Gary Trent Jr matches Giannis with 37 as Bucks stomp Indiana in Game 3
Hey there. Welcome to GPN’s Milwaukee Bucks postgame coverage. We are through three games of Bucks Pacers in the first round. And the series isn’t over. I mean, technically it could never be over, but two to one. Bucks get back toward being in the series with a huge win over Indiana thanks to the first game in Gary Trent Jr.’s rafters resume here. a wonderful 37point outing. We’re going to talk about that. We’re going to talk about what else worked for the Bucks besides just Trent carrying them on their backs and what we need to see from Milwaukee to continue the winning ways to see us nodded at 22 after the late night Sunday showdown. I’m Ty Windish. were presented by prize picks our pals at America’s number one daily fantasy sports outlet where you can use code Euroep and should use code Euroep to get $50 when you play $5 lineup for the first time win or lose and I am joined by my Euroep compadre Rohan Cotti and the great Jordan Tresy the the Kevin Harland right now he’s calling both things NFL draft Bucks playoffs he’s got it all fellas you’re about to call him Kevin Hart And that’s what I thought too. I was like I love the movie Central Intelligence. Oh no. What’s I was like, “Oh no, what’s going on here?” Was not going to call him Kevin Hart. Uh was not going to was not going to do that. Uh fellas, how’s it going? Uh doing well. I’m uh like I said when we were talking uh before the the pod live pod started, I’m doing better than I thought I was going to pregame. Uh yeah, a doubter. Yeah, I am similarly um not off the walls but very calmed and very reassured. This would have been a lot different podcast had um this been what 8:30 8:45 when the Bucks were coming out of halftime down 10. Let’s just say that it’s a live pod and the Bucks are alive pod. Yeah, it felt bad again. Uh even though I don’t think the plus minus tells the same story necessarily for the starters. I mean, we just keep seeing the same movie with that group. Um Brook Lopez, I love him. Everyone knows big litmus test guy over here. Just can’t play here. They just can’t. It just doesn’t work. the the strategy with Brooke out there is just pray for misses basically and they they got some of those as well which is I think why the starter minutes weren’t a huge net negative but um the the bench unit the unit we’ve been talking about the unit we’ve been obsessed with which is a little different now because Dame is back but basically Giannis Trent Portoris Green and right now Dame formerly you know Rollins or KPJ or whoever a point guard out there with that group. They did it again. I mean, they put this game away. They slammed the doors shut despite Portoris, who I still think is playing relatively well. Had some ugly turnovers in the second half. Otherwise, I think he’s playing pretty well. Didn’t have a shot at all the whole night, which you’d hope he could snap out of that. Uh KPJ still not able to give them very much, but those lineups defensively are just giving Indiana big problems. And with the way the Bucks were defending, Indiana only got to 100 in garbage time on their last made shot. Ended up with 101, the Giannis and Trent offense was more than enough for the Bucks. I mean, we’ve got to start with Gary. It was just I mean, one of the better Bucks playoff performances we’ve ever seen. Like both ways. Four steals. Yeah. And I think before we even start with Gary’s performance, we haven’t even mentioned that Gary was starting this game for the Milwaukee Bucks. Tory and Prince uh removed from the starting lineup. Uh I I want to talk about Gary, but I want to talk about Let’s talk about Gary first. It’s desert. It’s got to be Gary. Gary Trent Jr. inserted into the starting lineup uh for the Bucks in this game. His first playoff start in around three years, I believe. 222. Yes. And he comes out, he shows out. This is a guy who’s been struggling from distance in this series thus far. two games. Uh adjusting to being a goggles Gary. Uh just a just a guy who’s, you know, as Marcus was saying on the broadcast, like really showing that he was brought to be the starting two guard of this team last year, last off seasonason. You you signed Gary Trent Jr., one of the prizes of free agency at the time. You’re like, “Oh my goodness, this guy’s a perfect two guard next to Dame. He he knows how to play with Dame. He’s going to be a great uh uh shooter for Giannis. He can do a lot of stuff off the catch. He can he can uh play defense a bit. He’s not going to be a stalwart, but he knows what he’s doing. He didn’t even need to operate off the catch in this game. He just he just shot. That’s what mattered in this game. One of the all-time great playoff performances from a Milwaukee Buck. I think that goes without saying. If the Bucks lose this game, they they’re done. Obviously, they’re down 3 0. Gary Trent Jr. wills them to victory. No one else in the series from the role players that triumpvirate and the great Marcus Johnson like to talk about with you and I tie. It was great. Yeah. Um had really stood up like stood out. Uh but Gary really set the tone. He was a guy who has proven to be a reliable shooter for Giannis in this game where Giannis in these last couple games when he’s dictating how the offense flows has not trusted a lot of guys and for good reason. They’re not doing what they need to do. uh they’re not making the right pass, they’re not making shots. He trusted Gary in this game because Gary was just a flamethrower and just crazy one of the greatest shooting performances you will ever see. We cannot say enough good things about Gary Trent Jr. here because he like did I didn’t see this coming. Like I really didn’t. I thought it would be probably something more split up. You see Gary have like, you know, like two or three or four made threes. You have AJ maybe a couple made threes here and there. Koozma maybe picks it up a little bit. And you get these like role players by committee. And like not to lump AJ Green in there because he he did play well and we’ll talk about him later. But Gary just single-handedly took control of this game and really put this team on his back for an opportunity that he hasn’t really showcased a lot this season, but he did when it mattered. Yeah, that I could not have said it any better myself. I think one, we had talked about who do the Bucks turn to to revitalize the starting lineup after game two. It wasn’t like Gary was like the the most obvious example because as good as he was in game one, he was a little bit wobbly in game two. It was just like do you turn to him? Do you turn to Kevin Porter Jr. who, you know, up until this point, I mean, even still going on, like he hasn’t found it offensively, but you needed to make the change. Like, unless they were going to go really radical, and Doc Rivers is not known for his radicalism, if we could uh admit that, I don’t think so. Um, it just it felt like the most obvious, but it felt like the safest move for the Bucks to make. And then it just pays off with him. It wasn’t even just like he was a flamethrower, but it wasn’t like it felt very Klay Thompson like like the obvious example is like game six OKC where there wasn’t a lot of waste of movement. There wasn’t a lot of dribbles. He’s hitting threes like the arc of his like shots are like rainbows. Like he’s getting contested out on like in the corner and it still doesn’t matter. So, like I I mean when you’re that dialed in, like what else can you do? The fact that he tied Ray Allen for most threes in a a Bucks playoff game kind of says it all, you know. Did he tie him or break it? I thought he broke it. He tied it. Oh, he did tie it. They should have gotten him the 10th one, man. It was right. It was the one that he was on the line. Oh, that’s true. He Yeah, he had 10 shots that were called threes at the time, but obviously one got one got called back. I I love the clay comp because it was that you’re totally right in that. I mean, he went within the arc a little bit. He had two twos that he made out of his four tries there. He got fouled a few times. You know, it wasn’t totally it wasn’t as surgical as Clay, but it was pretty close. One of my favorite things about Trent is, you know, some guys it feels like, you know, they’re really good off the catch, but if they have to put the ball down at all, they’re not good. Some guys vice versa, they’re, you know, Dame I feel like is much better usually off the dribble or the step back than he is generally. Trent, it feels like it doesn’t even matter that much. A wide openen catch and shoot, he’ll he’ll make it. Contested catch and shoot, he’ll make it. But his favorite might be that little sideep dribble. He absolutely loves the mini relocate, knock it down. And he was drilling those tonight as well. He l he he was watching a lot of Malik Beasley tape from the Bucks last year. Yeah, except regular season bees tape thankfully is what he what he had turned into uh for this. But the other thing too, I mean the scoring is what everyone’s going to talk and obviously I mean he had 37 points. Giannis had 37 points. No one else for the Bucks had more than 12. That was AJ Green on on a diet of all threes which hey that that’ll do. I don’t need him doing anything else. Um he clearly the scoring load is worth discussing. Trent had four steals in this game as much as the rest of the Bucks combined. And one of the things I talked with Tony East about um you can find that on lockdown pacers also that combo and Rohan’s combo with Alex Golden setting the pace also on our audio feed only. So if you don’t subscribe to audio make sure to go check that out for some bonus content here. One of the things I said though is the Bucks perimeter defenders have just not been forceful enough. They don’t attack the ball at all when it was Prince and Koozma and Dame starting and that let Indiana get comfortable. Like I don’t know if you saw guys saw the stat that he had shared. The Pacers are actually being slowed down significantly by the Bucks. Like the some of their slowest games of the entire season in half court, but they were still getting great looks. And what I said was, you know, if you have forceful defenders on the perimeter, they’re not going to let a team get five looks. You know, they’re not going to let you run five actions in one possession. Like the ball gets knocked out. You have to inbound again or it’s a steal. That was Trent. I mean, he was all over it. He’s a pass. Like I still I don’t think he’s an amazing defender. He’s not locked down. He’s not like you’re not looking like, “Oh, is that Lou Dart out there?” But he knows how to jump into the dribble lane. He jumps into passing lanes. He’s just he makes himself annoying on defense. And that’s that’s been that was enough in this game. That’s for sure. It’s more resistance than any other Buck has put up on the perimeter easily. It is like it’s just that sort of energy and like I hate I I truly hate seeing these kind of cliches, but it it truly was that energy that he really like the rest of the team feeds off of and I will I’m not going to say it. I’m not gonna say I think there’s an app you just said the appetizer go for the entree with some effort. Yeah, but you you can tell you really feed on this. Like the team feeds on this and of course the home crowd really helps out and hopefully they can carry this into game four. Uh like the rest of the role players can really carry that energy because I think that’s the biggest momentum shift that is possible in this series. Yeah. But it’s it’s really like the the defense is so great and you can see it’s kind of infectious. You could see AJ Green getting fired up. Dame having two blocks like he he’s not doing anything on the offensive end. We’ll talk about that. That was sad. I said he couldn’t said he couldn’t do worse on the offensive end and then he did. Yeah, I said that on our pod and setting the pace. So, that was cool. Um, but just everyone locking in on the defensive end, making that Indiana Pacers team slow down in the non Brook Lopez minutes is really important. Just mucking it up. That’s this Bucks team identity they’ve been they’ve they tried to find they’ve been lost trying to find an identity. They they were set a drift like they were Kevin Cosner in what was that movie? Uh Ocean World or something Oh, Water World. Water World. Yeah. Okay. What a GPN callback. Not the Kevin Coer movie that I thought was going to be referenced this week. I got to make one weird reference every podcast. But have you seen Water World? No, not a chance. Okay, so you only make reference. Have