The Milwaukee Bucks stifle Nikola Jokic with another strong defensive performance under Doc Rivers

The Milwaukee Bucks stifle Nikola Jokic with another strong defensive performance under Doc Rivers

Coming up on today’s lock on bucks a big win for the bucks their defense comes up big once again holding the Nuggets below 100 points second consecutive game they have done that we take a look at where this defense continues to show signs of improvement another amazing game from

Giannis as well and the chance at really rescuing what was a very very difficult start to the Doc Rivers era all of that and more coming up on the postgame edition of locked on bucks you are locked on bucks your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team

Every day welcome into lock on bucks I’m Justin Garcia here with you you can hear me as well on the Bucks radio network joined by the longtime host of the podcast the founder of Brew hoop as well Frank Madden and we thank you for making lock on bucks your first listen every

Day we’re free and available wherever you get your podcasts and viewable on YouTube as well part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day today’s locked on bucks is brought to you by prize picks it is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize picks.com

Locked on and use code allower case locked on for a first deposit match up to $100 um Frank a pretty impressive win by the Bucks it wasn’t wire to wire but it was as close as you get nuggets LED briefly by three in that first quarter but really after the Nuggets claimed the

Lead and the Bucks took it back they never looked back pushing that lead up to 28 at one point we can get into who wasn’t available as you didn’t see the backourt for the nuggets in the second half but they were there for the first half and this defense was stifling

Holding Denver to 44 points yeah it wasn’t you know quite the domination that we saw against the Celtics uh a few weeks back um you know up what were they up 33 at halftime where it was well it wasn’t wasn’t quite that much but um you know I think when

You’re stacking the most impressive bucks wins of the season I think this has to be be right up there with with that Celtics game um you know there there it was a weird game in the sense that Jamal Murray I think he scored 35 or something in his in his prior game I

Was trying to figure what was going on with him I saw some mention from this from the Nuggets fans about maybe him being sick or something um but you know obviously uh we saw him Dominate and and just the Bucs had no answers for him from mid-range in Denver a couple weeks

Back and um just a very different story in this game and um you know I thought the Bucks defense overall I mean to to have one of your top three defensive nights of the Season against a Denver team that not only obviously has proven it is an elite offense defense time and

Time again and again we saw guys drop off as the night went on but they started the game fully healthy you know it wasn’t like this was some crazy back-to-back situation for them that you know was was they were rest impacted or something like that um so to to do what

They did tonight you know from the outset and you know Denver missed some shots for sure right the three-point percentage obviously wasn’t good but Denver didn’t hit threes when they beat the Bucks a couple weeks back either right they’re not a three-point shooting team yeah they they only took I think 18

In that game and tonight um they were settling for more looks they were 11 of 40 and you know I just thought the Bucks we talk a lot about kind of you know multiple efforts and I think early in the season first half of the Season felt

Like there were a lot of games where you know it was pretty easy pretty easy to see what was wrong with the Buc defense because it was just the guy with the ball Drives By The Defender the Bucks were PR to use on and a lot of blow buys

And and just too easy red carpet getting to the paint and so those paint points in the paint numbers were often bad and you know kind of chain reaction from that and I just thought in this game you know they just did different stuff they were obviously

At times you know doubling they it’s not like they’ve been super conservative since doc River showed up I mean they have you know like we saw against Luca they did a bunch of trapping and tried to get the ball out of his hands we saw tonight at times they were showing those

Extra bodies Giannis helping off Von Gordon who obviously he was not afraid to give up perimeter shots to and I thought it was not just you know we always kind of think about it you know the pick and roll it’s the two-man defense you often ignore the third guy

And the help and all those other things and I think that’s really been the Bucks problem is is it’s hard it was it’s been very hard to get them to play Five Guys in sync defensively and this felt like a night where we saw that and it wasn’t

Just you know the guy on the ball who did a better job which I think Malik Beasley and others you know AJ Green right like guys just had a lot of like good possessions defensively on the perimeter and then on top of that I just think the

Second guy the third guy the fourth guy and even the fifth guy just felt like there was more cohesiveness you saw them forcing turnovers which created easy buckets to transition and you know you talk about where they really blew the game open it was with whatever it was

