Everything Round 3: Raps vs Bucks

[MixxAOR]

Key player for the Raps is Siakam. He's absolutely feasted against the Bucks (24PPG, .643 FG% in 4 games). And this was before he got really, really good.

The bigger problem for the Bucks is that Giannis is the only guy with the size/speed combination to guard him effectively and Pascal's used that to our advantage to get Giannis in foul trouble. Of course, the refs probably won't call fouls on Giannis, so there's that too.

I'm afraid Bud is going to use same strategy as Brown and put Lopez on Pascal and sag off of him.

[planetmars]

I have a hard time using George Hills stats with the cavs as a measure for his play this season. He looked like shit last year. So far in the playoffs he's playing like he did in indiana. And remember how much of a problem he was in that 2016 series?

Yeah Hill has been great this year.. and maybe with Brogdon back we don't see as much Hill.. and if Hill's not getting the ball/usage as much perhaps he goes back to his Cavs form. I just don't think he'll outshine Fred.. and again I might be being naive here, but I just think Fred's going to have a bounce back series.

[planetmars]

I'm afraid Bud is going to use same strategy as Brown and put Lopez on Pascal and sag off of him.

You can do that with Embiid since he's an elite rim protector. Not sure you can do that with Lopez who has no lateral quickness. Lopez can block shots, but I don't see him being intimidating at all to a guy like Siakam either.

I could see them throwing Ilyasova on Siakam though. 'Sova is a smart defender. I believe he lead the league in charges one year.

[Demographic Shift]

Two minutes for rebuttal with mr. g_Deane

the bucks pose a serious speed bump for sure..but brush the stats aside for a minute and turn the focus on the players themselves. The nba more than any other league relies on a few guys ... watching Leonard do things that were beyond the scope of dd’s ample skills made the difference against a really effing good Philly team.

That series was black and blue. Physical big boy ball. Good Regular season players on both sides were rendered to collateral damage in a big time fight.
I rag on embiid but no more..that guy came to play in games 5 through 7 ...Who talked to him or why he buttoned down should be a good story. Simmons the same in games 6 and 7. Butler was a force all series long. Harris didn’t get untracked and Redick the same. A lot of that has to do with really tough defense played but your Toronto Raptors. And the raps were last man standing.

So let’s have a look at the Bucks.....

Lopez or Embiid....have to give the decided edge to the king of twitter..
Giannas vs. Simmons....Edge to the Alphabet..its wide but not ridiculously so.
Middleton or Butler....Like Middleton but Jimmy is a big game guy.....edge to Jimmy
Bledsoe or Harris....kind a wash...
Brogdon or Redick.....both guys bring different things and roles.....Tough compare....

Not that Boston was a bad team this year but they just folded up in games 2 through 5. They aren’t a physical team .Detroit was without their best player and weren’t in the same class as he Bucks.

The raps will inject a physical style that the Bucks haven’t seen so far. The NBA whistles tend to get forgotten in the refs room. This favours the raps. Toronto’s Speed and Defense doesn’t slump....

Raps in 6.

[inthepaint]

It's counter-intuitive to say this about an ECF but I think it's gonna come down to the supporting cast of both teams. We know both Giannis and Kawhi are going to be extremely impactful. They're 2 of the top 3 players in the league right now, so chances are they'll be outstanding but somewhat cancel each other out. It'll come down to mainly 4 factors imo: coaching, supporting-player performance (outside shooting), defence, and experience/mental toughness.

My armchair coaching booklet says:

On our defence:
--Sag off Giannis
--Stay home on shooters
--Let Giannis go for 50 if you must. If we hold other guys to around 40 we'll win most games.
--Siakam to guard Giannis, with intermittent spurts of Kawhi & Gasol
--Have Siakam NOT leak out in transition, unless he's sharing the court with Ibaka & Gasol. If these 2 are not the court with him, he's gotta be boxing out or crashing the glass himself. Can't have the cake and eat it too

On our offence:
Bucks defence is heavily focused on the interior (paint). For anyone that have seen enough games or know a bit about defence x's and o's, you can see this is one of the most skewed teams on that end of the floor. They will leave people free to bomb 3's all night, but it's a nightmare to score inside. Therefore:

--Everyone (especially Gasol & Lowry) must shoot when they're open. They will have to shift their mentality from facilitators to scorers on this series.
--Outlet plays (kickouts) need to be designed/incorporated for Kawhi & Siakam. they will not be able to score inside as easily as they're used to.
--Utilize Ibaka's (and Gasol's) midrange elbow jumpers more often, Bucks are not equipped to defend that. Ibaka had huge games vs Bucks this series, and so has Gasol with the Grizzlies, just popping to the 3 or elbow free throw for wide open shots.