you been the Water World ride? What? Water World ride? I believe it’s at It’s either Disney’s or the Universal Studios one. Still ongoing. They were They were a drift though, looking for an identity. And you know, it’s like that you just kept you can’t you can’t quit it. you keep coming back to that same thing you want. You know you want it and you keep coming back to it and that’s the Bucks and locking down on defense. And that’s what they did in this game. That’s what these smaller units can do. That’s what these more versatile units can do. And that’s how they asserted their will. And Gary really played a big role in that. Yeah. I mean, just make them beat you, right? Like that. That’s the Indiana Seakum. Start off the back foot. Make them beat you. Don’t let them beat you. Don’t give him open shots. I think Hallebertton especially he knocked down a couple of threes late in the game. He just he doesn’t want to shoot off the dribble. He prefers not to. And the Bucks in the first two games in the first half of game three like kept giving him the passes and that’s what he wants and when you make him shoot he doesn’t like it. He gets uncomfortable. I saw Alex Golden share during the game and I assume this is true because I think they made at least the same amount since then. Trent made more threes in this game than Tyrese has in the series. like make that guy beat you the way he doesn’t want to. That’s how you have to attack star players. Seakkum they just don’t have much for. He’s just really good. The thing is he doesn’t sustain it for the whole game. You just have to withstand the run and try to not give him the mismatch switches that they keep giving him. The one that late in the game Giannis is like holding his ground, not switching, not switching, not switching. And then they just switch anyway after. And I think he got like Dame back on just like why just don’t do it. None of these guys want to shoot off the dribble. They’re treating Nemhard and Hallebertton like it’s Steph Curry. You don’t have to do this. Make them shoot threes off the dribble. But in the second half, they got closer, right? It was more of like you’re going to have to be whoever’s in front of you, even if it’s not our ideal matchup. And for the most part, again, outside of like the four-minute run of Seakum, Indiana couldn’t. They had no answer. I think it’s pretty telling. I mean, for all the defense defensive concerns that the Bucks had in game two, Tori and Prince only played three minutes and that was practically because of I shouldn’t say practically, that was only because Gary Chan Jr. left the game with a shing contusion and it didn’t stop him from hitting threes. Brook Lopez 15 minutes. Um, Koozma, you know how it is. It’s first half it’s like he plays like dog crap and then second half he’s like, “Okay, there’s at least a little bit of juice there.” But like they pretty much phased out anybody that was not that has been singled out defensively. And as we mentioned with Prince, that comes with context. He’s not a he’s not a stopper and he’s not someone that you can have him on a slippery guard like Hallebertton who just knows how to get through him at will. Brook, it’s just the spacing. Yeah. screening concerns that compromise the Bucks defense. When it came down to it, like I know the it’s the fun things about like, okay, Gary’s hitting his shots, AJ Green, we’ll certainly talk more about him. Yeah. But like when it came down to it, if you’re locked in, digging in defensively, if you’re just trying to create havoc, that’s why you’re playing. Like Kevin Porter Jr. has not found it at all this series. 0 for five. his only point came at the free throw line. Still a minus five because and that’s not great in a game where they won by 16, but still it’s like he was still giving them something defensively that Doc was like it felt like at one point he was kind of wobbly with like I’m going to take him out because he was just all over the place and his passes are just like what are you doing? But he’s still getting he’s still doing things to just create havoc. I think it it sounds so simple, but when they can sustain that for even just a half, like what the second half looked like, it just changes games. No question. No question whatsoever. Let’s talk about Giannis. Um, which I again I think it’s easy to take for granted, but also had 37. Um, I guess shooting 10 from the free throw line. Giannis has been saying it’s do or die and he approached this game like it was game six of the finals and you’ve just got to respect it. 37 points, 12 boards, six assists. Number I gave Tony East was I think you need to see at least 40 points and assists every single night from Giannis in this series. I think that’s the magic number. Even if he has 37 points, if he has like one assist, probably not enough offense for Milwaukee total, 43 tonight and probably could have been more assists. Like the Bucks in the first half were ice cold from three. Even with Trent and Green both being above I mean Carrie’s at 75%, AJ’s at 50. They’re still only 36% as a team for this game and nobody could hit anything in the first half when they did trail by 10. But Giannis was making the right decisions, attacking a lot of course. I mean 73.7% from the field, 14 of 19. They have nothing. We knew they’d have nothing. We know this. But they have absolutely nothing. Like not even close to a walking 50point threat against the Pacers. Like we know 32 minutes. Sorry. 32 minutes cuz of the foul trouble in the first half. Yeah. I really thought that the the fouls early in the game were really going to shift the momentum and I was really nervous about it. They did. Yeah. I mean they were down by 10 after even through the first quarter. I mean, I think Nate Eric Name was pretty like Yeah. Giannis is still not out there and it’s like 8:30 in the second quarter. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it it was which is But by the way, just to restate the logical fallacy of foul trouble, Giannis ends the game with two fouls. So, you limited his minutes to prevent him from getting fouls and which which he never picked up more of. So you the only reason he had played less minutes is because you were worried about the foul trouble. No, he was going to be co-leading scorer. I mean Gary only played 34. That’s the interesting thing is like because they’re in this weird spot where even though they’re trying to shrink the rotation, it’s still no one’s playing that much and there was a little bit of garbage time too, but because they’re starting with so many players, at least two, who shouldn’t really be playing that much and they’re still going to get some actual burn that like even favoring those guys a lot in the second half, Gary leads the way with 34 minutes. Bob is at 32, Giannis is at 32, Dame 31 and a half. Kind of a special case. interesting. I I don’t know where it shrinks from here after, you know, Lopez who was at 14 and a half. And again, it’s it’s just clear. But anyway, sorry, back to Giannis. I mean, I don’t know. Is there anything else to say? I mean, he’s got this solved and I think he’s just playing perfect ball offensively right now. I will say there were some moments in near the first half where it just felt like things were kind of unraveling and the Pacers are doing a lot of the three defenders tightly like lined up together right around the free throw line and it felt like call it yeah a barrier not I won’t say the other word but it felt very like and it was happening when the Bucks were hitting three-point shots, it every offensive action felt very repetitious. Like it felt like every possession for like the next seven minutes, but I felt like he was trying to force it. And why wouldn’t you? He’s such a I mean, it’s Giannis. And then they retake the lead in the third quarter. Fast forward a little bit. And I just see like, you know, Yiannis Tentacoup 28 points, 10 10 rebounds, four point or four assists. And it’s like again, the baseline for him even when he had is in foul trouble. Second quarter was not great. I’m only saying foul trouble. Um, no, it’s Rohan sent a funny tweet. That That’s what we’re That’s what we’re It’s not you. Sorry. Sorry, Jordan. Um, but the baseline that he just brings, it’s just we get we have a loss of words of just keeps saying the same thing over and over again, but it is just like, yeah, it’s like it it just feels like someone snaps their fingers. It’s like, yep, Giannis is right there. Like, he’s always going to be right there. Even when, you know, whatever, he’s not having his a game or whatever. It’s like he’s still hitting shots. his his mid-range jumper looks so fluid. It is it’s getting better as the the season goes along. It’s it’s back. It it took a weird dip at the end of the season like it it wasn’t there at all, but it’s it’s starting to come back, which is if there’s any time to do it, it’s right now. Nine to 10 for the free throw line. Obviously, being at home helps a little bit. You’re not going to have Greek time guy with his arrow that broke midway through the game uh right in front of his line of vision. It’s just like I I don’t know. We’re not going to take Giannis for granted just because he has given so many different things, but even in a first round series where the Bucks are against the wall, it’s like, yeah, he will find it. Don’t worry about it. And it’s it’s the crazy thing is is I thought he could have played a lot better. It’s like it’s it’s so Have you considered shooting 100% from the field? Well, have you considered not like giving the ball to the Pacers at times? Like Yeah. Like there were a lot of that and then it’s like he’s I I don’t know. It’s the the baseline is just insane. That’s the thing. Like I’m not trying to say that Giannis had a bad game by any stretch of the imagination. Don’t get me wrong. Giannis like they’re not winning this game without Giannis. Don’t don’t cloud that at all. But there’s there’s just there’s levels to it, you know? Like 37 is just a slightly above average game for Giannis. Like that’s like he like I said earlier, he’s a walking 50 B. You say that, Ty. This dude averaged almost 31 a game for the last like two or three years. Yeah. And 37’s more than that. I I said it’s more on 73% from the 32. I said I said I know you’re just saying whatever. Who cares? I’m saying that he can do more. I’m not saying he needs to, but I’m saying that’s the beautiful thing about it. It’s so crazy that these st we will never have another Bucks player to have this standard that we can talk about where it’s like 37 12 and six in 32 minutes. He’s a freaking plus 24 those minutes and we’re just still like he can still be better. It’s just crazy. And I know that’s basketball but it’s just like it’s still I don’t know. It is just crazy. It is. It is pretty crazy. Can we uh can we circle back to the starters discussion because I feel like we do need to have that. We do. We do. But first, we’re going to we’re going to Yeah, we’re going to circle back to our friends at Prize Picks who I don’t know if everyone knows this, but it’s Friday, which means it’s flex Friday on prize picks. So, unlike the Bucks, I lost today, but is flex Friday. I opted in. My flex play was protected. So, let’s go through it. Let’s see where where did I air in my $5 for $125 six pick flex play. Zero risk today here on Friday. Tyrese Hallebertton more than 14 and a half rebounds and assists. He did indeed. He had 17. He got there. I knew not to go with the scoring. Bobby Poris more than 13 and a half points. Thought I could ride a big Bob Wave after that huge game two where he had what 29. Only ended up with 10. Lot of looks. I mean, the shot diet was there for it. He just couldn’t get there. That’ll happen. Andrew Nemhard more than 15 and a half points in assists. Pretty quiet Nemhard game. Only had 11. Uh he was averaging over the 15 and a half. Pretty nice for the Bucks. So he decided to quiet down a little bit. I did get this one. Pascal Siaka more than 23 and a half points and assists. He had 30. So was not close there. I really tried to, you know, uh go with Bucks role players thinking the home crowd would be a boost. Just didn’t pick the right one. Gary Trent not on here anywhere. Kevin Porter Jr. more than nine and a half points and rebounds. Figured couple baskets. He does fly high for those rebounds. Only ended up with five. Just the scoring not there right now for KPJ. Hoped he could figure it out here. Didn’t happen. And then Kyle Kosma tried to fade less than 1.5 assists. I think he got the second one in garbage time. I’m pretty sure that happened when the