Bucks Searching For Answers Before Pivotal Game 3 in Milwaukee

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Be careful what you wish for. What seemed like a golden opportunity for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks to upset a shorthanded Boston Celtics squad has turned into an 0-2 hole with a must-win mentality in game three tonight in Milwaukee.

Besides an MVP-like effort from the Greek Freak (65 points on 24-38 shooting in two games) and a desperation 35-foot shot by Khris Middleton to get the Bucks to overtime in game one, this series has been pretty one-sided in the wrong way for Milwaukee. The Celtics are not feeling sorry for themselves or making any excuses for playing without star Kyrie Irving. They have simply gone out and outworked the Bucks in almost every facet of the game.

Boston’s starting backcourt of Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown has dominated Milwaukee’s Eric Bledsoe and Tony Snell, outscoring them 96-25 through the first two games. The matchup drawing the most attention is Rozier and Bledsoe, which has sparked some trash talk from both sides. It started with Rozier calling Eric ‘Drew Bledsoe’ during a game one press conference followed by Bledsoe saying he didn’t even know who Rozier was when answering a question following game two.

As much as I like Bledsoe and what he has brought to this team since coming over in a trade earlier in the season for Greg Monroe, Charles Barkley is right. He’s been flat out getting his butt kicked. There’s no other way around it. Hopefully the veteran point guard can use it as fuel and get himself going in a must-win game three. It only takes one game to turn this series around and what better place to do it than at home with the Bucks faithful getting behind him.

As much flack as Bledsoe has gotten for the first two games, a lot can be said about his backcourt mate Tony Snell. After two games in Boston, Snell has scored just four points on 2-7 shooting (0-4 from three) in 55 minutes played. While he’s known more for his defense than offense, the 26-year-old has got to be more assertive and look for his shot. He’s a career 38% three-point shooter and just last year, shot a whopping 51% from downtown (16-31) in the first round of the playoffs against the Raptors. If Snell can get a couple to go down early, that should help spread the defense out and open up a lot more room for Giannis to attack the paint.

Parker Needs More Minutes

Another hot storyline from this series is the frustration between Jabari Parker and the Bucks organization. Once heralded as the ‘Bucks Savior,’ the former 2nd overall pick seems to be heading for a messy divorce. The Bucks had so much hope for the 23-year-old that they even held a public press conference for Jabari at the Milwaukee Public Market. We all know that it hasn’t been the smoothest four years during his time in Milwaukee and it’s gotten even worse during his first playoffs.

Parker has voiced his displeasure with his lack of playing time and role with the team since returning in February, and the organization has fired back, resulting in the star forward playing just 14 minutes in game one followed by a measly 10 minutes in game two. Sure, Parker has not produced much in those minutes with just two points on 1-7 shooting and +/- of -29 to show for it. To his defense, though, it would be hard to get into a rhythm with limited minutes in an unbalanced rotation. To say his defense is why he doesn’t deserve minutes is arguable but the team defense as a whole has been sub-par. I’d take my chances of having Parker out there for the 55 minutes that Snell has played and see if he can get into an offensive rhythm and run the floor with Giannis.

It’s hard to watch and imagine Parker, who will be a restricted free agent, leaving the Bucks this summer. Sometimes things don’t work the way you thought they would and there will always be that ‘what if’. Obviously there’s still a chance to rekindle the relationship and that can happen starting tonight. Already being down 0-2 as the seventh seed, the Bucks don’t have much else to lose. If I’m coach Prunty, why not give the guy 25-30 minutes and see what he and Giannis can do. Clearly Parker is angry and has a chip on his shoulder. Give him the chance to go out and prove something one last time. If he struggles, then that will be validation that Milwaukee just isn’t the best place for him and both sides can move on. The playoffs are not a time to make excuses or have dysfunction. Taking a lesson from the Celtics, the Bucks should put everything aside, come together as a team, and simply go compete as a unit.

Game Three Adjustments

I could go on and on about what Milwaukee needs to do better to get back into this series but the message is pretty simple. They got outcoached and outworked in games one and two by a group of guys that wanted it more than them. Now that the series has shifted to the Cream City, the Bucks have to take advantage and use the energy of their fans to push back. As I mentioned in my series preview, the Deer have more talent from top to bottom but haven’t gotten much help offensively beyond Giannis and Middleton, respectively.

Joe Prunty is so desperate for answers that he even played a 12-man rotation last game, which hasn’t allowed for anyone to get into a rhythm. He needs to keep it simple and not overthink things. The playoffs are a different beast and in order to find some consistency, the rotation has to be limited to eight or nine guys at the very most. That means that Malcolm Brogdon, Parker and Tyler Zeller should be getting the minutes off the bench with a possible wildcard such as Shabazz Muhammed for an extra scoring punch.

Brogdon, who recently came back after missing 30 games, has looked solid thus far in the playoffs scoring in double figures in both games. He only played 19 minutes in game two though, which begs the question as to if the coaches are still worried about him playing lengthy minutes. With the possibility of John Henson missing tonight’s game, Thon Maker will also need to be ready to step up if his number is called.

The series is far from over and as bad as game two was, the Bucks were just minutes away from stealing game one and heading to the BMO Harris Bradley Center with a 1-1 split. The only game that matters is tonight. I hate the cliché of saying it’s a must-win but that’s just the situation they have found themselves in. Being down 2-1 instead of 3-0 would make this series that much more interesting. Out of all professional sports, home court advantage means the most in basketball and football. The Bucks have some of the best fans in the NBA and the Fortress on Fourth Street is sure to be rocking tonight. The Deer need to have a short memory, protect home court, and find a way to send this series back to Boston.