If we shoot from deep at the same clip we did vs Philly, Bucks will take this in 4 or 5, won't matter how good our defence is. But if we shoot at our regular % from outside or even league average, while maintaining the defence we had vs Philly & Orlando, we take this in 6.

[MixxAOR]

All in all Raps in 6ix

[inthepaint]

Go big or go home

[Ebonhawke]

Spanish and French are similar languages - wouldn't have been too difficult in a series for WebEmbiid to figure out the conversation/keywords

[golden]

You can do that with Embiid since he's an elite rim protector. Not sure you can do that with Lopez who has no lateral quickness. Lopez can block shots, but I don't see him being intimidating at all to a guy like Siakam either.

I could see them throwing Ilyasova on Siakam though. 'Sova is a smart defender. I believe he lead the league in charges one year.

Yeah, Embiid is an athletic freak. Lopez is a smart defender, but I can't see him guarding Pascal for long stretches without getting punished. Lopez guarding Gasol and leaving him out at the 3-pt line making pretty swing passes would play right into the Bucks hands.

[hotfuzz]

Raptors in 5? in 6? What are y'all smoking? It'll be Bucks in 5 or 6. It's obvious what the Bucks strategy is: they'll leave shooters open from 3 in order to protect the paint. This means a lot of open looks for Gasol, Lowry, Green, Ibaka, FVV etc. I have absolutely no faith in those guys to turn it up and sink their shots. Hell, even Danny freaking Green was turning down open looks in game 7. These guys just have no confidence in their shooting.

Secondly, all the games are one day apart in this series which is a serious disadvantage for our older squad, especially after a tough and intense 7 game series. I could be wrong, but I think we played terribly in all the games with one day gap in the Philly series.

I just don't see us winning this unless Kawhi goes MJ mode and sustains it for a whole series (he slowed down considerably in last 3 games).

[Tmac2darak]

Raptors in 5? in 6? What are y'all smoking? It'll be Bucks in 5 or 6. It's obvious what the Bucks strategy is: they'll leave shooters open from 3 in order to protect the paint. This means a lot of open looks for Gasol, Lowry, Green, Ibaka, FVV etc. I have absolutely no faith in those guys to turn it up and sink their shots. Hell, even Danny freaking Green was turning down open looks in game 7. These guys just have no confidence in their shooting.

Secondly, all the games are one day apart in this series which is a serious disadvantage for our older squad, especially after a tough and intense 7 game series. I could be wrong, but I think we played terribly in all the games with one day gap in the Philly series.

I just don't see us winning this unless Kawhi goes MJ mode and sustains it for a whole series (he slowed down considerably in last 3 games).

wow never knew 41pts was a slowdown game.

[Scraptor]

Raptors in 5? in 6? What are y'all smoking? It'll be Bucks in 5 or 6. It's obvious what the Bucks strategy is: they'll leave shooters open from 3 in order to protect the paint. This means a lot of open looks for Gasol, Lowry, Green, Ibaka, FVV etc. I have absolutely no faith in those guys to turn it up and sink their shots. Hell, even Danny freaking Green was turning down open looks in game 7. These guys just have no confidence in their shooting.

Secondly, all the games are one day apart in this series which is a serious disadvantage for our older squad, especially after a tough and intense 7 game series. I could be wrong, but I think we played terribly in all the games with one day gap in the Philly series.

I just don't see us winning this unless Kawhi goes MJ mode and sustains it for a whole series (he slowed down considerably in last 3 games).

Time for another bet.

Raps win, you don't post till July 1st.

Bucks win, I won't post till July 1st.

Deal?

[MixxAOR]

Raptors in 5? in 6? What are y'all smoking? It'll be Bucks in 5 or 6. It's obvious what the Bucks strategy is: they'll leave shooters open from 3 in order to protect the paint. This means a lot of open looks for Gasol, Lowry, Green, Ibaka, FVV etc. I have absolutely no faith in those guys to turn it up and sink their shots. Hell, even Danny freaking Green was turning down open looks in game 7. These guys just have no confidence in their shooting.

Secondly, all the games are one day apart in this series which is a serious disadvantage for our older squad, especially after a tough and intense 7 game series. I could be wrong, but I think we played terribly in all the games with one day gap in the Philly series.

I just don't see us winning this unless Kawhi goes MJ mode and sustains it for a whole series (he slowed down considerably in last 3 games).

[Jclaw]

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[Apollo]

That's the thing. Nurse has to realize and finally accept that our bench is trash and THEY can go 9 deep WE cannot! If we stick to playing 7 guys their bench being good probably won't matter. But if he goes back to trying to play 9 guys it's not gonna work out well for us

That's a lot to ask after the minutes they just played against Philly.