game was decided and he was to Sims for his dunk. It was to Sims for his dunk. Not even mad. Wasn’t going to get this either way. But that’s the great thing about Prize Picks. They have special promotions like Flex Friday. So, I can laugh through this because that was a protected play. Uh Prize Pick is great. All basketball playoffs, all hockey playoffs, all baseball season, all women’s basketball season, you can play on Prize Picks. And again, you can make a play like this $5 play, win or lose. If you sign up today and use that code on the screen, Euroep or in the description, wherever you’re watching or listening, you get $50 to play from there on out. And again, take advantage of Flex Friday. That could be like 10 years of prize picks for you. So check it out. Download the app today. Use code Euro Stap. Help us out. Support the show. Prize picks run your game. Starting five. Rohan. One last thing on Giannis. Sorry. So I know I’m the one who said, “Yeah, you’re all over the place.” The only players in NBA history to record 35 plus points, 10 plus rebounds, five plus assists, and uh 70% from the field in multiple playoff games, Jiannisko and LeBron James. Is that good? I think it’s pretty good. LeBron’s up there, right? Like as a basketball player. His son might be up there, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We’re talking senior. Uh oh. Oh. Oh, sorry. Oh, okay. He’s a little low, you know. Yeah. Starting five, though. So, we got Gary Tren Jr. inserted into the starting lineup. I I I thought one I was like, there’s no way there’s not a change, right? Like I I Doc was Doc was Doc was toying with us yesterday. He really was after practice. We want to change. We want to react, but we don’t want to overreact. He didn’t overreact, that’s for sure. Listen, like when he just does that like classic just like God, I can’t wait till we don’t have to hear him anymore. I mean, it takes up Yeah. Let’s not get out of our He loves stability within organizations, Rohan. We’ll have to talk later in the show about horse getting extended. Yes. Yeah, we will have to do that. Um, what was I saying? Oh, yeah. So, so we get Gary inserted into the starting lineup and that’s the only change. That’s not what I expected and I still don’t think it’s enough. I don’t think Brook Lopez needs to play another minute in this series. It is. I don’t think he does. I really don’t. I still think like if you put a plan out there if you want to throw him out there when Thomas Bryant comes in for a couple minutes if see what you can get whatever. Especially if you need some scoring because he didn’t score in this game. Usually he can get you a couple of buckets. Maybe especially against the Pacers this year. He’s been able to do that, but he hasn’t done that in the playoffs. And Sims has been really good. So I I don’t even really need that to be honest with you. I’m not caping for it. I’m with you, too. I don’t think you need to see more Brook Lopez in this series. Like I I said the same thing with Alex Golden. like you can match the Thomas Bryant minutes if you if you need to. But to what what are you trying to gain there? Like what’s the advantage? What what do you gain by playing Brook Lopez? You you don’t you you have rim protection when you have Jericho out there and Giannis out there or or Giannis. They have not those two have not shared the court in this series. But you you like you have 48 minutes of rim protection out there. You you do. You really do. And well, yeah, Dame Dame also. Yeah, that as a rim protector. Absolutely. Yeah. Uh, crazy game. Insane game. Uh, we’re talking about Dame defensive highlights instead of his offensive highlights. It’s crazy. But who’s holding it down out there? You You watch the minutes with Brook Lopez out there and you watch the minutes without Brook Lopez out there and it’s night and day. It really is. They the Indiana Pacers, to their credit, very well coached team, very well executed. Like they know exactly what they want to do against every single personnel group. Like this is they’re they’re a good team. Like I don’t think that’s goes without saying at this point. They’re a good team. Every time Brook Lopez is out there, they are hunting him in every possible situation, multiple times, every single possession. On ball, off ball. Like Miles Turner just needs to like run fast when he doesn’t have the ball and he can get an open shot. That’s reminds me It reminds me of the Towns matchup. It’s the thing. It’s a It’s a fast shooting center. Yeah, it’s Cat. It’s It’s Turner. It’s Porzingis. All of these great centers in the Eastern Conference for some reason. Uh it’s it’s really annoying. But yeah, Chad is asking, could he play against Cleveland? Yeah, I think for sure. For sure. Just not not in this matchup. It’s like it’s like Bobby and 21 to a lesser extent. I don’t think Brook Lopez is as valuable now than Bobby was then, but like where you you freeze Bobby out of that Net series and then he comes back later. But like how much is Bobby grown by the way? This Bobby the way he’s playing right now, he could have played in that series. Oh my god. Absolutely. He He is doing exactly everything we have asked him to do for years and it’s beautiful. There were a couple of times where it’s like they just gave him in the post. I was like, you know what, Bob, you deserve this, man. You didn’t go on that. Yeah. Uh but Brook Lopez that the Pacers whenever he’s on the court, they are generating open shots no matter what. It’s it’s it’s kind of hard to watch. Defense is like just pray, bro. That’s what it’s like you were saying earlier, Ty, they got away with this series because you just hope for misses when he’s out there and they got those misses. But that’s not good basketball. That is not good game plan. That is not good exe. I mean, I guess they’re executing what they thought they could, but that’s not a good game plan at all. And it’s not sustainable. It It really isn’t. You got If you want to win three out of the next four games, you got to do that. So, I don’t think Brook Lopez needs to play another minute in this series. And I don’t think he like and that obviously means he shouldn’t be starting. I think there’s still more changes that should be made in the starting lineup. Yeah. I mean, Bob, are you saying after that? No, I mean I mean we can start with Bob. I think that’s fine. I’m ready to just rip the band-aid off, man. I want to hear what you think. Don’t play Don’t play Brooke or Kuzz. Uh, no. I’m not saying don’t play. I think Koosman could play in the series. I still believe that. I don’t think he’s one of your best five players right now. I would start Dame Trent Green Portoris Giannis. I just I’m not worried about the mismatches or the size anymore because if you’re gonna just give up every switch, does it even matter? Like you’re gonna have Dame out there anyway. You know, they’re getting Seakam on Dame. Why do I care about Koosma versus Trent when one of them is giving you so much more offensively just consistently. Green has been really good. I mean, we said we’d circle back to him. four of eight from three, hit some big ones, hit up just about a logo three at one point and help just blow the doors off. and they just they just play differently on offense when it’s Giannis and that group with Trent and Dame and now or Trent and uh Green and now Dame of just like the defenses are so so just so behind the eightball because when you send that second to Giannis there’s a shooter somewhere and especially now they’re not putting Bob out there on the perimeter as much like he more became a dunker guy. So if Bob’s man leaves he’s getting a layup and he’s been good at finding that spot. anybody else. You’re giving an open catch and shoot three to Gary Trent Jr. uh Damen Lillard or AJ Green and it’s just death. Like there’s no good option. There’s just nothing. Whereas in the starters like I think Cous was like one of two from three like he did knock one down but it’s same with we’ve talked about with Lopez before. We teams are going to be like Indiana is going to be like cool you know like all right Koozma if you can beat us from three we’ll live with that. Uh, I don’t think you feel the same way giving that shot to AJ Green. And the other thing I wanted to mention, the number, another number I’m looking for, I want to see 20 combined attempted threes from Trenton Green. They hit it exactly in this game. Bomb away, dude. Like, freaking bomb away, man. That’s what they’re out there to do, you know? Like, if you’re not going to provide that spacing, what’s the point? And that’s what we saw in the first two games. If you’re not going to be spacing, if you’re not going to be confident in your shots, what’s the point of you being out there? There was a few times early in the like, not to go back to Trent fully, but like early in the first half where he kind of like dribbled and kind of like hesitated, tried to pull from mid-range. He’s like, “Oh, should I really take this shot?” And he missed. And you you you can’t you can’t be out there if you have that mentality. 23s, I think, is a good benchmark. I agree from those two. If they can hit 23s, I’ll take it. They weren’t that far off, but they have 13. I mean, they combined for 13. Yes. 13 out of the the Bucks is 15. No, I agree. I think I mean, it is. Brooke himself isn’t It’s not a reflection on what he brings to the table. Like, he’s I think it is at this point. Honestly, I’m at the point where it’s like, do you need to resign him this summer? I think that though that is a fair question. Yeah. But I don’t think it’s a sign of him being physically slow. I think it’s also it’s just with any lineup configuration. We know this is how teams are going to look at him. They know that the Bucks don’t have enough on ball pressure for him to navigate screens to kind of call out signals. Him being the he’s it he knows how to quarterback the defense. It’s when he has to step out and then move like he’s just so big and he is going to lose a step but isn’t it’s just more slower rather than like you know a a a catastrophic injury kind of like waiting to happen kind of for him or whatever. But I do agree. I think it’s I was hoping that this game would at least like resolve like is he going to be like the ceremonial starter and that’s is my confidence level that they’re actually going to make the starting lineup change? No. But there were too many times where Miles Turner’s bad game missing shots the things that he was doing in Indiana he wasn’t doing in Walke tonight and anytime that he was dribbling doing dribble drives was like yeah that’s a win. What are you doing? What? Yeah. Um, it just it’s it’s unavoidable for this Bucks team if they want to crawl their way back into the series and possibly win it that Brook Lopez is just going to be phased out. So, I think things would have to really I think they would have I think things would have had to continue from halftime onward. We didn’t see a 26-point swing for them to to entertain not playing Brooke Lopez. But I think even if he starts like the minute 15 minutes might be the baseline if not uh I should say lower. Yeah, I think it’s it’s probably got to be less. I He’s playing he’s essentially playing his the first shift to start the first to third quarter. He that’s he played and and and to his credit in that beginning of the third quarter he was part of that lineup that really did close that gap but it was a lot of Pacers misses in that time like like I’m I’ll give credit where credit is due. He was part of a lineup that closed double digit deficit but I don’t think he was contributing to that. Yeah. Well, it’s Yeah. I just think the problem is I think they wanted to Here’s where I think Bob might actually start because they started Trent who in addition to everything on offense just navigates screens better than Prince. So I think it was like all right let’s see if we have a better screen navigator can we live and drop and the answer was still no like plus minus be damned they got the shots like it we’ve tal we’ve said it five times and the problem with that I mean it’s just you can navigate screens as good as you want you know even if you contain Hallebertton if Turner still picks and pops someone’s still got to go there and then you’re either you know then you’re in rotation and the problem really is for the Bucks they don’t have a system and there’s you know I think they probably could have something a little more creative. They they don’t have a system right now where they can rotate around and keep Brooke in the paint. And part of that’s just the indie plays four or