3 keys for Milwaukee Bucks to steal Game 3 on the road vs Chicago Bulls
Things sure can change in the matter of a couple of days, huh? After an ugly Game 1 win, things look a little bleaker for the Milwaukee Bucks going into Game 3 after a loss and losing Khris Middleton with a sprained MCL.
Still, the Bucks are absolutely favorites in this series and should still win it in five or six games. However, they’ll need better performances than we saw in the first two games of this series, or else this will be an absolute grind which is not something we expected.
In what will be a hostile environment at the United Center tonight, here are a few things that the Bucks need to do to take back homecourt advantage.
Jrue Holiday has to be better for the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 3
This would have been the case if Middleton didn’t get hurt, but now it’s even more important. If the Bucks want to end this series quickly, Jrue Holiday will need to be the player that we saw in the regular season.
Through two games, Holiday is averaging 15 points on 44.4 percent true shooting, a 15 percent drop from the regular season, and even four percent worse than last playoffs.
I said this already but Holiday was fantastic in the Conference Finals last year so we know he can turn it on in the playoffs when needed. In six games against the Hawks, Holiday averaged 22 points on 55.4 percent true shooting with 10 assists per game. I’ll take that!
Holiday is shooting 9-of-18 in the paint and restricted area combined, meaning he’s still having the same issues as last playoffs finishing around the basket. Even against a guy who isn’t much of a rim protector like Nikola Vucevic, he’s shooting 2-of-10 against him on 2-point attempts.
The other concern is that he’s turned it over 10 times, something he didn’t do in the regular season or the playoffs. With George Hill out for a while and now being without Middleton, Holiday will be asked to handle the ball more than usual and he’ll need to be secure against guys like Alex Caruso.
I’m confident that Holiday will step it up tonight and have a much better performance than he did in Games 1 and 2. I also said that the Bucks would win by double digits in Game 2, so.