Like a 140 run spanning the end of the first through the beginning of the second quarters and Giannis was a part of that but there were a bunch of role players that were part of that too including Bobby poris and Pat conon and other guys and um you know B Denver pick

You apart as much as any team in the league especially with yic and what he’s able to do as a passer um but we just saw tonight the Bucks I think just it just felt like they were one step ahead for a large portion of this game and

That is not a phrase that I’ve been used to saying about the Bucks defense this season um and Michael Malone talked about a lot of that before the game um too and and look every coach gives the same uh Speech whenever they’re asked by somebody inevitably about Giannis and

What makes him so challenging to defend and we got to keep him off the line we got to watch his cuts and and you know he’s gonna walk into those points we got to slow that down Michael Malone pointed the same thing out none of it happened

But he talked about the defense uh especially and he was asked you know what have you seen because the first game with Doc Rivers was against you so when you review the film what have you seen from this team that’s been different and he he mentioned exactly

What you did that you know they’ve been actually much more aggressive that they’ve been creating more turnovers and and you’ve mentioned that we’ve talked about it on other shows as well that to me is the most remarkable part is that we were told this was going to be an

Aggressive style defense coming into the season we didn’t see it they were 30th in turnover rate and now since this coaching change the Bucks are in the middle of the pack there so they’re causing more turnovers but tonight really um seemed like was everything that there’s been a number of things you

Could point to of well they’ve improved here they’ve been better in their transition defense and the amount of possessions opponents are getting in transition they’re okay at defending it they’re just cutting down at the amount of times opponents are getting there they’re rebounding the ball better and

Tonight that jumped off the page too against a very good offensive rebounding team in the Nuggets bucks were Elite on the defensive glass so that’s cleaned up the points in the paints and the second chance points and they’re causing turnovers too but the other big part that that Michael Malone talked about

Was you know when you take Drew holiday away it’s no longer that one guy that’s the point of attack and Giannis can just Roam and clean things up you need to play on a string more and I think that’s what this team struggled with for the

First 40 or so games was learning some of those Tendencies you don’t learn that overnight it’s not just that Doc Rivers comes in snaps his fingers and it’s there but there’s some clear signs that it’s getting there and I think especially when you mentioned some of

Those names you did and you think about the way guys like AJ Green played in fighting through picks and screens and Doc talked about that as well quite a bit after the game that to get ready for this game they showed a lot of footage from the Hornets game where they weren’t

Getting caught up on screens and then they showed the footage in the first Nuggets game where that’s how they were picked apart by Jamal Murray and that was the clear thing they were working on tonight and it showed sorry I was muted uh my internet did not

Go out um but uh I think I think it’s always I think it was always going to be hard for Adrien Griffin I think after a while when it it when it doesn’t seem like the defense the defensive message comes through and it doesn’t feel like you’re getting that cohesiveness that you’re looking

For even if Adrian Griffin had had all the right answers all the right adjustments you kind of reach a point where it’s like I don’t know that the message was going to get through I don’t know that you’re going to get the subconscious SLC conscious buyin that

You need to not necessarily be like the most elite defense but with this group to be you know even average or slightly above average you really need people bought in and playing again on a string playing consistently doing the stuff you want to do and so again I think that was

Part of just again we’re we’re returning to kind of the upside of of why you bring in an established veteran coach that’s going to command the presence of the the attention to the locker room and just be kind of a different voice at this point right just you know someone

Who can kind of maybe simplify things to a certain extent um and I think that’s largely probably what we’re seeing and uh because again it’s not like they’ve turned into a different team right it’s not like they’ve suddenly like you know they just play small all the time and

You know switch everything and they’re like a different team than they were you know a month ago right they’re not I mean they’re still the same same group I think certainly obviously there were injuries Brook being out with uh due to the birth of his child right there were

Some things that were headwinds certainly on that road trip in particular which you know I think was part of the reason why obviously the record is not quite where he want it to be since the departure of Aden Griffin and the arrival of Doc Rivers but um you know hey beating the

Hornets fine you know like good thank you on the second night of back back toback you know showing up defensively that’s that’s positive but um I think this was obviously you know a game that was much more of a measuring stick of where they were than than that game and