five out all the time, which makes it really hard, but they don’t rotate four and and keep Brooke planted. And so then Brooke has to rotate and then we have Brooke on Hallebertton, Brooke on Nemhard, and then you’re just hoping you get lucky or just someone’s wide open, right? Or Brooke does stay at the rim and then N Smith is waiting or whoever’s waiting to shoot. It’s just it’s untenable. I I just think if you want to play him at all, I would just try a ton of zone, frankly. And as soon as they bust it like twice in a row, maybe that’s when you go to the bench, nice Rohan. But um I I think that’s about all you can do at this point. And I again, I just feel like what’s the case for not starting the lineup that’s been awesome? Like what tradition are we holding on to? We haven’t won a playoff series in three games. Yeah. to America’s. Yeah. Like I I just I I don’t see I don’t see a reason not to anymore outside of just like this is the lineup we’ve been using. But you already threw that away. Prince has been the guy. He played three minutes. Again, this weird bizarre trend by the way. What? He had a solid three minutes. I wasn’t mad at I don’t think he was bad in game two. I don’t know why he I don’t know what this new rule is. Like if you’re not starting the hell out of here, boy. Like why is that a thing? He was fine. It’s crazy. I mean, we’re we’re advocating for that for Brook Lopez, but like for the other characters, that is different. I I don’t get it. I want to know what goes on in Doc’s brain. Actually, I don’t I don’t know if I do. I do. Give me in there. I don’t know if I can handle it. I think it’ll be I don’t think it’s that crazy. It’s an older band. That sounded weird. just an older man. Um, let’s talk about Dame. Oh, what do you got? I was just gonna say one more point about Brooke. I think the other part of this, there were some possessions as you mentioned of like Siakum signaling out Dame and Brooke is you could tell he’s playing the mind game like when do I help and even his help was late. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s like again that is just part of playoff basketball, but it’s the system basketball versus the 101’s. And it’s like he can bring something to the table by just I think what’s in front of him. There’s not enough resistance defensively, at least with how lineups are when he’s on the floor. And then it’s just like he when Miles Turner is hitting threes, it’s just a different game. Yeah. Yeah, I I think one thing Indiana was really keyed in on the Bucks backside rotations to start. Every time the Bucks tried to scram, they would pick on it. And to your point, like it feels like they have Lopez timed out, too. And I think I don’t even know if half cuz he’s never been fast, but I think he lost like a quarter step in the last yearish and his his rotation to help even at the rim has lost some effectiveness and that’s really hurt some of his minutes, I think, too. Damen Lillard, seven points, two rebounds, five assists, two steals, two blocks, two of 12 from the field, one of eight from three, but plus 16, only one turnover. It’s tough. It’s It’s kind of weird. What do you mean? The Bucks are used to having just solid defensive minded point guards who don’t shoot well in the playoffs. I think Seek I think Seeks posted earlier Doc asked him to be Drew Holiday with the obvious uh thing. Good thing they didn’t end up with Beal after all. Another another reason to be happy it wasn’t Beal. Um, hey man, you know what? They’re going to need the shot eventually. I I don’t think I’m going to got on the record. Don’t think Gary Trent’s going to average 37 the rest of the way. I’d be I’m down. I’m down. If he’s just going to be like, “By the way, you should have started me the whole time.” Duh. He might get a max contract in the office. You know what? Deserve they don’t have his bird rates. Oh, no. No. Full MLE though. I’m ready. throw away everyone else. Honestly, I am I don’t care. I don’t care, dude. Make it happen. Um, but what was I saying? Oh, about Dame. I right now I’m at a point where it’s just like, can we get the series long enough to where Dame can find the rhythm? And you just have to hope that he can. And I I think he can. Like, he’s clearly tired out there, but he just looks like he’s clearly tired. He’s locking in on the defensive end. I mean, the total minutes, I think, tell a little bit of the story there. Like, I think he’s still getting that that Yeah, he’s still getting that conditioning back. 100%. Like, when you miss a month and play two games and especially 37 minutes after like the day after going like full court for the first time in a month. Yeah, that’s going to take some time, man. He’s he’s still he he’s a he’s a top one or.1 percentile athlete in the world, but still a human being. Yeah. just trying to do anything he could to get the Bucks to win, knowing the shot wasn’t there, trying to distribute more, trying to defend more. First Jiannis and Dame home game playoffs. Yeah. Undefeated, never lost. Did you tweet that yet? No, it’s too many. It’s too many stipulations. Okay. Yeah, you might at home in the playoffs. I only like to do it if it’s one thing, you know, not like two. Okay. Hey, Lavar. What’s the Bucks record when Doc Rivers changes the starting lineup? Andy and Dave are playing their first playoff game at home together. Too many characters on ESPNU. Uh oh. Or froze, but he’s back. Um I just thought Gutsy from Dame. They’re going to need them. They’re going to need the offense. They’re going to need it to be better um as the series goes. But they got through it. They live to fight another day and only one day off now. But if you can get that game four win, I think you get another two days off then. Or no, you don’t. It’s another one day off. It’s Tuesday. So, we got to find it soon, Dame. But I appreciate the fight. And that three felt so big, dude. The one three was like, oh my god. Yeah. No, I again he’s doing things. I think he knows that he isn’t in rhythm. He has to compensate in some find the balance in some way. And defensively, he’s playing with plenty of heart, plenty of hustle. It’s very clear that he’s doing anything possible. He’s not the perfect defensive player. Obviously, at his age, at his size, Pacers are doing a lot of things to get him or to test him defensively. And at least he’s fighting. Like I like it is inspiring to see him play to the level of like he doesn’t have any juice right now offensively. Yeah. Really? Like even it wasn’t even just the like trying to find it from three. Like even like when he’s trying to like snake his way through the paint, he’s not there’s no His touch on his floers was really erratic. Yeah. You can just tell he’s like it’s you know it’s what happens when you have as long of a layoff as he does. So, at least I totally agree with you. You’re going to eventually have to bring some something to the table offensively, but I got the win tonight and, you know, hopefully that stays the same on Sunday. Okay. Can I say it again? There’s no way that he shoots worse or plays worse offensively than he did tonight, right? He can only get better as the series goes on, right? I don’t know. I hope so. He doesn’t hit a three in the game. As long as they get to win, you get another chance. Uh, real quick, YouTube viewers, can we get some likes? Can the viewers be likers? Our ratio here is terrible. That is true. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate I appreciate all incoming likes. Like it then. Yeah, you can also like it. Please drop a comment, hit the notification bell, everything else. Tell your friend. That’s the number one. Let let us know if you ever told a friend in the comments. If you literally, and I mean it, if you if you I don’t think people call each other anymore, but if if you call people, text, iMessage, hey, Bucks playoffs, Bucks are still in it. Check out the Euroep. Boom. Send a drop a link. That’s a super soldier action. I don’t know what Super Soldier action. Yeah, that that that was a better thing to say about that. AJ Green. Oh. I love the most fired up he’s ever been. I think this guy the crazy. He was like, “Yeah, he’s like I I got fouled on this three-point shot. I love seeing an AJ Green.” Um I know he was hitting his shots. The biggest thing for me was it wasn’t like he was Tiny Archold out there dishing out. What? How would he have been tidy archer ball? Explain that now. Archable out there. I will explain it right now cuz he had four assists. There were key just just wait for him. There are key passes that he was making. Obviously, a lot of it was like fighting Gary Chuck Jr. who just was a flamethrower. But I felt like a lot of the the ball movement that he was doing on ball was great. Like I’ve never seen AJ Green play as confidently that way and making passes that like he threw a lob up to Giannis. It wasn’t pretty. One of the worst. It was like Shir Sanders throwing to his unnamed wide receivers cuz he’s undrafted. Um, getting reports AJ Green basketball version was also just drafted as slumber. Oh my god. That’s going to make the uh the Wikipedia designations even more confusing because we already have AJ Green football and AJ Green. It’s going to be AJ Green basketball and football. He’s a two sport athlete. The new Pat Condidan spiritual successor. Can we Can we stop with the Patison by the way? Yeah. A lot of people think Pat should play. I I I I don’t I don’t I don’t think I don’t think guys we have too many players that have to play and shoot play. There’s Yeah, you can only play five guys once. You can do that more than Tib Tibs coming out of Jordan here. Starters are going the whole 48 minutes. I don’t want to see campaign on the floor. I don’t know why I made him like get up. How about Missoula yelling the trainer, “Don’t go out to Tatum.” And he like misses the next literally a serial killer. Why? Why do we celebrate him? You know why? Cuz he cuz he’s good at his job. I’ve come around. Would you not rather have him coaching this maniac? It’s crazy. Like he like one of his postgame comments after game two was like, “I will I liked watching Porzingis bleed on the court.” Yeah, he’s not crazy. Well, I would I think I’d rather have that than the the serial bargain hunter here. That’s to be fair. Yeah, I’d take Missoula. I don’t like Missoula. He’s a bad person, but I’d take Missoula. I’d watch The Town 10 times for every title. I watched The Town solely to watch with Joe Bizula and it made me question it more. One of the most average movies I’ve ever seen. Well, you know what it was? He was pandering. It’s a Boston movie. He’s calculated. Well, Ben Affleck just only shoots movies in Boston. Yeah, he’s a Boston guy. Boston and Mexico, his two places. Crazy. What were we talking about? AJ Green. Yes, AJ Green. The passing was on point. Like, it’s not just like the the way he was playing within the flow of the offense I thought was really good. Jordan, I thought very astute of you to point that out. Tiny Archboldes. We’re not doing tiny Archbold comps. I’m shutting this. I love that tiny archer ball. It’s the guy who comes to mind when you think passer. It’s great. That’s what I’m thinking. I was doing the rolodex of like what is the funniest name that I can pull at this particular That is a good one. Like legendary handle. There’s so many contemporaries looking like pistol Pete out there. Oh, you would. Pistol might be too prominent. I think he Yeah, he’s a little more obscure, I think. Yeah. No, I think he may formerly really. Yeah, one year he was, you know, remember that tweet when they had the what was it? Was it the NBA 75 and the Bucks had like oh Kareem, Oscar, Giannis and like all the prominent Bucks and then it was like Dave Collins, Tiny Archold and then like Gary Payeyton like all the guys that were like yeah we don’t remember when he was on the Bucks. Yeah. I don’t think the player probably doesn’t remember. No. Rohan, did we say Tyler Smith defends like a Minecraft villager? Did we say that? I don’t know. Bruce in the YouTube comments. It’s a very nice comment. My son knows how I refer to different Bucks podcast. When I say my favorite guys, he says the ones who said Tyler Smith defends like a mind. Did I say that? That seems like something I would say exactly like that. Sounds like something you would say. brought muty Jackson for Dennis Shruder the other day and I had my mind just really um like a Minecraft villager hilarious if I said that that’s amazing. I I realize a lot of the times we throw out something, we don’t think about it ever again and it kind of like it resonates and I think that’s