Game 1 between the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers was a grueling experience from start to finish for anyone rooting for the visitors.
The Bucks showcased basically every flaw that held them back in the regular season, and to make it worse, they did little to correct the issue. The result was a blowout loss. Now, they must head back to the drawing board in an effort to even this series up before it shifts back to Milwaukee. One way to do so would be to utilize lineups that match up well with how Indiana likes to play.
The Pacers are fast, agile, athletic and can run like few teams can. The Bucks, meanwhile, do not have that luxury. While they have some athletes who can play, rarely are they utilized in lineups that may be the key to unlocking success. To be crystal clear, this series is a bad matchup for Bobby Portis and Brook Lopez, who struggle against this type of team because they simply cannot keep up.
Interestingly enough, the Milwaukee Bucks do have a big man who has the chops to make an impact against the speedy Pacers. Jericho Sims is a shot in the arm for Milwaukee due to his athleticism, motor and defensive versatility. After missing a month due to injury, he returned for Game 1 but only played nine minutes. If the Milwaukee Bucks want a chance in this series, he needs to play more.
There is a particular lineup combination he should be featured in that could be fantastic.
Doc Rivers needs to try this Bucks lineup to combat Indiana
Following the NBA All-Star break, Doc Rivers used a lineup featuring Giannis Antetokounmpo, Sims, Taurean Prince, Gary Trent Jr. and Kevin Porter Jr. for 11 minutes across five games. In that span, the group notched the best defensive rating among Milwaukee lineups to tally over 10 minutes at 63.6. With so much athletic ability and versatility in tow, this group got stops defensively.
Milwaukee needs to tighten up defensively, and this lineup could help, but there are questions if they have enough offense. That's where the tweak comes in. Swapping out Taurean Prince, who scored a whopping zero points in Game 1, for AJ Green could make this lineup interesting. That would put two excellent shooters in Green and Trent out there, as well as another decent floor spacer in Porter.
Prince has been a key piece for the Milwaukee Bucks all year, but not many would argue that he has more upside than Green, who has shown elite marksmanship and defensive promise. In a series like this, he's the type of player who could swing momentum in a single sequence. Inserting him into this lineup could give him countless opportunities.
The Milwaukee Bucks have used a similar lineup combination that features Portis in the spot where Sims would be, and that is certainly a useful group. However, for that combination to truly get off the ground, Portis has to score, and he didn't do much of that in Game 1 - four points on eight tries. Sims is the far better defender and athlete, which could turn this lineup up a notch.
As covered previously, the Antetokounmpo-Sims pairing has a defensive rating of 83.6, the best on the Bucks after the All-Star break among pairings to log at least 30 minutes. These two are too good defensively to waste this combination as Doc Rivers did in Game 1. It makes all the sense in the world to pair them together, especially when the Pacers are running with little resistance.
The Milwaukee Bucks need adjustments, and getting their new - and now healthy - big man involved in a series like this is a no-brainer.
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