Milwaukee Bucks Roundtable: Round 1 – Boston Celtics
By Adam McGee
What’s the greatest source of negativity for you heading into this series with the Celtics?
LW: The Bucks don’t seem to have any kind of identity or plan on the court. The offense just seems to be a jumbled up mess that relies on Giannis, Bledsoe, or Middleton to hit tough shots and defensively the team is completely inept without Giannis on the floor and slightly below average with him on the floor. Brad Stevens will have a plan to exploit all of these weaknesses.
RK: There are many reasons why I feel like the Bucks could flounder in this series. Even though the Bucks are finally at full strength, we need to remember that it will take time for Malcolm Brogdon and Matthew Dellavedova to get back to 100 percent game shape after both just returned after significant time away due to injury.
Brogdon and Delly need to be at the top of their game to keep up with the speedy guards that Boston has remaining.
Obviously coaching is a weakness for Milwaukee, as Brad Stevens is in the upper echelon of NBA coaches and Joe Prunty is, how do I say this nicely, not in the upper echelon of NBA coaches.
RR: The overall pessimism of Bucks fandom, and the inferiority complex we’ve developed as a result. The Bucks are a struggling team that regularly are unable to make the next step in regards to competing for Championships.
Despite getting the near-unanimous preferred first round matchup, the outlook still appears to be a grim one.
BS: The Bucks are currently running a bottom-five offensive and defensive scheme in the league, even though individual talent can allow them to outperform those limitations. Prunty is certainly giving his best as head coach, but he just doesn’t have what it takes at this level to achieve consistent success.
The Bucks finished with their best regular season record (44-38) in almost a decade, in spite of their coaching staff, not because of it. This team is run on pure talent, which may just be enough to win them this series against an undermanned Celtics outfit. If the Bucks are to lose however, look no further than the coaches, as Prunty will have been completely outcoached by Brad Stevens.
MH: I’m pretty worried about Giannis getting into foul trouble early. You can bet that Stevens is coaching his players up on how to best get into position to take a charge when he drives, or how to catch him for a cheap foul on defense.
If Giannis gets limited by fouls, or even just frustrated, the talent gap will rapidly diminish and the matchup will swing to the Celtics.
WW: The Bucks’ inability to execute well defensively. While the Celtics lack shot creators, they do a great job of generating and hitting three-pointers. Brad Stevens will have them ready to take advantage of any defensive miscues by the Bucks, and if the Bucks fail to execute well on defense with their rotations and switches, the Celtics could potentially light them up from behind the arc.
It seems reasonable to expect some improved level of defensive effort given the intensity of playoffs, but unfortunately the Bucks’ struggles are fundamentally rooted in scheme, awareness, and execution, rather than effort.
AM: There are multiple things I could mention here, but the best way I can put it is in saying that the Bucks could allow all of the issues that have cost them all season to be their undoing again. They’re playing against a team that’s overcome adversity with great resilience throughout the year, and it’s hard to say that’s a characteristic the Bucks have.
The Celtics will have a significant coaching advantage, but beyond that they can also draw from an outstanding three-point shooting season. They’ve shot even better when they’ve matched up with the Bucks, and those who watch Milwaukee regularly will know that three-point resistance is far from their strong suit.
My biggest concern would be that all of those factors will combine against the back drop of the kind of collapses we’ve seen from the Bucks regularly this season. They may be less talented but Boston will find a way to be in position to win, and make life as difficult as possible for the Bucks.
If the Bucks can be right there with them, talent can win out, but that remains a big if based on what Milwaukee has shown throughout the season.