the greatest thing ever because we just talk a lot like when’s the last time we even talked about Tyler Smith that much, you know, like we haven’t seen cuz so much though. So playing basketball playing basketball. Yeah, that’s true. That’s crazy. Shout out Bruce. Shout out to Bruce and Bruce’s son and Tyler Smith and the Minecraft villager. Oh, by the way, Tyler Smith, was he available? No, he was out. Nope. Siri still hasn’t started. And Chris Livingston was out, too. I This couldn’t be again with the Pacers in this luck. I know. It’s crazy. Imagine this opportunity. He could have pretended it was Utah. He could have pretended it was the Noblesville. Boom. That’s the Pacers new affiliate. Yeah. Terrible. Oh my god. It is. We’re losing recipes. What’s What was wrong with the Mads? I think I think it it honors something. They had like a Pacers legend. That’s his catchphrase. Boom, baby. But yeah, that’s like their catchphrase. The Noblesville is like, okay, what’s with the yes sers? Is it just Yes, sir. Yeah, I saw that. That is awful. Awful. Is that the bit? Yes, sir. That’s their fra That’s their like tagline for or playoff slogan. All of these are bad. If you have to come up with a new one, just don’t. Yeah. Just use a different one that people actually use. What’s the Bucks one? I don’t even know. Win for Cream City, I think, is on their show. Oh my god, that is right. Yeah. Why would you not just do Bucks in six? I think it’s too specific. Also, the Bucks do not give you enough credit, Ty. I It’s not my thing. It’s not my thing. I know, but you brought it back. No, I didn’t. I just asked a question. I appreciate you saying I just I just asked a question. It was always here. It was always here. It was always a thing. Um, we say as Jordan Tresky of winning sixes on the side. Exactly. But it’s a rallying cry. Yeah. What’s the number one thing if you just need to say something like if you saw a Bucks fan on the street or something? Bucks in six. That’s like or go Bucks. You can just say go. I say win for Cream City. Yeah. You say I say I’m licking Cream City bricks too, brother. I say I take a Cream City brick from every building I go to and I make a shrine to the Milwaukee Bucks. Rohan just leaving unstable buildings in his wake left and right. Uh, here’s the thing. Koozmo is fine. I think he kind of covered. That’s the weird thing, right? He He kind of was Jordan nailed it. Jordan nailed it. It’s a It’s a It’s a a tale of two halves almost every game. It’s crazy. It’s so crazy. Like I I don’t understand it. I really don’t understand it. Well, I I think they try to feature him and I don’t think it works. Yeah. It’s like I just don’t think he’s very good. Yeah. He’s just like they they want him to be one of the guys like the guys and he’s not one of the guys. He’s just a guy. He’s a rhythm player. Like can can he play like Benedict Matan? Like that type of guy like can you rise above like not not actually play style but can maybe can you elevate your play as a role player not try to be a featured piece like does that make sense? I mean can you be like like an Andrew Nehard, a playoff riser. No, he doesn’t seem like it. But I think the bench could help him. Like just let him come in and like just take advantage of an opportunity. It feels like right now he’s almost being pigeonholed. And I think he probably wants the role or whatever, but it doesn’t look like it’s working. He doesn’t look comfortable when they’re like drawing stuff up for him. And then he comes in randomly when the game is already going and it’s not this big point of emphasis and like, “Oh, I see a lane. I’m just going to go to the rim or like I’m going to take the open corner three which the percentages aren’t great but you know he’s he’s made some this series at least and he’s in rim 50% in this game. Boom baby Nolesville boom. Yes sir. Yes sir. Yeah, I don’t I I that is a really good way to put it, Ron, of just like can you be that it’s it’s he is a role player, but we need him to be more than that. Like he shouldn’t be on the same wavelength as Kevin Porter Jr. where it’s like, do you have it tonight? No. It’s like like Gary T. Like I’m not asking you to put up 37, but can you like elevate more than your role? That’s what we’re asking for. Like I’m not saying like, yeah, go out there like Gary Trenches did, but like that’s that’s what Gary did is he played above himself. Like he’s not a featured offensive piece, but he was a co-leading scorer for the Bucks. He is now. Yeah, he is. He is now, brother. That’s Oh my god. Yeah, him and Dame Freaky Friday. Uh here Yeah. Here’s the issue though for Cuz if he is coming off the bench, like there’s no lineups anymore where he’s he’s going to be like the worst spacer cuz it’s always going to be Giannis or Sims. So, it’s going to be tough, but that’s that’s manageable. I think they can figure that out. Um, but if we’re seeing the minutes go down, I I don’t think they have to go away. I will say his defense has not impressed me this series. I’ve been disappointed. I there hasn’t if I haven’t been much on Seakkum it feels like. Um but I I think he’s fine playing still. Even though I’d bring him off the bench, I’d still play him some. He is just big and switchable. He’s a really good Turner answer. I feel like Turner is like you can start him on Turner if you’re taking Brooke out or something like even if you want to like go in those micro lineups where you it’s not even a micro lineup but like Kuz of the four of the five just stick stick KS on Turner. I think Kuzz is really well suited to guard Miles Turner in a series like this. Yeah, I think he should be on Seakuma. I just feel like we don’t have I feel like we have very small amount of He’s not I don’t think he’s good enough for Seakum. That’s true. We don’t know. We haven’t seen it. He just posted position. Well, yeah. I don’t think I don’t think that Indiana really wants to attack. That is what it feels like. If they can get something easier like they’re too like Seak’s too good. Yeah. Not the sacrifice of their pace and like how they want to play offensively. That Yeah, that feels like that. Yeah, the Bucks found some McConnell answers in this game. Sorry, go ahead, Jordan. No, I I was just gonna say like I just feel like it’s really hard for him to kind of be like it it feels like a microcosm of he’s blendy in well enough. But it’s just like we’re going to ask more of him because there are times where even his rim pressure, the the fact that he’s driving I think that was the other thing is like when the Bucks shots were not falling and there were plenty of shots that were not falling in the first half. It’s like can anybody but Yiannis like kind of look towards the rim to kind of liven things up and Koozma’s during that run I think it was on the b on the bench like it’s just a very I don’t know if they’ll really figure it out until not to use a docism from last year but like we need a first full training camp with Kyle you know we need a full training camp well I don’t know if he’s going to see training camp in Milwaukee We We’ll see. Love stability organizations. I don’t know. I don’t know if that guy’s going to see the training camp either, Jordan. We shall see. Are you saying Koozma? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I don’t know if he’s seeing Koozma or Doc. We’ll see how this all goes. Or both. We’ll see how this all goes. Yeah. Um I like what you said. I think Jordan you can we could get to a place where it’s like he and KPJ both play a little and you just go with whoever’s better. Yeah. See see what you got, right? Because both of them have been struggling. Both of them have had moments. Honestly, Koozma more than KPJ has had like moments in KBJ keeps the ball moving. That’s the one thing he’s done. But they they need more. It felt very deliberate that when he was struggling, Doc still rolled with him, but he had out there. Yeah. And it’s like, we’ll have you out there, but you’re not on ball. Like, you’re not a lead ball handler right now. It helped him better, but still not a high bar. Yeah. Don’t know if we see Rollins again. I feel like we’ve I I maybe have another true stinker like game two from KPJ, but just it feels like this the ship has sailed. I mean, we know the rotation is going to get smaller, not bigger from here. Doc likes to do what he likes to do. I can’t believe TP is gone. Is he just I never would have imagined he’s just gone. Darvin’s crying himself to sleep. Yeah, I didn’t think Mr. No, that’s I think he still could play. I think he could take some of the Koozma minutes honestly like or I mean or Brooke if Brook’s going to go down, you know? You could use some more size out there. Yeah, just don’t just don’t have like it it’s crazy Doc’s like you’re either guarding point guards or you’re gone. And that’s kind of insane, right? That makes no sense. Like it doesn’t make any sense. DeAndre Jackson Jr. Memorial. Can you Tori Prince is probably like, “Can I be a four, please?” That’s what I I just want to be a three. I’ve always wanted to be a three. No one lets him be a three. Think about the the players who have started over Trent this year. Andre Jackson Jr., Ryan Rollins, Torian Prince. Like some insane names have started at the two back just everything on the table. Kevin Porter Jr. I mean Cuz I guess you could count as well. There’s got to be another weird one. Yeah, I’m sure we’re missing some. Oh god, did he? No, there’s not. I’ll look it up. I’m gonna look it up. I’m gonna look it up. I also went to Torian uh Prince’s Wikipedia page and under his Bucks section, which is 2024 to present. On July 9th, 2024, Prince signed with the Milwaukee Bucks. On December 17th, 2024, Prince of the Bucks won the 2024 NBA Cup, which made Prince the first player in history to win multiple Cup titles. Let’s go. Wright has started two games for the Bucks this year. Wow. Did Did Trent come off the bench in either? Can you check the box scores? That might have been when Gary was really bad. Yeah, man. Adding Don Wright to the list is crazy. Like this just like how did we not get back to this place earlier? He’s clearly the best two guard on the roster by far. Not even close. A bad eight games. They’re like, “We’re done with you forever.” I guess based on I guess he was lucky to still play based on Doc’s recent trend of someone getting yanked from the starting five and they’re just Gary Trent Jr. came off the bench in both games. Oh my god. Oh buddy. Yuck. Oh man. So was Dylon starting for uh for Dame? One for Dame, both formian. Okay. I was gonna So, he didn’t start technically at the two guard, but still pretty ridiculous. AJ Green, we could add AJ Green to the list, too. That one’s more defensible, but still. Was that a punt game? It was the game that Giannis scored 59 and Ryan Ryan Ron Howen missed those free throws against the Pistons. AJ Green got a start then and he also never got another. Yeah, Doc, what are we doing? That was the same game Dylan started. Yeah. What a game. Don Wright started a game where Yas 59 point. I mean, that makes sense. Who are the other starters? Who are the other starters? Brooke, AJ, and TP. So, not not just over the course of the season. In one game, Gary Tren Jr., who just had 37 points in the playoffs in a do or die game, came off the bench for AJ Green, Torian Prince, and Dylon Wright. Only three players off the bench in that game, by the way. Gary, Ajax, and Pat. Jesus Christ. When I feel like I blocked this game out of my memory. This is when the Bucks are really bad. Yeah. November. We thought they were circling the drain. They were Doholm syndrome. Oh my god. We repressed this. I feel like I forgot this key. I don’t remember 59. Do you remember Ry? Why do I keep saying Ryan Holland? That’s not his name. Ron. Ryan Rollins. Ryan. Yeah, actually that they Ryan Holland I need to like go back and watch this game tape man. I don’t remember this game at all. Holland missed both free throws and it went to overtime and the Bucks won. Insane game. Yeah. Thank you, Ron Holland. Anything else from this game or in the series? I mean, we have to help the Bucks play this Pacers team because they they that’s the that’s the tiebreaker over to Detroit. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, they ended up getting it anyway. Yeah. Yeah, it helps. Otherwise, we got horse news. I mean, Bobby, we didn’t we didn’t talk a ton about Bob. Like, not as efficient. He’s not going to score 28 like he did in game two, but yeah, you know, he’s he’s he’s playing within himself. And I don’t think he’s on my top five trust list, man. Like, I trust him so much. It’s crazy. Like I think he’s a very important player for this team because he’s playing so so he’s playing like perfect Bob basketball. Yeah, Bob’s football. Nice. When he I it was when the game was like out of reach for the Pacers and he’s like trying to the crowd and he’s like right in front of their bench like oh my god I love it. He’s just like he’s begging someone to do anything. Yeah. I think really Jiro Pargo try me as the assistant coach for the Pacers. Lloyd Wright do something. Is that Lloyd Pierce? Lloyd Pierce. Pierce. Oh my god. I’m thinking about Dylan Wright. Lloyd Pierce. Sorry. Really important. The Bucks The Bucks pissed off the Indiana players this game. That needed to happen. It was all the other way of course previously. Uh Nem uh yeah Near No, not Nemard. Um, Matther with attack after he got caught caught the knee from Yiannis to the gut trying to defend him and it was still a foul. Uh, always a little funny. I mean, he wasn’t hurt. Always a little funny though when like you take the worst of it and it’s still you committing the foul, which it was in that case. But he picks up the tech trying to get in’s face in the free throw. I need this account on X whatever Twitter that’s been finding like what are you doing? Whatever. that’s been finding the um the audio of the altercations. Yes, I that was my exact my first thought. I was like, what did they say? I don’t know what it was. I know whatever Giannis said back was hilarious. After seeing that the trash talk with Beasley near Cade, I know Giannis said something completely out of pocket. I need to see it. Absolutely. Absolutely. I need to see that. I love that the ne the next possession he just went right at him. 100%. Of course, he was always going to. He was always going to like you can’t you’re like Benedict Matin is not stopping Yiannis like I don’t know what Benny baby that strip he had that strip in the regular season last year in the big Giannis game that the Pacers won and thought it would be sweet like that in the playoffs and it’s not like that in the playoffs. Oh, this is just random uh note of the game. The funniest thing Thomas Bryant got like an offensive foul and he’s hooking Bobby and he’s like bodying him for position and they’re playing the replay and my mind just im it looked exactly like LeBron hitting the bucket to surpass Korean as the NBA’s all-time scoring leader and Thomas Per’s like like just going like it’s so he will never live that down for the rest of his life. He’s going to the Hall of Fame, Jordan, technically. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah, that’s all that matters. Um, do you know who the Pacers second leading scorer was? Also, yes. Um, actually, that’s a good question. Is that Nith? No, it was Naymith. Oh, I’m looking at the second half. Whoops. I guess I didn’t know. Why did Ben Shepard just come out of nowhere and just start? I I every I I He is, but everyone’s like Carile’s doing circles around Doc. He is. It’s It’s been pretty I understand it, but like Carile has this every coach has this in their bag and it’s like what are you doing? Like I don’t get it. I really don’t get it. Well, like a lot of Thomas Bryant and they they won his minutes. I think a little bit of that was probably garbage time, but a lot of Thomas like the Thomas Bryant going up was not something I necessarily saw coming. It it’s crazy because they’ve been winning the Jarus Walker minutes and then they just didn’t play Jarus Walker. I think they realized you’re not going to be able to actually win those minutes like be sustainable in those minutes because like like come on like Jarus Walker me and Alex were talking about this like you just have him do anything else besides shoot the ball and it’s just it’s just rough. Yeah. But they had been winning the Jarus Walker minutes. It’s just like free money and you’re just like, nah, more Thomas Bryant is what we need. Especially when we’re cutting back on Brook Lopez’s minutes, you know, you got to you got to you got to enforce your size. You know, we got to get Thomas Bryant in there. He was there. I don’t know when LeBron became the all-time leading scorer. He had a better shot opportunity. He had sealed whoever it was on the Thunder in the post. It was there. I don’t remember who it was. Was it iHeart? I don’t remember who it was. Iheart was from the team. Oh, true. Was it Cadet? No, Chad was hurt by that, I think. Yeah, I have no idea who it was. I don’t know. Uh, I also thought Obi Toppin was one of the Pacers better players, but he only got 16 minutes, way less than uh Bryant, less than TJ McConnell. Matan only played 13 minutes. Like, kind of an odd rotation for Indiana tonight. I I don’t I don’t feel like as much as they’re still in control of the series and could still, you know, take a dominant hold on Sunday, I feel like they’re in kind of a weird place right now with the rotation and the just the players. Like they’re they’re getting the same kind of thing from last year of Hallebertton of like he just kind of floats through most of the games and if they’re not playing with an advantage, he’s not doing too much. Seakum continues to be great. the outside of that it’s like just kind of searching for like who’s going to be the next guy and this one it was Nith but even he only had 27 minutes like they just play very balanced in a way that I I don’t know it makes it a little difficult especially I’m really interested to see I’d say Shepard played well probably one of the better pacers in his minutes I mean didn’t do anything crazy but they didn’t have a lot of contributions so is he going to be in the rotation now is that just one game is someone else leave I don’t know kind of a weird spot kind this is I guess why coaches don’t like introducing new guys because now it’s like, okay, we want to go less people, but he played kind of well. Who else do we cut then? I don’t know. It’ll be interesting. Um, to circle back quickly, Thomas Bryant was posting up Shay Gilchrist Alexander. Incredible. I see why he wanted the ball. Yeah, David in the chat says that, too. I see why he wanted the ball. That’s a mismatch. LeBron was being selfish. Crazy. So much for that basketball IQ. Hm. He’s no hustle award winner like Draymond Green. Oh my god. Is that who won that? Yes, the hustle award. Is that voted on? It can’t be. I think I think it is. I don’t think that’s a ballot award. Is it? No, it can’t be. Right. Yeah. When that came out, I was like, what is this award actually? Do they get this out every year? It’s I think this is the second or third year. Marcus Smart may have won it previously. I feel like it’s not on when I look at an article like I don’t see a ballot for that when people share their Oh my god, it’s been here since 1617. Yeah, this is crazy. What does it say who votes on it? This is a wild list. Marcus Smart has won it three times. Amir Johnson, Pat Johnson. Amir Johnson. I didn’t I don’t think I don’t think I realized Amir Johnson was playing NBA basketball in 2017 18. If air Johnson is winning one of your awards, it’s not a good award. Vres Harold the year in 201920 that is young in 2021 stat. I saw that Pacer stat for hustle and grit. Oh my [Music] god. The ward is decided using a metric known as hustle stats, which tracks defensive and offensive efforts such as diving, diving for loose balls, taking charges, deflection, setting screens, and contesting shots. Setting screens, that’s hustle. Rudy Gobear is pissed off that he doesn’t have this. Jericho Sims, this is your This is your award. Jericho Sims, 2025 26, Jericho Sims, I want to see you up in the hustle. I hope they release a top five. I want to see Jericho Sims on the Hustle Award. Final Dan Green ranks second in contestant three-point shots by averaging.1225 per one minute. That is what per minute. Why are you doing it per minute? Are you doing it per minute? Like 0.1 if that’s what you’re delivering. He ranked 39th in offensive loose balls recovered with 0111. [Laughter] It would be so easy to do 40 minutes and have real numbers. Not even like just do it by like five minutes, 10 minutes or game or game. Maybe Jad Greed ranked eighth in Raptor for 8.3222. They use Raptor for this. No, no, no, no. Okay, good. Oh my god. I was like, I had to make that one up. Crazy. I didn’t know Trez was diving for loose balls like that. Tres was Trez was he was doing that big screen in other ways too for the first Kawaii Clippers year. Yeah. Yeah. So that that team was trying to go crazy because they had just made the playoffs without Kawhai and PG and then they had Kawhai and PG. Didn’t he win sixman of the year that year? I think you’re right. One of those years he was hustling in other ways too. He won. Yeah, he won six man of the year that year. That’s crazy. What a year for Montreal. Do you think he’s like, “No, I don’t want to hang up my six man of the year trophy. I want to put on my hustle award.” What does that look like? Is it some guy on a treadmill just like running? He was all NBL second team this year. Shout out Montre. Oh, how old is he? He’s only 31. I’m older than Montre. That’s not true. That’s not true. That’s a typo. Holy crap. There’s no way he’s 31. He is 31. He’s 31. The Montres with an L. Yes. The former Clippers big. Former Clippers big late. I remember I remember thinking, “Hey, that’d be a good Bucks draft pick.” Yeah, that was the Rashad Man draft. 31. Mhm. Yep. Team AllN MBL at 31. And I remember thinking that he was older because he was a sophomore in college. When did he get drafted? Uh 2015. 15. Wow. I was going to say no way. 12. That’s He got drafted. He’s a child prodigy. He got drafted at 11 years old. Oh. All right. Uh John Horse. John Horse. We’re talking about Montre Herald’s Hustle Award. I think John Horse getting an extension is almost confirmation. No, I’m not gonna go that far. I think it’s it’s it’s makes it much more likely that we do not see Doc Rivers next season. Oh. Oh, that’s not what I thought. I thought Yeah, I think you’re going to go the other way. Yeah. No, I think it’s like, you know, we we we’ve kind of things go poorly. You keep assuming they’re still going to flame out. Here’s the thing. Even if they win this series, they’re getting demolished next round. Like like this is not a team that’s built even if they beat the Yesers. Yes, sir. Uh I I I think like this is not a team that’s built to win a title like at all. I don’t think I’m going to find any disagreement there. It’s like let me see AJ Green in the starting five and I’ll get back to you. You’re battling to make it out. You’re battling to make it out of the first round. That’s the thing. Like this is not a team that should that wants to be like is where they want to be. And I think that John Horse has not had his way in either of the last couple coaching searches and they’re like the ownership’s probably like, “Yeah, you kind of been right, haven’t you? Maybe we should have listened to you a bit.” Uh, coach of the year in waiting, Kenny Atkinson. You kind of wanted him, didn’t you? But no, big Papa Jimbo wanted uh Doc Rivers. And here we are begging for starting lineup changes on our hands and knees. Uh for obvious ones. Exactly. Playing the two guard. You signed to be the two guard at the two guard instead of Tori and Prince. How about How about playing a two guard? How about having How about playing two guards in a in a lineup? Crazy. I I think Doc’s gone regardless. I I really do. I I really do. And I think I think in any circumstance if they win the title maybe Doc’s like I don’t think Doc’s gone. How about that? No, I I I I think even even some when they lose to if they lose to Cleveland if they get that far. I just I don’t know. I I we’ll see. You make a good point. I mean I do think it’s now more likely that Doc goes than it was last week. I think it’s it’s it’s trust in him to be able to navigate that landscape, right? And it it it comes on the heels of was it Phoenix who seemed interested in hiring John Horse. His second I thought his contract was just coming up. Yeah, he was just a lame duck. I called him like a month or two ago and I was like, isn’t he a lame duck? Uh yeah, I mean we’re obviously not going to have all the answers. The stuff never comes out about executives, especially Bucks executives. If it if it like you’re laying out though, if this is happening like he made the Bud move, built that roster with Bud, got overruled, Giannis wants Griffin and then the ownership wants Doc, and now after all that, he was able to kind of like hold on to not just hold on to his spot, but like get the opportunity back to actually build again. That would