Milwaukee Bucks: Brook Lopez will force tough Celtics decisions

Veteran Milwaukee Bucks big man Brook Lopez has been a fundamental piece behind the team’s turnaround this season and his contributions will surely be illuminated throughout their matchup against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

With their playoff rematch against the Boston Celtics set for the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, the Milwaukee Bucks will look to rely on the patented formula they’ve refined over the course of their 60-win season.

All in the name of optimizing the vast skill set superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo possesses, the Bucks’ overhaul helmed by head coach Mike Budenholzer has unlocked the team’s potential into something that doesn’t compare to previous iterations, something Celtics big man Al Horford said himself once the second round meeting was set in stone.

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But as far as personnel goes, there may no clearer positional upgrade when comparing the Bucks’ depth chart from last year’s playoff run to this year than the presence of Brook Lopez.

All throughout his first year in green and cream, Lopez has acted as one of many catalysts behind the Bucks’ renaissance. His evolution into a seven-foot sharpshooter, capable of pulling up and hitting shots several steps behind the three-point line, captivated many as the Bucks climbed their way to the top of the league’s standings.

What was lost by many as the legend of Splash Mountain grew throughout the season was just how sound and enforcing the 30-year-old was serving as an anchor to the league’s top-ranked defense, along with Antetokounmpo and Eric Bledsoe.

With that said, there have been many questions asked by both Bucks fans and pundits around the league regarding the sustainability of Lopez’s defense, due to the preference Budenholzer has in having his centers drop back to defend the paint and ask their opponent to put up inefficient shots from mid-range.

The Bucks’ series with the Celtics will surely serve as a test case to the vulnerability Milwaukee has displayed in allowing big men who are capable shooters to fire away from three, considering Horford hit 36 percent of his 203 tries from downtown this year. But unlike Lopez in this regard, Horford doesn’t nearly possess the same willingness to let it fly and it’s worth noting he had shooting splits of .340/.313/.778 in the Celtics’ first round sweep of the Indiana Pacers.

Besides, the Celtics’ collective ability to hit shots throughout this upcoming series looms large, as they’re adverse to attacking the rim after attempting the fourth-fewest attempts per game at the basket throughout the season and the fewest of any playoff team in the first round. The latter resulted in the Celtics having the worst offensive efficiency of any team that has advanced to the second round in either conference by a comfortable margin.

Even without traversing into where he’s making his biggest impact defensively, we’ve seen all throughout the year that Lopez simply has a knack for contesting shots by utilizing his length, despite his athletic limitations. What’s even more encouraging is that Lopez more than held his own when mismatched on to a guard/ball handler throughout the season as Krishna Narsu of Nylon Calculus relayed earlier this month.

Lopez carries the same ability to attack mismatches on the offensive end as we saw periodically throughout the latter months of the season. The Stanford alum tallied 1.04 points per possession when posting up this season, which ranked in the 77th percentile of players around the league.

Considering the questions the Celtics have to ask themselves on the defensive end as far as individual matchups go, we may end up seeing Lopez’s back to the basket game get equal shine to his heat-seeking shooting throughout the course of the series.

The same may apply to Lopez’s ability to dive to the rim in pick and roll situations, should the Bucks look to operate a more methodical game compared to the free flowing offense that has been a staple throughout their season this year. No surprise, but Lopez proved to be effective in the limited opportunities he had serving as a roll man as he converted 1.25 points per possession, a mark that ranked in the 80th percentile in the league.

Although we’ve yet to see it to this point in the Bucks’ playoff run, they’re certainly well equipped to answer and counter any move or ploy the Celtics will be looking to exploit throughout the second round.

Lopez may stand atop of that list for the Celtics, but he’s proven throughout the majority of the season that it’s much easier said than done to neutralize his many gifts and talents that have made him such an integral piece to this Bucks team.