3 key observations from the Milwaukee Bucks’ first two playoff games

2 – Jae Crowder and Jevon Carter are still looking to find a groove

Two games into the playoffs, several Bucks are still trying to find grooves and establish their roles. Among them are Jae Crowder and Jevon Carter, who are two key role players for this Bucks team.

Crowder’s role in this series with Miami has not been overly prominent to this point, as he played a mere 12 minutes in Game 1 and 15 in Game 2. During his 27 total minutes, Crowder has struggled, having scored two points on 1-of-9 shooting, including 0-of-6 from long range. He’s also notched five personal fouls, having struggled on the defensive end to a degree.

Part of these struggles could potentially be attributed to Crowder’s minimal role, as it can be hard to find a groove in little minutes. Crowder is also coming off a nagging calf injury, so it’s not overly surprising he’s looking to get back into a groove on both ends. Crowder’s importance, especially as Wesley Matthews is currently out with a calf strain, is bound to increase. It would be welcoming to see him round into form sooner rather than later.

Following a career year in essentially every category in the regular season, Carter has been quiet in the playoffs thus far. While he’s played his typical brand of reputable defense, the point guard has scored just five points on 2-of-7 shooting, including 1-of-5 from deep while tallying two assists. While the Bucks will not live and die by Carter’s production, it certainly helps when he is stuffing the stat sheet off the bench. Given how well he played throughout the regular season, Carter has another gear than what he has displayed in these two games without question.

To be clear, it’s not time to panic about either of these two; it’s not out of the ordinary for players to struggle in the first two games of the playoffs. This just means they have more to give moving forward, and it will be interesting to see if they can heat up as the NBA Playoffs progress.