be like a Moneyball tier sports movie, especially if they do something else after. Here, here’s the thing, though. He has one major thing in his in his pocket that no one else in the organization has and that’s his relationship with Giannis. He is the only thread left. He really is from when drive. Yeah, that’s the thing. Like that’s like that relationship is seemingly rock solid. Why mess that up if you if you have that like if you have the opportunity to change things because like literally he is the only one left. I mean I guess Fagan but on top of that on top of that too just like the relationship he gets him to resign every time it’s dicey by Exactly. Every time he presents an extension to Yiannis Giannis signs it. Yeah. That is the that is that is the best you can do as the general manager of the Milwaukee. else could win more. But that is that is kind of goal number one. I think there is majority of GMs would not let that like make that happen. Yeah, I would agree. I I again I I don’t want to make this podcast longer than what what it is, but I do think it is super interesting to commit to this even with knowing that Matt Ishvia has a lot of money and he’s going to throw it down the drain to think that he could fix the Phoenix Suns. Yep. Like if you’re critically thinking about what the Suns could actually do if they had lured John Horse over there, they have less draft assets than the Bucks. They have no crazy. Imagine having le fewer assets than the Bucks actually. I mean, they might have technically have more first they can trade, but they’re bad. They’re Yeah, cuz they’re just like in the middle. No, they they double mortgaged. Yeah. So, I mean, it’s over bad first. If there’s anything that um Matt Estrian knows how to do, it’s double mortgage. That’s very true. The other other way. Um yeah, but yeah, tell Dan Gilbert that. He would love it. Uh I I obviously know what John Horse is worth to this organization. I totally agree. He is It’s not even just when Giannis was there. He was there before Giannis was there. He knows what it’s like when the Bucks were, you know, eighth seater bust and Brandon Jennings is saying Bucks in six, win six, you know, like it. He is this going to be the second longest running GM in Bucks history. That is pretty remarkable. Like this is not a franchise that sticks with people knowing what they won a title under his stewardship. Yeah. And they’ve been successful. Like no doubt about it. I just think the only thing from my perspective why I would raise a question is that he made the move for Lillard. I think we obviously thought there wouldn’t be any growing pants. It felt like it was going to be like, “Yep, this is the next they’re going to bridge this gap. They’re going to have two stars. It’s been a lot harder than we ever thought.” That much is clear. He knows how to be the kind of conduit from or ownership and that has obviously changed over the years too and that’s successful. But at some point it’s like my biggest thing for him is like can you reinvent the way that you make this roster and you can’t do it? You know for as much as we lament like what his draft picks were. It’s like in reality he’s picking late in the first round if he keeps with those picks. They’re not the chances are not high of of a Giannis coming along or someone else, but I think he will have to reinvent or re reimagine how he has had to build the Bucks with Giannis because he is getting older. As much as he again the standards so impossibly high, I would like to see what does Giannis look like as he’s 31, 32. You kind of envision him being more center Giannis. Can you get another ball handler? It’s just different ways like that that obviously you’ll have to answer. But I think it’s more of just the timing of this. Like it gets announced, they’re down 02. We’re all just like this is a disaster if they get swept or if they just lose the first round series and you’re faced with the prospect of like Yeah. They’re they might have to look for the third coach in two years. Yeah. And I think the original sin as we know is the agent Griffin hire. Yep. like that is it’s just that set them back in ways that they I don’t think they envision happening at all. So, well that I think I think I was thinking this the other day. I wonder if he’s still the coach if they don’t go out and get Dame after. And not saying like Dame got him out of there, but I just feel like that situation became more of a pressure cooker and it also unbalanced the roster in ways we’ve discussed. If Griffin is coaching a Drew team, I think they I think they’ll let him ride out. That’s what I’m saying. And the team the starting lineup is I mean it’s evidence that they should have let him ride out the season. But yeah, Drew, Beasley, Chris, Giannis, Brooke. It’s just like a team that makes more sense than what they went with. Oh yeah. Yeah. Cuz they they’ve done it like they they have that blueprint. Yeah. I mean, still what he tried to do wouldn’t have worked still. I think like Brooke all over the place. But I mean, if you have Drew out there, it just makes more things generally possible because he’s such a disruptor defensively and and that team knew how to play together. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Well, and I think I think even I believe Marcus said it with you guys. It’s like if the announcer for the team that he’s commenting on knows that the team is not buying in and it’s 43 games into his first season like Yeah. we will never know the full outside of the Terry Sts thing. Yep. Like I don’t think we’ll know the full breath of like Adrien Griffin was only the coach for the Bucks for six months. Yeah. You know that’s crazy. Yeah. I mean I don’t I don’t even want to dive in. I I don’t think it’s really worth revisiting that much. It’s obviously over now and it is what it is. I I think bringing it up too much is counterproductive, but got to move forward. Um, and yeah, I mean I to your point earlier, Rohan, I I I think if my I said this a couple weeks ago, if it’s horse or someone else, I don’t want to say doesn’t matter, but regardless, let them let him pick a new coach and then build a roster for that coach, which they have not done. Just hired Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver so much worse. The Kings went back to Scott Perry who was with the Kings for like three months and they’re like, “We we really like those three months. We’re going to bring you back eight years later. It can be so much worse.” Yeah. And like I I think the biggest thing is that the ownership looms so large. The fact that they have gone out of their way to be like, “We’re going to trust you.” Like this is the hardest time that they’ve had to trust. We have messed up so much trust you but they don’t. He is a clear scapegoat candidate. Number one number one scapegoat candidate and they’re willing to eat the contract. But they need to What do they give a bag of chips? What do they No, he gets he gets a real contract now. That was like before the last two contracts ago where they were paying him like just a an old bit. An old bit. But it is I I understand like they could always eat contracts, but at a certain point it’s like you got to look at yourself in the mirror like who are you? What do you have left if you just fire away the guy that was like I’m always going to be there? It’s Milt Newton time, baby. Milton Newton. Look at Nico Harrison, Patrick Dumont. Like they’re openly saying he doesn’t have basketball knowledge. And it’s like it’s not even knowing how basketball is run. If one guy is just running large with the organization, that seems like a problem. Yeah, I I think the the best part about it was I mean I don’t think it confirms Doc isn’t back, but I think it does confirm we’re not going to be in a world where it’s like blame horse, give Doc more front office. You’re not cleaning house, you know? Well, you’re not you’re not making Doc Pobo, which I think was on the table to some extent and was like a fear. That’s certainly worse. And to your guys point, I don’t think it’s fair to just be like, oh, they could have hired a failed retread GM cuz obviously that’s bad. But to your whoever said the name uh Troy Weaver, I mean I thought throughout the season this earlier in the playoffs like, “Oh man, can you steal someone from Oklahoma City? They’re so good at drafting. Pressie what they do over there. They just churn out rotation guys. They win every trade.” And that’s what Detroit did with Troy Weaver and he was terrible and he wasted Kad’s whole rookie contract. So hiring GMs is hard. I think it’s harder than coaches. I think I like you have a solid GM. I’m not like here’s the thing. I’m not trying to say John Horse is the best GM in the league. He’s not. He really isn’t. Somehow it’s Brad Stevens and I hate it. But for now, I mean, he could be a pumpkin next year. But look at what we thought of Kobe Alman like maybe four years ago. Look Nico Harrison last year. Nico Harrison last year. Calvin Booth was a championship winning GM two years ago. And when he went to the Bulls, it was like, whoa. We were all thinking Carnosovous, we missed out on him. And it’s like, oh my god, what a bullet that we dodged. But like Calvin Booth would be like the guy that was thinking like if they were to move on, would they ever baby? Oh, always a bride. Bridesmaid, never a bride. Hey, he’s up to fourth in command in Utah right now. But like Calvin Booth like they the Nuggets were just like this is so toxic. You guys are both you don’t you don’t see that often. The double lose power struggle before playoffs might be a new one. That is crazy. Crazy. So it’s like like to my point it’s I’m not saying John Horse is the best GM in the league. Five second round picks for Jay Crowder terrible. Like just the Kyle Kosma trade terrible. I it’s it’s like a lot of things that don’t really work out, but there’s also a lot of good things and it could be a lot worse. And if you’re going to have one guy in there, you want it to be the guy who is really friends with Yiannis. You know, that’s what you want cuz at the end of the day, that’s the only thing that matters, right? Especially when the Bucks are still down 2-1 in the first round. They’re still I still think I don’t think the Bucks are going to win the series still. Like I don’t Oh, I think they are. Oh, you think they go rest of the week or you think they go seven? Bucks and six. Six. You think they rattle off three straight or four straight technically? I just think the the evidence is proving to be incontrovertible. I added a syllable there. Rohan, what’s the word? I don’t know. I don’t know what you tried to say. Let me Google Gemini. That’s like Adam chapter. I I think what’s working is clear and I I don’t think I don’t think Indiana has a real counterpart. Oh, I apologize. Incontrovertible is a word. I apologize. Thank you. Irrefutable it basically means right is that’s like very meta like using the word incontrovertible is yeah that tie you credit to you. Thank you. But I I don’t see a clear like Giannis is such a problem. They’ve tried to just send more and more help. It doesn’t work. And we’re getting these lineups that we knew would work and they’re working. The margin’s really small now, of course. But I think they’re in a position if they keep going in the direction they’re going in to just be a matchup issue. And like if Dame gets going at some point, the Bucks offense is really going to be electric. I think that’s the big swing. If he continues to be one of eight guy, maybe they do lose after all. But like I think they are kind of in a power position right now and it’s just about continuing to capitalize on it because like Indiana’s best the Bucks could guard and the the opposite has not been true. The Bucks best with Giannis Indiana has no answers whereas I feel like the Bucks have more answers for what Indiana has done. The Bucks can mirror the Pacers fast-paced style. Like Giannis with shooters is Tyresese Halbert with what with the Pacers have. I don’t know if they can mirror it but they can like they can certainly compete with it. The Pacers are fast, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But in terms of series, I was It’s playoff basketball, so it’s gonna slow down to some degree, but it goes back to how radical does Doc change things if he has to do it. If we just get one more starter per game and then stop after uh game five, we could really be in business. Yeah. It’s like, wait, doc, you can’t take out Giannis. No, that’s the one guy you can’t take out. There wouldn’t be enough. There wouldn’t be enough players left to play. Tyler Smith is starting in place of Giannis. What’s going on? By the way, Giannis had Tim Giannis had Tim Duncan, Alan Iverson, and Kawhi Leonard in 30 point playoff games. Nice. What a list. Would not have guessed those three have the same amount of 30. Crazy. 