Milwaukee Bucks: Bench Mob will continue playing key role

The Milwaukee Bucks have dominated the regular season and the playoffs so far, and a big contributor to their success is their depth off the bench.

Throughout the regular season and into the playoffs, the depth of this Milwaukee Bucks team has been what has separated them from the rest of the Eastern Conference and it will be a huge reason why they will beat the Toronto Raptors.

The “bench mob” as they like to call the second unit in Milwaukee had an outstanding series against the Boston Celtics. George Hill was the third leading scorer on the team, while Pat Connaughton outscored Gordon Hayward of the Celtics.

The unit would also play some major minutes and step up in a big way in a crucial part of the series. In game four in Boston, with just under five minutes left in the third quarter, Giannis was on the bench with foul trouble and star players Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe were sitting right alongside him. With the game in the balance, the Milwaukee Bucks put out a rotation of Sterling Brown, Pat Connaughton, George Hill, Ersan Ilyasova, and Brook Lopez, a combination that we didn’t really see during the regular season. Yet those five players would go on a 14-5 run to give the Bucks a commanding lead that they would never give up and take a 3-1 series lead.

It’s key runs such as that one, that has made what the bench mob has done so impressive. This depth that the Milwaukee Bucks have is something that the Toronto Raptors and most teams just don’t have. Before the trade deadline, the Raptors would acquire Marc Gasol via trade and had to give up some role players to do so. They, like most teams, wanted to bolster their starting five and as a result, Toronto weakened their bench. Once again, the Milwaukee Bucks will have a distinct advantage when it comes to their depth.

Below are the stats from each of this year’s playoff games, showing how valuable each of the four major bench players have been to this Bucks team.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/13/2019.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/13/2019.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/13/2019.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/13/2019.

As impressive as these four players have been offensively, they do it on the defensive side as well. Hill was often times in charge of guarding Kyrie Irving when he was on the court and Irving could never get anything going on offense outside of game one. Then we have Connaughton who flies around like a mad man, always trying to make a play and Brown brings a similar bulldog mentality and is just relentless as a defender. And of course, Ilyasova may be the King of drawing charges.

At least for the start of the Toronto series, the bench mob is only going to get stronger with Malcolm Brogdon joining the rotation as he eases back into his return from injury. Brogdon is an incredibly important player for the Milwaukee Bucks as he averaged 15.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists all while being incredibly efficient. Brogdon shot over 50 percent from the floor, 42.6 percent from three and 92.8 percent from the free throw line this season.

The unit that has helped Milwaukee separate themselves from the rest of the Eastern Conference is only going to get better with Brogdon coming off of the bench.

This is a very scary Milwaukee Bucks team and when we think about how they dominated the Boston Celtics series without utilizing players like Tony Snell, D.J. Wilson and were without Brogdon for the most part, along with a poor series from Brook Lopez, we saw on full display the fantastic depth that this team has. All I have to say to the Toronto Raptors is good luck slowing this Bucks team down.