and forth deadlock of the first half.
Ibaka was very good, especially in small lineups. Against Monroe he got ravaged on the boards - that's one change I would have made, JV in a little earlier in the 4th, but I didn't expect JV to finish up the game, so not much difference either way.
Carroll... Well, let's not talk about Carroll. If Pat can play (I presume he was hurt as he disappeared later in the game), there's no reason for Carroll to play. He's proving again and again that he's not the guy to defend Giannis.
Powell was great. Attacked well, hit his open threes, brought energy defensively even if he missed a few rotations and didn't communicate as well as you'd hope. Stick with this look until it doesn't work.
JV was really good off the bench. He struggled early to get his head in the game (especially defensively), and suffered from some interesting calls (and, again, was just slow starting on both ends). But in the second half, he really picked it up, and was a major difference maker as a target on the roll and quick, deep posts, and kept Monroe mostly contained on the glass (not fully, of course, as the Raps help too much for any one guy to keep a rebounder down). Paid off down the stretch as he closed out this one with Ibaka in foul trouble (and in trouble on the boards). Great response to being pulled as a starter - could have hung his head, instead fought his way into closing minutes.
Tucker fantastic again. Clearly should be starting to take a bigger chunk of Giannis' minutes, and to help spread his minutes around. Just, what do you say about this guy?
CoJo... still not looking great. Wright looked good though! This game was a microcosm in the argument to move CoJo and Carroll this summer. Better options available.
I'm so glad they didn't lose this one. I really like this core, and I'd like to see what they can do if kept together for a few years. Have to win this series for that to be a possibility.
Still improvements to make - too many possessions that came down to the final seconds because they chased a specific matchup or pass for way too long against the Bucks' aggressive help. Swing the ball, attack the seams. Decisive offence. The defence looked good, no complaints there.
The issue was more the offence than the defence - and the offence still wasn't great in this one, but was much, much better. The biggest issue in the first few games was being completely unable to break the Bucks' traps. The pass out of the double would inevitably go to JV or Carroll and the offence would have to reset. Eventually the team stopped bothering with picks at all and just settled for contested jumpers. Recipe for disaster. Insert Powell as the guy getting the release valve pass? Instant rim attack, possibly even utilizing another screen, this time against a moving defence, and suddenly those traps aren't so scary anymore. And as such, you saw the Bucks kind of give up on them - players can tell when something isn't working, so even when the game plan kept calling for traps, they were half hearted.
So, we saw DD at his best for the first time this series. Great game from him. If the team has unlocked this Bucks defence, this should continue, and we've got a real chance to take the next two. We'll see what Kidd has in terms of a further adjustment.
Lowry was solid - only decent shooting, but back to his usual dominance of every play on both ends. There were some defensive hiccups, especially early, but he found his footing and killed it on both ends in the second half, powering the Raps to the win after that back and forth deadlock of the first half.
Ibaka was very good, especially in small lineups. Against Monroe he got ravaged on the boards - that's one change I would have made, JV in a little earlier in the 4th, but I didn't expect JV to finish up the game, so not much difference either way.
Carroll... Well, let's not talk about Carroll. If Pat can play (I presume he was hurt as he disappeared later in the game), there's no reason for Carroll to play. He's proving again and again that he's not the guy to defend Giannis.
Powell was great. Attacked well, hit his open threes, brought energy defensively even if he missed a few rotations and didn't communicate as well as you'd hope. Stick with this look until it doesn't work.
JV was really good off the bench. He struggled early to get his head in the game (especially defensively), and suffered from some interesting calls (and, again, was just slow starting on both ends). But in the second half, he really picked it up, and was a major difference maker as a target on the roll and quick, deep posts, and kept Monroe mostly contained on the glass (not fully, of course, as the Raps help too much for any one guy to keep a rebounder down). Paid off down the stretch as he closed out this one with Ibaka in foul trouble (and in trouble on the boards). Great response to being pulled as a starter - could have hung his head, instead fought his way into closing minutes.
Tucker fantastic again. Clearly should be starting to take a bigger chunk of Giannis' minutes, and to help spread his minutes around. Just, what do you say about this guy?
CoJo... still not looking great. Wright looked good though! This game was a microcosm in the argument to move CoJo and Carroll this summer. Better options available.
I'm so glad they didn't lose this one. I really like this core, and I'd like to see what they can do if kept together for a few years. Have to win this series for that to be a possibility.
Still improvements to make - too many possessions that came down to the final seconds because they chased a specific matchup or pass for way too long against the Bucks' aggressive help. Swing the ball, attack the seams. Decisive offence. The defence looked good, no complaints there.
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