Bucks Eyes Set on Revenge Against Pacers in Round One

[00:00:00] It's here ladies and gentlemen. It's the playoffs. We're going to talk about it. Let's get it started.

[00:00:18] You're listening to the Milwaukee Bucks Beat sponsored by Hungry Lion Productions Video Production Services

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[00:00:32] And now here's your host Michael Edwards. Welcome to the Milwaukee Bucks Beat. I'm your host Michael Edwards

[00:00:39] and we are now through the other side. 82 games done and the Bucks finish third place 49 and 33.

[00:00:48] I want to tell you a funny story here actually so I had two TVs on. I had the Bucks on one,

[00:00:54] the big TV in the living room and then the other TV I had, you know, the NBA games that were relevant.

[00:01:00] I had them split into quarters, you know, on my TV side four games. I won TV and saw the Cavs lost

[00:01:07] and then I saw the Knicks game because the Bucks game ended before that and the whole game I

[00:01:13] was cheering for the Bulls and then the moment the Bucks, I'm like, okay, the Bucks are gonna

[00:01:18] lose the moment the Bucks lost. I flipped and became a Knicks fan because I didn't want the Bucks

[00:01:23] to finish in two. That was a really intense game by the way. The Knicks actually looked really human

[00:01:30] and the Bulls played really well in that game. I know this is the Milwaukee Bucks beat but I'm

[00:01:34] sure all the Bucks fans were kind of tuning in there and seeing what was happening,

[00:01:37] considering it was directly connected to our fate, right? So Knicks get that win. I'm happy

[00:01:43] because now the Knicks are going to either have to play Philly or Miami. Good luck to all

[00:01:49] because that is sad that that's a first round matchup because all three of those teams are really,

[00:01:55] really good and then that should easily be a second round match up. The middle of the pack here is

[00:02:01] it's marshmallow here. So Boston's at one and they're gonna face, I'm gonna guess,

[00:02:07] this is not confirmed obviously because the playing games have to be played but

[00:02:11] I'm gonna guess, you know, it's going to be either Philly or Miami for Boston

[00:02:15] and then the Knicks will get the winner of the Philly Miami game. The Bucks are locked in with

[00:02:22] the Pacers which that's the one I wanted. I know it's not a great match up but knowing the final

[00:02:27] moments here, I should say that's the one I wanted. Obviously I'd rather have the magic

[00:02:32] in the first round even though they beat us today without Yanis and I just, you know,

[00:02:37] we look bad. And let's let's break this game down really quick before we go into the

[00:02:41] talking about the Bucks and the Pacers game. But let's start with Dame Lillard. Today he scored 16

[00:02:47] points and if he was a bench player that would be great but considering he's not that was

[00:02:53] really frustrating. He was 0 for 4 from 3. He was 2 from 14 from the field, 14%

[00:03:00] yuck. The only part he did really well was free throws. He finishes the game minus 8.

[00:03:07] We cannot have that, Dame Lillard. Like this is why we have Dame Lillard, right? So I don't

[00:03:15] understand why. I don't know what's up with the dude. I have a theory which I'm going to get to

[00:03:19] in a second but you know his last five games, his average 23.2 points a game, he has been

[00:03:26] so of the five games, three of them though he's been minus. Against Toronto he was minus

[00:03:31] 10. Against New York he was minus 8 and then today against Orlando as I record this today.

[00:03:38] I'll say the final game of the season because who knows when you're listening to this,

[00:03:41] he finishes minus 8. He was plus 13 against the Celtics and he was plus 11 the first time

[00:03:47] against Orlando but not looking good. Not looking good at all. Dame Lillard, screw your head on,

[00:03:53] we need you my brother especially those first couple games because I'm guessing I'm going

[00:03:58] to go out on a limb and guess you know. I've heard reports where Giannis will be back but we also

[00:04:02] know how this Bucks team does things, we'll put it that way. I don't think he's playing the first

[00:04:08] couple games. I really don't. Bucks lose today, tough one. A game I wanted them to win but then

[00:04:15] you know obviously as things were unfolding and I knew they were going to lose they lose 113-88.

