Milwaukee Bucks: 3 Adjustments to Win Game Four
By Kenny Jilek
The Milwaukee Bucks managed to pull out a thrilling 86-83 win in game three to keep some hope and life in this series. Even though they won, they blew a huge early lead and were helped by a lot of missed shots from Brooklyn on good looks, especially Kevin Durant finally slowing down after an inhuman start to the playoffs and the series.
They can still get much better on both ends of the floor, and it’s always tough to make changes on the fly, but Brooklyn has too much talent to let the Bucks get back in this series if they don’t continue to take bold strokes and push the envelope. Playing the stars big minutes in a must-win game was a great step in the right direction for coach Budenholzer, but there’s still plenty more that can be done.
Adjustment 1 for the Milwaukee Bucks: More Set Plays, Screens, and Ball Movement on Offense
This first adjustment is fairly straightforward. Don’t come down and run isolation for one guy the entire position, and hope he scores. The game of basketball is a 5-on-5 endeavor, and that’s a good thing because, in a series of 1-on-1 matchups, the Milwaukee Bucks probably lose every time.
In their first possession of the fourth quarter, they came out and ran a beautiful set that confused the Brooklyn defense and resulted in a wide-open three for Bryn Forbes. Even though he missed, they had Pat Connaughton under the basket for the rebound, and he promptly put it back in. They ran a few other nice sets coming out of timeouts that utilized screens and got good players to good spots to take good looks.
Coming down the stretch, the Bucks often went to straight iso ball, while the Nets were going with the pick and roll. One of these strategies is clearly better because it involves a screen to make the defense bend and move, while isolation lets all four of the other players sit and watch the ball. Going with this game plan is just not sustainable for success, and they need to be moving players and the ball constantly on offense, something they were doing plenty of in the first quarter.
That last part is what is most frustrating about what happened in this game. They were cutting, screening, and making it hard for Brooklyn to defend them in the first quarter. That was how they were able to build their lead. The Nets are not a good defensive team. They finished 22nd in defensive rating, but if the Bucks continue to let four guys sit and watch the ball, they’re plenty capable of that task.