Um you know if you can follow up uh the disappointing loss against Timberwolves where again Giannis is basically playing you know with a bunch of role players and doesn’t have the help that he needs especially on a really topheavy Bucks team to to be as competitive as you want

To be um to follow that up with you know two of your better defensive performances of the season and then you have a opportunity against Miami on another back-to-back here Miami is going to be a bit short-handed as well um you know I think what bucks two and0 against

The Heat so far this season I don’t think the Bucs probably need to be reminded that they don’t need to overlook the heat uh given everything that’s happened between these teams in the history over the past few years uh but if you can you know again just start stacking better performances I think

Especially defensively you know the stuff is a bit contagious and you know it reinforces itself right when when you get good results then you get better effort you get you know better energy and again to what extent that is conscious for subconscious I don’t know um but it just seems like the engagement

Was better and you know on a night like this I thought I thought Bobby Portis defended well you know yeah I thought p conon who obviously we’ve had a lot of questions about Pat and kind of whether he’s still defensively good enough to be a major minute guy you know I thought

Pat you know had a number of good reads broke up plays um his activity level and we talked about obviously the perimeter guys whether it was Malik AJ or you know even Dame at times um the jobs that those guys did in you know limiting Jamal Murray who obviously we we saw

Very recently can carve up any team so um so yeah I think again we’re going to over index I think on the defense because that’s where the concerns were the offense has been interestingly a bit subdued which is partly due to obviously the injuries you know Chris I think

We’re probably just going to assume is he probably just going to sit out through the All-Star break just to stack some rest and come back 100% off off that ankle um but you know Dame solid performance against the Hornets really didn’t need to be great tonight but did

Have a little spurt in the third quarter to make sure that this game never got close and uh you know again no huge huge story there but Giannis after a couple of quieter performances as a scorer uh reminded us again tonight of just kind of what where

He is in terms of the the pantheon of NBA superstars and you know we’ve talked about what it takes to get Giannis back in the MVP conversation well outplaying Nicol yic and beating the crap out of the Nuggets that’s a that’s a pretty good thing thing to be doing and so you

Know now he just needs to keep doing this and you know circling these games he’s done with with uh with jic for the season um you know he’s still got a couple Boston games so do some stuff against the Boston Celtics win another game or two hey that that would be nice

And you still have Shay elers Alexander uh who’s also now in this this MVP CH so um I don’t know you know again if if Giannis was a mortal we’d be leading with with what he did tonight and talking all about how amazing he was but

Given we’re so used to it uh we leave it to like you know a second segment type thing so uh I don’t know Justin if you want to Pivot to Giannis but he obviously was tremendous too he was at two games against the Clippers as well

So he’s got a lot of these tests coming up um that you know look not that he ever should have been out of it but he’s got a big opportunity to reinsert himself at the top of that mvp discussion here in these next couple of weeks with the schedule in front of the

Bucks we’ll touch on that and also some of the defense that we saw against niic because it reminded me of some things that we had seen previously and I never thought I would be saying that the way that this season started so we will get into all of that the Giannis MVP talk

And more of the Bucks defense and what they H did in some of the looks they gave to Nicole yic coming up after the break un locked on bucks well prize picks is America’s number one fantasy sports app with over 3 million members and they are the

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Giannis and his Chase for an MVP uh the way the Bucs defended Nicole yit Frank um after that first game Doc Rivers had talked about look Nicole yic scored 25 points but he needed 25 shots to get there tonight was very similar 29 Points 25 shots he took 12 shots in the first

Quarter and it’s you just don’t think of niic as a high volume shooter that I had to look it up that is the second most field goal attempts in a quarter in his career and it did seem as though the Buck’s strategy it it almost reminded

You at times of some of the defensive game plans we saw put in for guys like a James Harden under Bud where the strategy seemed to be we want Nicole jic to shoot because we think he’s more deadly as a playmaker and as a passer when you have guys cutting and we just

Have to stay alert and be ready for more actions defensively if we give Nicole yic this open look we know he can take it but we’ll take our chances with that versus him facilitating yeah and I I think this was another good example we’ve seen Brooke I