[00:04:20] They played terrible. Good first quarter and everything after that was a stinkfest. They

[00:04:25] only score 12 points in the second quarter just completely outscored and the Magic needed this

[00:04:32] to avoid the play-in. So this was, the Magic had a little more to play for if you know

[00:04:37] you want to be fair about it but it doesn't matter. This is a game the Bucks, the Bucks should

[00:04:41] have won this game. Doc Rivers talks about the performance of his team. Listen we didn't

[00:04:45] play well down the stretch. Had a lot of stuff going on and then mentally I just think

[00:04:52] when you know you're in, you know you got home court. I don't think we handled that very well but

[00:04:56] we'll have to worry about any of that anymore. This is where I think Doc doesn't get the credit that he

[00:05:02] should be getting from people. People are nasty and mean to him and I know it doesn't bother him

[00:05:07] whatever but and I'm sure if you were in a room with him you would probably like him because

[00:05:11] he's a very likable guy, good guy but you know he's honest with his team. He's been there as

[00:05:16] a player. He understands you know what's going on out there. His basketball IQ is through the charts so

[00:05:24] the performance of his team ultimately reflects on him but I think he you know by himself is

[00:05:31] a good coach. If the players are not going to be executing that technically is on him but it's

[00:05:37] getting pro athletes to do what you want them to do and the way that they want to do it

[00:05:42] there's a lot of factors there. One of the things I really notice about this team that I think our last

[00:05:47] coach didn't do was he didn't break down some of the errors that we would have and tell the team okay

[00:05:53] here's what we're doing wrong, here's what we need to fix. Feel like he was just kind of a babysitter.

[00:05:58] You could kind of sense that from them back you know before Doc was in. I don't feel that anymore

[00:06:04] but one of the things that hurt the box consistently this whole year and there was a little while

[00:06:10] where they weren't doing the bad transition situation which I'm going to talk about here where

[00:06:16] they would take a bad shot and then that gets teams in a transition. Doc talks about that.

[00:06:22] If you turn the ball over your transition D is going to be bad. If you have bad offense you know

[00:06:27] listen in the first half and I told our guys some of the transition was off the shot was a

[00:06:34] turnover you know they just don't count that as a turnover. I do and so we have to have quality shots

[00:06:42] otherwise we struggle. I think that's really good for him to put the metric that way

[00:06:49] and say you know what a bad shot is a turnover because he's right. You do a bad shot bounces

[00:06:55] off the rim boom teams not skipping a beat and we don't have the speed to get back there in

[00:07:00] transition and the team that we're going to be facing now the Indiana Pacers that is what they do.

[00:07:06] They are a transition team they're among the top in the league in transition.

[00:07:11] They're a really good perimeter shooting team. These are two things the Bucks are very very

[00:07:16] weak against defensively running up and down the floor and defending the three they're not

[00:07:22] the greatest at it. I'm hoping Yanis is back this season. Yanis has played amazing

[00:07:29] against the Pacers when he's healthy. He's averaged 42.2 points a game 13 rebounds and 5.4 assists

[00:07:37] and five games against the Pacers this year and they took his ball. They made him very angry

[00:07:42] because they messed with his family because that ball was going to go to his mom who is the highest

[00:07:47] scoring total for Yanis ever in a game so I think the Bucks are going to take this one

[00:07:51] personal. I do. I've heard Beasley talk on other podcasts I think it was with Chris Hayes

[00:07:56] he was talking about if we get them meaning the Pacers in the playoffs it's going to be nasty.

[00:08:03] So the Bucks have been daydreaming about this one and now they got the matchup they want.

[00:08:07] Doc Rivers talks about the opponent in the Indiana Pacers. Indiana has had our number

[00:08:13] all year right so perfect opponent. Listen we've got to play somebody and they're tough

[00:08:21] they've played great against us they have probably great confidence against us

[00:08:26] we'll have great focus because we're going to have to. Doc continues to talk about the week off

[00:08:31] and what that will do for the team. I think it's a good week for us as a team. We can really work

[00:08:36] on the weaknesses that we see. We could talk about them we get everybody on the same page.

