3 Milwaukee Bucks role players who could be the key for a great playoff run
By Aitor Darias
Malik Beasley: Can he regain his 3-point shot?
As the fifth member of the Bucks starting lineup, it is no secret Malik Beasley is going to be a key part of the team's outcome whether that's for better or worse.
Despite him having an overall pretty solid season, he can feel like a coin flip at times. If he has a hot night and goes 6-for-7 from three, that's classic Beasley right there. However, if he goes 1-of-10, that's classic Beasley, too. At this point, the Milwaukee Bucks are just going to have to live with that.
He's shooting a solid 41.8 percent from three through the season, but since March, he has fallen below 33 percent. His cold nights are starting to feel more frequent. That's a dangerous thing now that the playoffs are getting closer because playing next to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, he will get good shots. We've seen he can be a killer, but he can also be a liability.
People talk about the NBA as a 'make or miss' league, and that statement is probably overused, but players like him are the ones bringing some truth to it.
No defense in the world would have Beasley as a priority since Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and even Khris Middleton are too big of threats for any team to focus on. Beasley will get good shots. If he makes them, then the defense will be forced to pay him more attention, and he will open spaces for the other players. If he doesn't, though, he will be even left alone and Giannis and Lillard will have a harder time getting to the rim.
Milwaukee has another sharpshooter on the roster in AJ Green, who could take Beasley's spot when he's having some off nights, but it's unclear how much Doc Rivers will trust him in big games. His presence might be interesting in another way, though; that is how patient Rivers will be with Beasley having a similar player on the bench.
You don't want to bench him after a few misses because he can be lethal if he turns up, but you don't want him to keep missing threes one after another, either. Rivers will need to find balance, giving him the chance to heat up but not letting his bad nights hurt the team too much.