Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways From Loss To Boston Celtics
By Adam McGee
A Moose Needs To Eat
As Greg Monroe prepared for his postseason debut after years of waiting, he had one last opportunity to feast on an opposing team’s second unit. Quite simply, a Tyler Zeller or Kelly Olynyk is never going to be able to match Monroe’s strength, size and variety of post moves.
Monroe played just 17 minutes on this occasion, but in that time he managed to notch up 10 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Moose has bounced back from a disappointing first year in Milwaukee to put together arguably the most effective season of his career to date, and he may yet have a telling playoff contribution left to make too.
A tightened playoff rotation may reduce the amount of time the likes of Jakob Poeltl and Lucas Nogueira get on the floor for the Raptors, but if not, Monroe is more than capable of exploiting those kind of lighter, inexperienced big men.
Even the Raptors’ starting center Jonas Valanciunas could be a favorable matchup for Monroe due to his noted defensive limitations, and while Serge Ibaka could pose Monroe problems, if Giannis is on the floor, moving Ibaka away from the Bucks’ All-Star could create another kind of problem for Toronto.
Monroe hasn’t played his best against the Raptors so far this season, but there’s still time for him to be the ultimate thorn in the third seed’s side.