Think at his best defensively in these one-on-one matchups you know I think it stood out against embiid he’s had a number of games against embiid where he just doesn’t foul him and you know doesn’t play the game with Joel and you know lets Joel take probably more you know not super contested mid-rangers

Than you would like because he’s so good at those um but you’re kind of playing the percentages right like again like if a guy is going to be elite from mid-range better to give up that than send him to the foul line a bunch or let

Him get to the rim and and finish around the basket and I think with jic he clearly wanted to contest those mid-range shots those paint shots like obviously they they didn’t want to just concede those um but he missed a few early and certainly they seemed to be

Okay with giving him a little more room from the three-point line um and you know he had a couple of those threes early that kind of kept the nug help to keep the Nuggets within striking range um but I thought it was interesting you know they they didn’t just play him

One-on-one the entire night right I mean we saw them send extra bodies we saw Giannis Rush him force a turnover during that run in the early second quarter when they really stretched the lead out um they weren’t afraid to to send an extra body at times which you know I can

Crawl back to the bud era there were mixed mixed results would probably be a very kind way to put it but you know there were at least a game or two where they seemed to decide like they wanted to try to double and force him yet wasn’t there that game where like they

Were putting Wes Matthews as the primary Defender and then doubling with it and it was just like all right guys like we’re just kind of overthinking this um this was a little more chaotic and in a good way a little less predictable maybe um and again it wasn’t like it was

Always just you know just send regular double and uh hope that that uh that he makes a bad pass or something like that like it was bring extra help then you know help back off you know recover back off um and again there was just you the

Bucs kind of just gum things up just enough like I think back to that one play yic had it on the left wing in the I think it was in the first quarter late in the first quarter and um you know he had what looked like a decent look at a

Shot and ends up firing a kind was like a fake shot into a rifle interior pass for Aaron Gordon and Bucks had enough arms and legs down there I think J Crowder and maybe Brooke were down there or Yannis was down there somebody was else was down there and it again got

Deflected and goes out of bounds and it’s a turnover right and you look at the box score you know for yic have eight assists and five turnovers mission accomplished you know like you limit his free throws which again not that he’s a huge free throw guy but limit his free

Throws Force Five turnovers versus eight assists you know what what else what more can you do um against joic uh given his playmaking ability and his scoring ability again if he’s going to score 40 on you he can do that um but I thought you know again

Brooke made him made his night difficult made him work um and even when Brooke was out of the game like I said there were times where Bobby was in the game um and didn’t get just immediately you know put put under the rim and and uh and finished over for layups either so

Um so yeah I mean you’re not never going to like there’s not like a shutdown Nicole yic plan right he’s too good he’s too smart um but it did it felt like he was out there thinking to himself I gotta score because my other guys aren’t scoring and yeah the defense is making

Things uncomfortable enough that I just need to try and go get myself some buckets and he did get himself some buckets but you know like you said the efficiency 29 on 25 shots five turnovers again you take that every day of the week yeah he was he was much more

Efficient in the the second half which ironically was when he didn’t really have the help seven points from the starters outside Nicole yic at halftime for the Nuggets so it work to Perfection for the bucks and you know doc talked about that a little bit after the game

As well just what they were looking for defensively we saw a lot of Giannis as the helper um this was one of his more impactful games in that aspect I thought tonight is he had I think three Steals and two blocks and he just seemed to be

Everywhere around the ball and doc said after the game you know I I just love him as the help Defender when we can get away with it that I think he reminds me of free safety in football that we can keep him around the rim that he can make

Sure we always have Rim protection between he and Brooke and noted you know we’re playing with our guards up on the ball and we’re taking guys off the line that it’s creating contested shots when you factor in the rim protection so that’s basically what we’re seeing here defensively he he keeps talking too

About you know I don’t want this to become mental and I I think we’ve heard JJ reck and others point that out too of you can see the Bucks earlier in the season are kind of overthinking things and maybe they have too much thrown at

Them of wait a minute do I get this guy or do I get that guy or who’s gonna be behind me on this and you know as everybody former players have pointed out and doc has brought this up a number of times too and in the Don schula line

