Milwaukee Bucks: Pat Connaughton’s emergence as a key postseason role player

After drawing the ire of some Milwaukee Bucks fans after struggling in the opening game of the series, Pat Connaughton has re-emerged as a vital role player for the team.

What a difference a few games can make. After the Milwaukee Bucks had a disastrous start in game one of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Boston Celtics, they’ve rebounded to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Many players were drawing the ire of Bucks fans on social media during their nightmare home opener. Few, however, were getting as much stick as guard/forward Pat Connaughton.

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Connaughton had an awful performance in Game 1. In 24 minutes, he had five points and five boards on just 20 percent shooting from the floor, and 14.3 percent from three. It was one of his worst games in months, and it was a significant reason why the Milwaukee Bucks lost by 22 points in the series opener.

Game 1, however, was an aberration for both Connaughton and the team. Milwaukee has reversed course, rolling the Boston Celtics in three consecutive games. Connaughton has been a major part of the reason why the Bucks have turned the series around, and why they’ve now won seven of their first eight games in this post-season.

Connaughton has been, outside of George Hill and Ersan Ilyasova, the most important bench player on the team so far in the playoffs.

In eight appearances, Pat Connaughton is averaging 8.6 points, 7.5 boards, 1.6 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.9 blocks in 28.3 minutes per game. His traditional stat line, however, doesn’t tell the whole story.

Connaughton has been reasonably efficient with his shot. He’s shooting 49.1 percent from the floor, and 34.5 percent from three on 3.6 attempts per game so far this post-season.

In the opening series against Detroit, he didn’t take a high volume of threes, but was very effective at cutting to the rack and getting easy baskets, both in the Bucks’ set offense, and in transition. Because of how porous the Piston’s defense was, he didn’t need to take as many shots from distance in order to have an impact on the offensive end.

With space in the paint harder to come by in this series, Connaughton has gone back to taking a higher volume of three-point shots, like he did during the regular season. With Boston hyper-focused on trying to prevent Milwaukee, and particularly Giannis Antetokounmpo, from scoring in the paint, the Bucks have needed their other players to be able to hit shots from distance to open up the floor.

In Game 1, when the on and off-ball movement was poor, Connaughton struggled to make any impact on the game. His threes were heavily contested, and the backdoor off-ball cuts he’s been great at making were not there because of how cramped the lane was. As a result, he shot an atrocious 2-of-10 from the floor, and 1-of-7 from three that day.

Since then, the Milwaukee Bucks’ offense has been significantly better. With the ball and players moving more on each possession, particularly with the second unit, the Bucks have been able to get their shooters better looks. Connaughton has been able to take advantage of this, particularly in Game 3 where he hit four of his nine shots from three.

The offensive adjustments have also opened up the running lanes for him to cut to the basket. As a result, Connaughton is getting several high percentage looks at the rim, just like he was getting for much of the season.

Connaughton has been a very efficient scorer. His effective field goal percentage is at 57.9 percent so far this post-season. That number is just under a percentage point off of Kevin Durant, and is over a percentage point better than Antetokounmpo as well. He certainly isn’t shouldering the amount of responsibility that those guys have on offense (he’s nowhere close), but it does show that he’s been very efficient with his shots in the limited instances where he’s been called upon to do it.

Connaughton’s larger impact, however, can be seen on the defensive end. In particular, he’s been a force on the boards and at contesting Boston’s shots.

Connaughton is averaging just under seven defensive rebounds per game so far this post-season. That mark puts him second on the team, only behind Antetokounmpo.

His efficiency on the boards is helping limit the second chances the Celtics are getting on offense. Given how many difficult jumpers Boston has settled for since Game 1, cleaning up the boards is stifling an already struggling Celtics’ offense even further. He’s rebounding like a big man, and it’s allowing others to get out and run in transition.

Connaughton has also been excellent at contesting shots himself. After getting exposed a bit on defense in Game 1, he’s been much better since. Connaughton has been doing a good job of tracking his assignment, hassling them with his size, and closing them out what they shoot from range. His size and athleticism allow him to switch with other defenders and guard bigger players, something Milwaukee did little of during the regular season, but has been forced to do during this series.

Milwaukee’s defensive rating is 96.2 in the minutes he played so far this post-season. The second unit as a whole has been better on defense than the starters so far, but Connaughton is a major part of why the Bucks’ bench has been able to shut down Boston in those minutes. The Celtics have had no answer for the size and athleticism that Milwaukee has thrown at them.

The Bucks have a 13.5 net rating with him on the floor this post-season. Only George Hill, Ersan Ilyasova, Brook Lopez, and Khris Middleton have a higher net rating than him. Connaughton has been a major part of the reason why Milwaukee has been dominant.

There will certainly be other tests for him in the games to come, but there’s no disputing that Pat Connaughton has been a crucial role player in this team. Even with the imminent return of Malcolm Brogdon, Connaughton will need to continue to play at a high level if the Bucks are going to go far this post-season.