Scholarship table
Morant has just been nothing but special. Amazing touch at the rim. But, he hits the defender in the chest hard on every drive with his off hand. You wonder if he keeps being as successful if they change the way they call that in the future.Why wouldn't they double him late? I think he had their 18 of their last 20 pts.
I think Memphis might steal the next one. They played physical and dirty, and it took a lot out of the older Warriors. They will need every minute of the next 3 days of rest.
Brooks shouldn’t get suspended. And he won’t. But that was clearly worse than Allen’s foul on Caruso.
I would think he will get suspended for at least one game, especially now that Payton has a broken elbow. He should get more.
Bucks looked like a team happy with the split, which is disappointing. Despite the ugly game last night, I’m still feeling pretty good.Van Gundy was making a big deal about the quality of shots in the paint the Bucks were getting and how that is a more sustainable way to win than Boston raining 3’s. I’m not sure how much of that was good Bucks offense or the Celtics were content giving up 2’s and making sure the Bucks didn’t get hot from 3.
I have a few concerns: I think in Game 1 they scored 27 pts on fast breaks and a lot off turns. You can't expect that number the rest of the series. Their half-court offense can't just be iso ball.Giannis had a very poor Game 2 until it was too late. Without Middleton he is forcing some shots but more importantly I think he's rushing once he gets into the paint. He can get an easy 10 footer whenever he wants vs G. Williams or Horford. Take it with confidence and after the downhill attacks plant more and be patient.
I said before the series and I think it now, I don't think the Bucks will win the series if Khris doesn't return. The C's have the recipe to make life hard on Giannis (a strong, physical wing defender who can make it hard for him to get into the lane, and then a rim protector waiting when he does get into the lane), Giannis is asked to initiate the offense too much when Khris isn't available, and the spacing gets bad without Khris. The Bucks have three point shooting to replace Khris, but Khris is one of only two guys on the Bucks that can score at all 3 levels (Jrue, and Bobby can score at all 3 levels but he's not really creating his own shot in doing so).The Bucks really need to use Giannis as the screener. The issue is the pick and roll was unstoppable with Giannis screening for Khris, because when teams packed the paint to stop Giannis's roll, Khris could just pull up at the elbow and knock down the 15 footer all day. Jrue doesn't seem to like pulling up for that shot, and they haven't used the Jrue/Khris pick and roll nearly enough. Frankly, Jrue seems better in the pick and roll when Brook is the screener.I think the best option would be Jrue as the ball handler, Giannis as the screener, and Grayson in the corner on the side Giannis is rolling to. If/when the corner defender helps on the Giannis roll, skip pass to Grayson in the corner. Pat or Bobby in the strong side corner and Jrue needs to get the defense to commit to him or be aggressive scoring the ball.
Jimmy looked like a point guard out there. Very impressed with the quality of his passes. I was surprised when I looked at the box score and he "only" had 12 assists to go with his 22 pts and 6 rebs. Hell of a player.I wanted the Heat to win, but I wish Embiid were playing. It would be nice to have at least a semblance of a series.
Harden doesn't look like he can carry a team offensively anymore.
NBA does the right thing and suspends Brooks for game 3.
I thought he should have gotten at least 3 games.It was a dirty, injurious, reckless, non-basketball play.