The moment that it becomes mental that’s when you lose a step and your opponent beats you that he doesn’t want these guys thinking what should I do here he’s kind of drilling in don’t do this that this is what we’re not looking to do and I think we’re seeing the results there

On the defensive end of the floor again it’s 11 games and it’s not a huge sample size but you know it’s it’s starting to become enough where we’ve seen in these 11 games I think the Bucks are now tied with the Pelicans for the fifth best defense in the league League since

January 24th and what’s even more remarkable about that is as we just spent the time talking about the schedule that they’ve had that I think it’s seven of those 11 games have been against teams in the top 10 in net rating so yes the offense is has taken a

Bit of a step backward some of that is the players that haven’t been on the floor for these games but we needed to see this from the defense and I think we’re seeing more than I anticipated yeah and I was just looking at some of the stats that that you know

Kind of underlying it like what what’s sort of been the difference um I I think the transition numbers certainly are part of that which always felt like you know maybe some of the lowest hanging fruit right just get back on defense you know um you know in the in the 11 games

Here since um since Adrian Griffin departed bucks are third in in terms of points allowed uh points added per 100 possessions allowed um defensively so 1.1 um which is third and then probably the most encouraging thing though is we saw at various points the Bucks have actually looked okay by that metric but

The frequency of transition um opportunities that were allowed was off the charts you know dead last so there was some you know I think luck in terms of guys you know teams probably rushing shots and transition maybe pulling up for three and and uh you know bucks

Maybe getting a little lucky with with a opponents missing threes and so really what you wanted to see was the number of opportunities come down so Force teams actually play in half court more because that’s obviously typically going to be a less efficient way to play basketball

Than in transition and um if you look at that stat again um in the these 11 games since January 24th they’re seventh in terms of the fewest um frequency the lowest frequency of transition opportunities allowed and so I think that’s you know to me that’s that’s kind

Of again one of those sort of underlying stats that you know you’re not going to think about a lot you’re not going to generally see you know during a a TV broadcast necessarily um but it I think speaks to some improvement in terms of the underlying fundamentals of uh of the

Buck defense you know it’s it’s not rocket science just like make the game be a half court game right I mean um if you do that life is is just going to be a little bit easy for you and you know tonight the the the the paino numbers

Kind of got close to equalizing by the end but yeah during the vast majority kind of of this game when you know first two two and a half quarters when it was decided you know the Bucs had a had a clear advantage in the paint and that

Was an area where it felt like in Denver you know even if they TR they TR tried so hard even if they finally you know covered guys off on the perimeter you know they would blow a switch or you know all that all those back cutting

Yeah exactly you know I just think back to that Michael Porter screen that that Chris and Giannis blew the assignment on and and he got open for a dunk late in that game when they really needed to stop obviously we never got to to that type of Leverage position in this game

Um but uh but you just didn’t see those types of opportunities and you know in that game it felt like the Nuggets really did a good job of kind of gumming up the the paint against the Bucks Buck spacing wasn’t where it needed to be and

In this game you know again just a lot of that felt like it got flipped on its head and obviously having you know a Hulk with Giannis um that you can unleash is uh is a big part of the advantage because he obviously had really had everything working there um

Was hitting some mid-range shots and just getting to the rim and again just funny to think back remember the beginning season like oh Giannis had a knee surgery is he yeah well what’s see with it you know and then he literally looks as physically dominant as as he’s

Ever been in terms of just the ability to get to the rim whenever he wants and you know some of the moves backing guys down and just swallowing up smaller Defenders pton Watson whoever else right like just uh just really impressive stuff and again he was brilliant tonight

You mentioned the five stocks um on top of you know 36 yeah 18 and five right just numbers that U were just sort of numb too they’re they’re so big but um they needed it you know and was good to see him kind of bounce back a bit after uh

Uh quiet games for different reasons uh over the weekend yeah points in the paint and turnovers too there’s a couple of the areas uh that that really started to slide away in the fourth quarter when uh you had your non-regulars in the game for the bucks but that’s you know the

Other area is we touched on how much they’ve been generating turnovers and scoring off of those and and using that to juice their transition offense they they’ve done a very good job of protecting the ball of late too so all of these numbers that you point to in

