Bucks turn to Khris Middleton-Giannis Antetokounmpo pick-and-roll in crunch time, and they’ll need more of it

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The Milwaukee Bucks survived on Thursday, if solely simply barely. In Recreation 3 of their second-round sequence towards the Brooklyn Nets, they constructed a 30-9 lead within the first 10 and a half minutes, then scored simply three factors within the subsequent 9 minutes. It was their least environment friendly offensive sport of the sequence — they scored 89.6 factors per 100 possessions — however the 86-83 win counts the identical because the Nets’ 125-86 thrashing in Recreation 2. 

“It doesn’t matter the way you do it this time of yr,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer mentioned. “You simply gotta discover a option to get it executed.”

Budenholzer precisely described the sport as a slugfest. For greater than 4 minutes within the fourth quarter, the rating was tied 76-76, with two of the perfect groups within the NBA clanking jumpers. Milwaukee lastly broke the tie when Khris Middleton hit his patented pull-up, stepping right into a clear look from midrange off a ball display from Giannis Antetokounmpo:

The Middleton-Antetokounmpo display is a staple of the Bucks’ offense, and so they’ve gone to it greater than ever this season. They didn’t get a lot out of it within the first two video games of the sequence, and it didn’t work each time they went to it in Recreation 3, but it surely’s exactly the kind of motion that each staff wants to have the ability to flip to in troublesome conditions. 

“I may see what they had been making an attempt to offer me,” Middleton mentioned. “I simply tried to benefit from it. I really feel like I can rating in loads of alternative ways. These pictures, these are the kind of pictures they need me to take. And I’m assured. I feel I’m adequate, I’ve labored on these pictures rather a lot to knock them down. And it went down for me tonight.”

Middleton knew that Antetokounmpo’s defender, Blake Griffin, can be in drop protection. Whereas Brooklyn spent many of the season switching nearly each display, it’s treating Antetokounmpo in a different way. Antetokounmpo shouldn’t be a menace to come out to the perimeter, and the Nets would relatively not give him a bonus by placing a smaller defender on him. This implies there’s house for Middleton to shortly get to his pull-up, or to get his defender on his hip and make a play.

At Barclays Heart in January, Middleton missed a 3-pointer within the nook that will have crushed the Nets. He had that chance partially as a result of he hit two pull-ups in crunch time, each of which got here off Antetokonmpo ball screens, with DeAndre Jordan in a deep drop.

Middleton scored the clutch the identical approach in Milwaukee 5 weeks in the past, with Griffin defending the ball display, though I’m nonetheless unsure if it was supposed to be a floater or a lob: 

If the Bucks don’t repair their ugly offense quickly, Antetokounmpo will certainly get a lot of the blame, notably for his poor taking pictures from 3-point vary (1-for-8 in Recreation 3, 3-for-16 within the sequence, 4-for-32 within the playoffs) and the free throw line (4-for-9 in Recreation 3, 6-for-19 within the sequence, 27-for-52 within the playoffs). To his credit score, although, Antetokounmpo has change into extra of a screen-setter this season, permitting Middleton and Jrue Vacation to make performs. Vacation has but to search out his rhythm towards Brooklyn, however Middleton broke out with a game-high 35 factors on 12-for-25 taking pictures on Thursday. Milwaukee wants extra of that. (And sure, it wants fewer 3-point makes an attempt from Antetokounmpo.)

The Nets’ technique towards Antetokounmpo’s ball screens has largely been efficient. The Bucks turned it over twice early within the fourth quarter with Middleton because the ballhandler, and Griffin stopped Antetokounmpo on the rim within the remaining minute with Vacation because the ballhandler. Brooklyn doesn’t have the status as a disruptive defensive staff, however Bruce Brown and Joe Harris combat over screens and there’s at all times a assist defender on the nail. 

Milwaukee can not say it has found out Brooklyn’s protection, not even shut, however it will possibly proceed to place Griffin in pick-and-rolls and empower Middleton and Vacation. Reap the benefits of the house the Nets are surrendering, and so they’ll must a minimum of take into consideration altering the protection. If there’s a lesson from Middleton’s pull-up to interrupt the tie, it’s good issues occur when he makes fast choices. He hunted that shot, relatively than settling for it. 

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