36. I mean, Kawawaii’s still going obviously. Say that list again. Kawawaii, AI, Tim Dun. Did you say 36 or 30? 30. He has 36 30 points. Duncan. Yeah, Duncan early. They were playing to like 95 to 80. He’d like score 40 points. Great. Greatest power forward of all time, man. Yeah. Until someone with the 34. I’m joking. I’m joking. I’m joking. I’m joking. Not yet. Might be second, you know. I mean, he’s starting to look like Tim Duncan. Maybe. Honestly, just need to start banking it in. He’s got it. So, I think we’ve kind of answered this question that I wanted to really end on is that what do you think is going to happen in game four? Tai Tai’s thing Tai’s saying a win. Yeah, I think the Bucks eek it out. The Bucks e it out. Still don’t think they win the series, but I think they can eek out a game four win. You know, I’m I’m gonna go I’m gonna go crazy here. It’s going to be the Kyle Koosma game. Oh, I love it. Yeah, the Kyle game where he doesn’t play. It’s that over 30. It’s going to be the Kyle Kosma DNPC. Prince is like, I just needed one game off. Yeah, I think Koozba scores more than 12. 12. You think he’s getting double digits? He got double digits last game. He had 12 in game two. Yeah, I don’t believe you. I mean, I do in the first quarter alone. Yeah, I I 20 for Cous. Jordan’s like, I don’t know if I’m going that far. 20 points, assist, rebounds, and maybe minutes. That’s not a Kyle Kosma game, man. 20 P with 20 minutes is not a Kyle Kosma game. He played 21 minutes tonight. He already surpassed it. All right, so your prediction has become wholly meaningless. Um I just feel like when you look back at the series, when the Bucks are shooting themselves in the foot, the Pacers capitalized, but when the Bucks aren’t, they they looked pretty damn good and live throughout the games. So, I don’t know. probably just too homer optimistic. But like the optimized Giannis lineups, they’re a huge issue for Indiana. Yeah, just the Giannis lineups in general are just a big issue. Not all true. No, you’re right. You’re right. You’re right. You’re right. You’re right. Yeah, the optimiz game two was. Think about if they had won game two, if they didn’t play all those terrible first half minutes and right now they’re up 2-1. Feels totally command and obviously ifs and up buts, candy and nuts, etc. But two-point game pretty late. No. Reminds me of game three last year. Yeah. Chris Middleton was just trying to will them to victory, but they couldn’t. Yep. God. RP to a real one. Chris Middleton still alive, by the way. Still alive. Still alive. I don’t know. Yeah. La last thing for me I think that I have. Can we Can everyone stop doing the tweet where you go? I’d have Chris with no legs over Kyle Cruz. Why? I’ve seen it 5,000 times. It’s not true. It’s not true. He’s been fine. Everyone hates him. He’s been fine. He has been literally have a guy not playing. He’s been okay. Like I I agree with you, Ty. I agree with you. He’s just be He’s It’s It’s always unfortunate when this stuff happens. I just miss Chris, man. I like Chris. I know, but that’s the thing. Kyle Kyle Kosma didn’t break in and put the trade through. He might have. We don’t know. He didn’t. He was belonging. He did have a trade request. I don’t think he I don’t think he completed it with four Chris Middleton specifically. And if he did, Wizards GM was going above and beyond. Take Chris Middleton for me and make sure they throw AJ Johnson in. You have to get AJ out of there. That’s my That’s my trade request. You have to You have to trade for AJ Johnson. I don’t care if I’m on this team or not. Keith, create a coach. Get him. Get me out of here. And get AJ Johnson in here. At least Winnie Harlo was courts. She was right next to them, right? Oh, yeah. I didn’t know. I didn’t. Oh, nice. I love how Brian Keefe, everybody was just dunking on the Wizards in that player survey that the Athletic did. And Brian Keef was like, “Yeah, he they voted him the worst coach in the league by like 16%.” It’s like, well, what do you think he’s doing? He’s coaching the freaking Wizards. I come on. He’s already down. It’s not his fault. Yeah. To be fair, I did I did watch the Wizards like in person like lose a game on purpose essentially. So, yeah. Yeah, he probably got like a bonus for that. He probably did. Maybe he’s the best coach in the league. He can He can control the He can dictate the outcomes of games really easily. It’s not a good outcome, but the Dolphins owner with Ryan Flores. Yeah. Yeah. H game four Sunday 9 o’lock central. Is it 9:30? 9. I think it’s 8:30. I think it’s 9:30 Eastern. And then Tuesday game five is 5 central. Crazy. What are they doing? These pe these cities are a half hour flight away from each other. Like what are we doing with all these times? It’s crazy. It doesn’t make any sense. Is it NFL draft on Sunday or is it over by then? It’s over by tomorrow, right? Sanders. That’s so weird. Sanders will still be undrafted by Tuesday. He’s like the game. Yeah, he’s still waiting. It’s crazy. What What happened? Like why hasn’t he been drafted? It’s weird. That one guy from Oregon get drafted before him. Nobody went to his birthday party. Okay. Jonathan Isaac is in the league, but like no one went to his church sermon. That’s right. That one I feel like people get. Yeah. Yeah, that’s fair. I kind of forget that he’s in the league still. He’s playing playoff minutes for the Magic who have also done a Bucks and tied it tied it. Made it 2-1. Uh I don’t think they’re going to tie it, but hopefully the Bucks can on Sunday 8:30 p.m. Central. We will probably not be live after that. We won’t. It’s not a chance. We We’re getting old. We can’t do that. Um, but we will have a pod on Monday for sure recapping what happens on game four. But shout out to everyone who’s tuned in to this live here on YouTube and those listening to it after the fact or watching after the fact on YouTube. Make sure you’re subscribed and turn that notification bell on so you know when we are live. This game, this series, hopefully it’s going to go more than five games. So hopefully we’re going to be doing some more lives. But uh yeah, make sure you’re subscribed wherever you’re listening to or watching this podcast. Make sure you check out gpn.info for all of our links. Talk of the tundra going crazy right now. We’re we’re getting some green and golden for the Packers out here. Getting drafting wide receiver for the first time since 2002. So make sure you check out Newok and Jordan talking all things Packers draft. And the Brewers are doing well in season. Adam and Andrew are talking all things brewers on Cruising for a Bruise and everything’s happening. It’s beautiful. Check out gpn.info for all of those links. Pod random. Talk to you next time.
Gary Trent Jr has started his Rafters case with a legendary Game 3 performance, pouring in 37 points on nine made threes as the Milwaukee Bucks overcame another bad first half to beat the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 and climb back into the series. Ti Windisch, Rohan Katti and Jordan Treske break down what went right and how to keep the winning ways going in Game 4 on Sunday.
GSPN’s Bucks podcasts are presented by PrizePicks – Go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/GY… and use code Gyrostep for a $50 bonus when you play $5! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that easy.
Visit GSPN.info to find GSPN’s homebase, including the new GSPN Premium! For $8 per month, GSPN Premium subscribers get a bonus podcast episode from the GSPN Crew each week, access to a premium podcast feed with commercial-free versions of Gyro Step, Win in 6, Crewsing for a Brewsing, and Talk of the Tundra, bonus premium content including videos and written articles, and more. GSPN Premium Founding Members get all other GSPN Premium benefits as well as a shoutout here! Thanks to South Loonier, Justin Saeian, and Ben Kolp for being Founding Members.
16 comments
🔥🔥🔥
Great team win, especially defensively. My only concern is if giys are not hitting shots constantly, they won't be seen as a threat offensively. The Pacers felt so comfortable leaving guys open, because the percentage of them hitting the shot is lower then Giannis getting to the rim, because guys are nit consistent. We need constantly scorers and shooters to pull the defense from the paint. But as we see, guys have a decent to good game and the next they become a none factor. Dame, Trent, Green and even Portis has to be consistent from the 3, KPJ and Kuz has to cut way more and Sims has to put up a shot when he's around the rim. That's the only way we can keep the defense honest and free up Giannis. They are building the barriers early at the free throw line, to stop Giannis from breaking down their defense and passing out. We have to force the Pacers ti play one on one defense, which they are horrible at, besides Siakim.
Doc told KPJ to stop playing iso, but honestly we could use that right now. There is no one on the Pacers at this moment that can truly guard him one on one. As we see right now, he's struggling to score in the paint. His iso, was drawing his defender out to him and he could either shoot over them or cut to the basket. He just needs to know when to go to iso and when not to.
I will give the Pacers credit, they truly studied the scouting reports and really put in the work, to take away some of the things that the Bucks players love to do. They know if you make two passes, the Bucks defense normally breaks down, they know if you pressure Dame on ball, he will either turn the ball over or throw up a bad shot, collapse the defense when KPJ start to pickup pace, build the wall at the free throw line to slow down Giannis, attack Brook every single moment he is on the floor, allow Kuz to shoot as many open 3, because his offense is fleeting. This was the first game I felt like the Bucks truly did their homework on all of the Pacers players. But, the Pacer's coach really did have him team prepared.
If you watch Siakim, he goes for the switches. He's hunting Dame, Green and Brook if one of them are on the floor. The problem is Bucks players allows Siakim to get those switches. Even in this game, Giannis saw Siakim continuing trying to get the Dame switch and working to stay when him but seconds later would give him the switch. We can do that Siakim because he was the only reason they were in this game and we could have won that 2nd game if we didn't allow them to constantly get those mismatches.
Can you check who else ever had a three game spread with 35+ points per game in a playoffs series?
Stop trying to justify Brook Lopez being garbage.
23:30😂😭😂😂
Even with this win I am still done with this team, and will never watch another game again so long as Jon Horst remains GM, Wes Edens and Jimmy the clown remain owners. As far as I am concernrd Giannis should still demand a trade from this poorly run orginization. I call on all Bucks fans who are unhappy with the owners/GM to boycott all Bucks games on TV, in Fizer, and do stop buying Merchandise.
I would start Dame/Trent/AJ/Kuz/GA with Kuz's sole job being contesting Turner pnr's and/or fighting like crazy to not let Siakam get post touches. He'll have even more space to move and the team would be collectively faster he could get in transition better. The bench still has Bobby, Sims, and KPJ with Ryan as a spotter for KPJ
Oh how I want Nesmith on this bucks roster next yr
Bucks in 6!!
The confusing thing about Kuzma is people want him to attack the rim but he’s clearly so bad at it. He isn’t strong enough to play bully ball but also only goes one speed and has 0 finesse. Even that spin on Turner felt out of control despite the make
TP 100% was bad gentleman.
You can see on the court there's no reason to guard him. He's been excessively hesitant and selective all season. He can defend a guard. He's slow.
It's not his series at all.
We got the Bryn Forbes game out of the way. Thank you GTJ. Now let's take this in 6
The most insane thing with this Bucks squad is that they don't have ONE player who can lob it to Giannis and utilize his all time great VERTICAL SPACING . The only who can do it consistently got traded ( deservingly so if you ask me ) and the other one who can do it somewhat decently is stuck in the bench ( Pat ) . Giannis gets his points without utilizing his verticality at all and thats CRAZY .