The hustle categories the Bucks have been much improved in these 11 games and will it last you hope so because it’s it’s been a big part of this turnaround for the uh the team so now two more games in this first half of the schedule that we’ll we’ll touch on briefly but we

Promised Giannis and his chances at the MVP what kns like tonight do for that we’ll get into that conversation coming up after the break unlocked on bucks this next segment though is brought to you by our sponsor better help sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off our

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Flexible and it is suited to your schedule visit betterhelp.com lockon NBA to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com lockon NBA all right Frank it’s games like these that are going to do some for giannis’s M VP case I I think you’re not really going to see his name start to

Come up until we get to the second half of the schedule and a lot of that depends on you know how this Bucks team finishes the season is they’re in an interesting spot they did get a lot of help tonight with both the Cavs and the

Knicks losing um but when you look at his numbers and we’ve talked about this quite a bit all season long you know the playmaking he had another one of those plays tonight with the bounce pass to Malik Beasley in the corner where he could anticipate the help coming knew it

Was going to be there waited and made the perfect type of pass that’s the stuff that isn’t really going to buy you any MVP votes it’s the numbers but those numbers have started to climb as well and look I think one of the challenges he’s going to be up against is you have

Damen Lillard so how much of an impact is Giannis having Damen Lillard’s been a big part of what we’ve seen from Giannis when you look at career highs in his efficiency in his two-point field goal percentages tonight too I think it was 10 of 11 that he started the the game

Against Aaron Gordon and Nicole yic he continues to put these types of games up and I just continue to be struck by how he’s no longer forcing things we think back to the hnis that was picking up offensive fouls he got into fou trouble the other night you thought it would be

There again tonight but it’s no longer from charges and offensive fouls and to me that’s the most impressive part especially on nights where opponents or teammate shot isn’t falling we’ve heard Doc Rivers say this too that he trusting the pass and and he’s believing in his teammates that that shot is going to

Fall and when it does that’s when this offense is almost impossible to stop when Dame is clicking yeah I mean um it is interesting right like the the only upside of Dame season being perceived a disappointment is that that maybe gives Giannis a little bit more room to you

Know make a MVP narrative case right like if everyone was perceiving Dame as being perfect and having this incredible ible season um then I guess maybe that’s a little bit harder um so I I don’t know I mean again I think I think the most important thing is bucks need to start

Winning games they need to start winning you know high-profile games again tonight’s game unfortunately you know even though it’s nuggets and Bucks it’s Giannis foric um was relegated it was an NBA TV Game but it was not you know obviously a a major draw game on ESPN or

TNT um but we know there’s a number of those games coming up uh so you know again these these are just opportunities to um start racking up wins and start showing the league like hey Giannis is still Giannis and the numbers are incredible um and the two-way impact is

Um is still you know something that again puts him in very rarified elite companies so um so yeah I think hopefully uh more of this to come uh we’ve gotten used to it all season he’s been the rock that’s really carried this Buck team to respectability um but I

Think this is also where you know figuring out a way to climb back up to number two which they’re now two games back in the L column of the Cavs who did lose tonight weird for me to be rooting for the Sixers um against you know a

Non- Celtics team uh but I did find myself rooting for the Sixers the Joel Sixers who’ve obviously lost a bunch of games lately with joelan beat out they have 21 losses but they were able to pull out a win in Cleveland which has you know not a lot of people have done I

Mean the Bucks yeah winning one out of two and that homeand a couple weeks ago is actually pretty respectable I think what Cavs had won like what 16 of 17 I think at at some point here coming this week and that one that one loss was uh

Was that game in Milwaukee the Bucks look very impressive in so um yeah obviously Cleveland we’ll see how they Faire right that the irony was they were doing great without uh Garland and Moy now they are back to to relative full strength um so we’ll see kind of how they continue to

Uh to Faire um moving forward but um yeah unfortunately you don’t get any more games against them you didn’t get the tiebreaker you weren’t able to win that last game um so we’ll see obviously you hope that they drop some games and again worst case scenario you know the

Knicks lost in Houston tonight go Rockets um my wife and I are both happy tonight uh with the rockets doing the Bucs a favor um you know I think job one for the bucks right now is is make sure you stay in that two3 slot and again if

