Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 112-96 Game 7 loss to Boston Celtics

Ineffective Bench Play

The Bucks saw the limitations of their bench players exposed by the Celtics, and Prunty’s response in his rotations gave mixed results. Prunty ended up playing eleven players, a decision that on the surface seems highly questionable.

In the latter part of the first quarter, a Giannis plus bench unit of Parker, Zeller, Snell, and Dellavedova struggled mightily, allowing Boston to seize a 30-17 lead at the end of the first.

There were some plays in that stretch that were just weird. Giannis mistimed a rebound, leading to a Rozier and-one, had a reverse layup bounce around the cylinder and out, and accidentally tipped in a basket for the Celtics when going for a rebound.

There was also a lot of bad play all-around as the players failed to execute basic offense and hold up defensively. Giannis threw a pick-six trying to enter the ball to Parker at the elbow. Snell and Dellavedova missed shots badly and had terrible turnovers trying to dribble and attack. Parker got cooked on defense by Tatum. Zeller was abused by the Celtics getting him out on the perimeter.

Prunty sat Snell and Zeller for the rest of the game, limited Dellavedova’s minutes to just four more, and soaked up those minutes with more Giannis at the center, Terry, and Muhammad.

Giving 20 minutes to Terry was a debatable move. Some of those minutes included a Terry-Bledsoe-Middleton-Giannis-Thon lineup that had never played together before. Keeping Snell out seemed like a short-sighted reactionary move considering Snell’s fit alongside Milwaukee’s stars. Snell certainly has the size advantage over Terry, and the shooting advantage over Muhammad.

Playing Terry was fine. With the Celtics playing Rozier-Smart or Larkin-Smart together, the Bucks were able to match up Terry on Rozier or Larkin, and Bledsoe on Smart, which worked fine, though not great. The Bucks outscored the Celtics while Terry was on the court.

But giving Muhammad the three minutes at the end of the third quarter meant playing a lineup with poor spacing. At one point, Antetokounmpo, Muhammad, Parker, Bledsoe, and Terry were on the court at the same time. Not good. They also had never previously played together as a five-man unit.

Prunty may have been looking for Muhammad to provide a jolt of energy, but playing him was a step backward for this team rather than a step forward.

Sitting Zeller was correct. The Celtics rendered him unplayable with the way they were attacking him. Minimizing Dellavedova’s minutes also made sense. Especially with Marcus Smart, the Celtics were just applying too much on-ball pressure for Dellavedova’s good to outshine his bad.

Prunty was clearly grasping at straws. Unfortunately, he did not have many good straws to choose from, nor did he choose all the right ones.