[00:08:42] I think this is a huge week for us. Getting everyone on the same page is the battle

[00:08:47] and I think we can do it. I just kind of when I was watching out there and I'm

[00:08:52] I'm not in the huddle I don't know what's going on clearly but like Jake Crowder was lazy today

[00:08:58] against the magic lazy. There were so many moments where I saw he maybe needed to be

[00:09:03] the guy down low switching he didn't switch and he just kind of stood there and watched

[00:09:08] and that kind of effort is going to be unacceptable. I know what this game was

[00:09:13] it didn't mean as much as it did to our opponent today but that laziness has to be gone that tenseness.

[00:09:21] I just watched the documentary about the 2008 US Olympic team with my son last night. They

[00:09:27] talked about how Kobe Bryant would be going to work out at 4 30 in the morning when everyone was

[00:09:32] coming back because they were in Vegas everyone was coming back from the clubs on the team.

[00:09:36] They'd see Kobe Bryant going to work out and like what's this guy doing and that effort

[00:09:42] that level of I want to win the Bucks need that. The Bucks need to have that completely

[00:09:47] across the board and anything less than that is going to result in elimination. The Bucks are not

[00:09:53] the team that we thought they'd be. We know what they can be and here's my theory I had mentioned.

[00:09:58] So the Bucks had a whole week off right with the yelster break just like everyone did

[00:10:02] and they looked amazing for six games after that break. They had a chance to just reset.

[00:10:08] They had a chance to talk. They had a chance to learn from the coach and execute the game plan

[00:10:14] and now here we are again another week whole week of practice essentially a whole week

[00:10:20] and I can only go off with the Bucks have shown me as a fan and that's when they get time to talk

[00:10:26] and reset. They come out good to go and that's what I'm hoping for is because the hope that

[00:10:34] was dwindling inside of me from the second quarter on today against the magic we cannot have that in

[00:10:40] the playoffs. They know what they need to do just do it and if shots aren't falling move the ball,

[00:10:46] take it to the hoop. It's not rocket science. It's not try to draw a foul if you can't get to

[00:10:51] the hoop but like that's because that's what this team did out of the break and that's what

[00:10:56] they need to get back to. They're going to have essentially a whole week to plan for how the

[00:11:02] Pacers play their game and they're going to be able to adjust their defense and I think if the Bucks

[00:11:07] can get through this round they're going to be better for it. I'm not even talking past this series

[00:11:11] because I mean you obviously look to see who you might play but right now the Bucks need to get

[00:11:16] out of this series one game at a time, one play at a time really and that's it so I'm going to

[00:11:21] make my predictions here. I'll go into the whole playoff thing later in the week and I'm

[00:11:25] not being cliche when I say this but Bucks in six. Bucks in six. I know it's a slogan for us but I think

[00:11:33] the Pacers can take two but I think if the Bucks do what they need to do they should beat this team

[00:11:39] in six games because this is a team they can beat. The Pacers can definitely score points

[00:11:44] but they have no defense and that actually helps us because their offense is kind of struggling

[00:11:48] right now so I think this is a good opponent to warm us up but anything can happen. Any of these

[00:11:54] teams I think the four or five I think the Cavs Magic is not the greatest matchup and normally

[00:12:00] that's the compelling one right when you're looking at the four or five matchup because when you look at

[00:12:04] the West that's the one I want to watch Clippers Mavericks but this year it's a little backwards in

[00:12:09] the East. I mean the 1-8 and the 2-7 are going to be really competitive I think and then the 3-6

[00:12:15] is going to be really competitive with the Bucks so but we'll break this down we'll go into

[00:12:21] details we'll do one more before the playoffs for sure because that's what we're here for right

[00:12:28] so there it is box the three Pacers the six get ready for blog because it's going to be a battle

[00:12:35] I appreciate you thanks for listening we'll see you on the next one