Giannis has played more than 40 minutes in only 3 playoff games since 2018-19 (out of 29). via statmuse https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/ho...played-over-40-minutes-in-playoffs-since-2019 Either coach bud or Giannis is the reason the best athlete (or one of) in the NBA, whos nickname is literally the freak, is unable to carry a larger minutes load (like nearly every other star) in the postseason. Edit to add: He's avg a total of merely 33.5 minutes per game in those 29 games.
It really boggled my mind how much he was taking him out. Clear their offense crashed and also at the same time Lopez played the same amount of minutes...their two most effective players that game were not being used while at the time Jrue and Middleton had played a lot more minutes despite Jrue being very average and Middleton being really really bad. At this point in the game, like mid 3rd...Lopez was shooting 70% and Giannis was shooting like 65% and they were sitting on the bench watching the Nets add to a lead. I don't think Bud is a dumb guy, he's forgotten more about basketball than I know...but that was just stupidity. It's like he was on some regular season rotation minutes. This needs to be Bud with Giannis. It's the playoffs against the most talented team in the NBA. You play him till he drops.
I've heard Harden is better, he was on an exercise bike. That gives me hope he might be available for Game 2. I'm always a Houston Rockets fan first, and a Harden fan second. I'm upset how he left us, I don't forget that. I do want him to win this year. If Chris Paul wins instead of him, I won't mind that. Ditto for Tucker, but I can't stand Giannis.
imagine that either durant or kyrie go down with the injury later in the series playing 40 min and bucks advance purely by being healthy and available , how much different your take would be then?
6 years from now when he doesn't pull his hamstring in the first period you'll be ashamed of this post!
It's the playoffs, though. Not the first game of the regular season. You gotta go all out in the postseason. That said, your two situations aren't similar. One is you get injured and lose, while another is you stay healthy and win. Obviously, you'd take the latter every day of the week. I think you're asking about the end result being the same (in both situations, you win) but the journey to get there being different (getting injured vs staying healthy). I think as a player, you'd rather give it your all, get injured and get eliminated, versus not playing a lot of minutes, staying healthy and getting eliminated.
Looking ahead: will wonder if PJ still gets the start. With Harden out, Bud might put Cunnington back on the court, no Harden to hunt him. Thought PJ did an ok job on KD. Few cases when KD put the ball on the deck Buck sent a second defender, KD punished them with passing to a nets cutter. Bucks had Tucker and Middletown taking turns on KD. After KD passes out, Bucks next defender has to come in better. --- With Pat might be a more familiar starting lineup for them. Buck's defense would be less switchable; pros and cons. --- As the game went on Nets started to pack the paint more, partly because Lopez and Giannis dominanted inside and they went cold at threes. Bucks big were still good inside, but guys like JRue, Khris, and smaller guys missed layups. Don't see the Bucks being that bad at threes whole series, they should get more ball movement for more quality threes. --- It's still a big question mark, KD and Kyrie played big minutes without fouling. Also not sure if sustainable whole series, as Bucks may attack them more. Will Blake and the others have another really good game. Harden not being there might have thrown off their game plan. ---- Jeff Teague might not crack the rotation with more minutes. Bud got flack for not playing Giannis and Lopez more, he might change that if Bucks bench can't hold Nets off. --- Bucks being bad at 3pt defense, Nets should still keep shooting threes.
The Nets can clearly compete for a title without Harden. The league should stop allowing teams to hoard talent like this. Trading for Harden only made the league worse, less competitive, less fun.
I said before the series Nets in 5, that probably changes if harden is out but yesterday was a perfect example why i thought the nets would handle them easily. Bud is not a good coach, felt like giannis missed the entire 3rd quarter, and it also felt like jeff teague played the entire game. Their defensive system leaves players open from 3 on purpose, and that cant happen playing against the nets
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...on-step-back-marching-nba-offensive-wasteland https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-kids-want-to-be-james-harden-11565100311
