During the regular season, Taurean Prince, who signed a minimum contract in free agency, looked like one of the best bang-for-your-buck signings the Milwaukee Bucks made in a long time.
It all started with his perimeter shooting. Prince was one of the best in the association throughout the first 82 games, knocking down a career-best 43.9 percent of his triple tries. That floor spacing was an essential part of Milwaukee's offense, but it has been nowhere to be found in the NBA Playoffs, where Prince has lost his starting spot and most of his rotation minutes.
In four playoff games thus far, Prince is shooting just 2-of-8 (25 percent) from downtown. The forward has had his chances to capitalize, but he's missed all of his looks classified as "open" or "wide open" in this series. The sweet shooting that was setting him up for a raise this NBA offseason has vanished, and it's not the first time the forward has lost his stroke in the postseason.
Taurean Prince's shooting has always dipped for Bucks in the playoffs
During his nine-year regular season career, Taurean Prince has shot 38.4 percent from 3-point range. That's pretty good. During his five trips to the postseason, that number dips to 31.1 percent. That's not great. It's a small sample size, and the series isn't over, but Prince's 25 percent success rate as a Milwaukee Buck is currently a career low for the postseason.
This trend has defined Prince's career to this point, and it's one of the reasons the Milwaukee Bucks were able to scoop him on a team-friendly deal last offseason after the forward had a tough playoff showing with the Los Angeles Lakers. Prince is a nice regular-season player, but to this point, he just hasn't proven he can help get things done on the big stage.
Prior to Damian Lillard's Game 4 injury, Prince wasn't much of a factor in Milwaukee's playoff rotation. However, with Doc Rivers needing players he trusts, Prince was thrown back into the action and may even be a key piece once again for the remainder of the series. He certainly has time to shatter this narrative and finally break through with his postseason 3-point shooting.
Milwaukee's role players haven't exactly come to play throughout the first four games of the playoffs, and they need all of the help they can get heading to Indiana.
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