Milwaukee Bucks: Assessing George Hill’s role moving forward in playoff run

After rising to become a vital contributor behind the Milwaukee Bucks’ second round series win over the Boston Celtics, where does veteran point guard George Hill figure into the team’s plans moving forward in their playoff run?

After making quick work of the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Milwaukee Bucks are getting a much needed rest after booking their trip to the Eastern Conference Finals earlier in the week.

They still have no idea who they will be facing in the next round after the Philadelphia 76ers forced a Game 7 in their series against the Toronto Raptors, which is set to go down Sunday night.

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Regardless of who comes out on the other side of the bracket in the East, though, the Bucks are well aware there will be a great test standing in the way of the franchise potentially making their first trip to the NBA Finals since 1974.

The Bucks’ commanding playoff run so far has seen unlikely heroes rise from the background and catch their shine of the spotlight, and there is no better example of that than veteran point guard George Hill.

Since arriving from the Cleveland Cavaliers at the beginning of December via trade, Hill became an integral piece in forming the Bucks’ stout bench mob from that point on in the season, specifically on the defensive end.

However, the 33-year-old’s offensive impact came in stops and starts before a late season surge gave us all a glimpse of the Hill of old where his aggressiveness getting downhill to the basket and hitting the occasional triple helped the Bucks hold the tide with the loss of Malcolm Brogdon from a stylistic sense.

In essence, that served as the blueprint behind Hill’s playoff breakout in the Bucks’ series against the Celtics where he fundamentally swung the series in their favor, along with a whole host of other factors.

Look no further than Hill standing as the Bucks’ third-highest scorer in the five-game series as he averaged 14.2 points on shooting splits of .596/.474/.600, along with 2.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Additionally, Hill’s influence on both ends of the court was gigantic as he ranked just behind Khris Middleton in having the biggest swing in net rating when on and off the floor for those who saw regular action throughout every game in the series, per NBA.com/stats.

Now needed more than ever, the questions regarding how Hill can follow up and sustain his level of play into the Eastern Conference Finals and hopefully beyond are certainly on the top of every Bucks fans’ tongue. It’s an interesting topic, especially in light of Brogdon returning from his plantar fascia injury in Game 5 and showing no signs of being worse for wear in his controlled cameo in the 25-point win Wednesday night.

Of course, Brogdon doesn’t pose a serious threat to cut into Hill’s significant minutes as he’s still working his way back into full fitness and could eventually resume his role in the team’s starting lineup when it’s all said and done.

And thankfully, Hill’s ability to play on and off the ball as well as his defensive versatility makes it possible for him to share the floor with Brogdon and starting point guard Eric Bledsoe as Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer has been prone to do in the regular season and playoffs. For what it’s worth, the two-man combo of Hill and Brogdon resulted in a +14.0 net rating in 294 minutes during the season.

But the question that is probably worth asking the most as it relates to where Hill goes from here is whether he can keep up the aggressive play that, in combination with superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s own otherworldly driving, blew open the Celtics’ stout interior defense as the series progressed.

For the playoffs, Hill has converted 11 of his 17 field goal attempts (64.7 percent) in the 41 possessions that have ended with him driving inside the paint, along with going a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line after drawing shooting fouls from opponents.

And there’s no disputing what Hill’s dribble drive game has done for helping him to find a rhythm shooting the ball from three, as he’s hitting 41.4 percent of his 29 three-point tries during the postseason, a far cry from the 28 percent he shot during the regular season when with the Bucks (the difference in sample size looms large here too, of course).

As we’ve seen over the five months he’s been with the Bucks, there are just certain things you can rely on with Hill to bring to the floor and stabilize things when key starters need a breather. But it’s the extra gear he’s found in the playoffs that shows just how much of a game changer he can be when he’s in the zone.