Milwaukee Bucks: 3 potential adjustments ahead of Game 2 with the Boston Celtics
By Adam McGee
Starting with more firepower
Sterling Brown has been excellent for the Bucks in Malcolm Brogdon‘s absence, and looked completely unfazed by the playoff stage in the first round, but he struggled to make any kind of impact in Game 1 against Boston.
By contrast, perhaps no Buck’s impact was greater relative to their time on the floor than Nikola Mirotic’s was on Sunday.
If there’s to be any change to the starting five for Game 2, swapping Brown out for Mirotic would seem like a logical move.
It’s not a like-for-like switch by any means, but the nature of the matchup with Boston would make it a comfortable adjustment for Middleton to slide down to the 2 spot to guard Jaylen Brown. Considering how well Brown played for Boston in Game 1, that may even be a worthwhile tweak in its own right for Milwaukee.
Mirotic’s willingness to let fly from deep, and the spacing that comes with that, make him the most likely player to be elevated into the starting five, but there’s also a case to be made for George Hill to take that jump.
Hill’s importance in sustaining the second unit would mean that such a move would require careful staggering of lineups, but the combination of adding an additional ball-handler, along with one of the team’s best individual defenders also holds its share of appeal.
The imminent return of Malcolm Brogdon suggests that a change to the starting lineup may not be too far away for Milwaukee anyway, but if Bud decides to explore making a change for Game 2, he certainly has a couple of strong options to choose from.