If you end up having to in the second round be the road team um going up against the Cavs I you know not the end of the world right I think you obviously feel like you have a a path to to beating Cleveland still um and again I’m

Not going to take any series for granted for the bucks at this point after last year but um but you know I’d rather I’d rather get Cleveland in on the road in the second round than be the four seed and have to do it you know in Boston uh in

Another second round series with with the Celtics well not look four seed is disaster may be strong but it it’s potential for disaster because of second round in Boston is inevitable the Celtics are going to end up running away with the best regular season record in the East and there is the looming

Possibility of if you’re the four seed Joel embiid just returned or is returning for the playoffs and that’s your first round matchup so yeah I I don’t care if it’s three I mean you won a title as the three seed winning a game seven on the road in Brooklyn but you

Got to avoid that four seed if you’re the Bucks and that’s where it helps of you got a little bit of Separation now between you and the Knicks they’re going through their share of injuries and you have the tie breaker so that’s at least the important part maybe you don’t catch

Cleveland but um but just hold off the Knicks and the last thing too to to take one final look at the the Giannis I mean we’re we’re talking about Giannis MVP and here we’re not even at the All-Star break but as of this moment I don’t think this is including

Tonight’s game he had the fourth highest odds on basketball references MVP tracker uh just behind Luca donic I still I I don’t see a world where LCA donic would be named the MVP season Nia yic is the leader um it it feels like it’s it’s strongly sheay Gil just

Alexander and the do is open for anybody else at this point yeah I I think like with Luca you know unless they somehow catch the Thunder which doesn’t seem likely um that you know the LCA just not going to win enough games yeah that they’re probably not going to win enough games

And so you know Shay is going to have the upper hand on luk is sort of you know the scoring dominant um lead guard type type option for a Western Conference team and as long as the Thunder are notably better I don’t really see LC winning winning MVP so but

Again I mean I think if you’re Giannis can jannis win MVP finishing worse than second I think that’s going to be pretty tough you know I think he probably you know need to win need to finish second there needs to be a narrative that you

Know you were a team that that played at least two expectations or above it um in terms of the regular season and hopefully finish strong and that there’s you know a narrative around hey the Bucks figured it out you know they got got a new coach and with Doc Rivers they

Kind of found their Rhythm and all that right like that’s the kind of got to be the the built-in Good Vibes narrative um and Giannis obviously needs to be kind of the the driving force of that if he’s going to be the MVP so we’ll see I mean

Obviously uh you know with the 65 game requirement you never know right if Shay or um you know joic who you know yic just never gets hurt really um but if either of those guys obviously got hurt then then that would obviously kind of simplify things as well but um you know

Hey like we said it’s just at this point it’s pretty simple like go out dominate win games and you know especially when when a lot of people are watching um that’s an even better time to dominate and win games so tomorrow you get the heat Jimmy’s out for personal reason Duncan Robinson

Is out Terry rer has been horrendous since Landing in Miami so that maybe doesn’t help you um but he’s better than Damen Lillard though he’s 80% he’s 80% of Damen Lillard right shooting scoring 12 points per game on you know 45% true shooting that’s that’s 80% of Daman L

Right um yeah so obviously they’re they’re on paper short-handed they have a rest Advantage um but and Josh Richardson also out just uh lost to a shoulder injury for for quite a while so um so yeah hopefully we don’t get the uh Hae hakz you know 388 Haywood High

Smithw Smith Tyler herro homecoming Revenge game um but uh but we’ll see come on bucks take care of business I mean look a very very big opportunity in front of you not only that but um we said from the start that you circled the Hornets game and the Grizzlies game when

You approached your final five games of this first half of you don’t want to take anybody lightly but these two are must that we got to get these to get at least one of those other three games and you feel better about where you’re going

Now at this point get all of them or at least get two of those uh three games and you’re in a pretty good spot here um to to wrap up this first half of the schedule so it’s the Bucks and the heat tomorrow night or tonight depending on

When you listen to this as Frank just mentioned a very very short-handed Miami Heat team which seems like it’s going to make them all the more dangerous against the bucks on night two of a backtack uh we’ll have the recap of that one and uh move into the allstar break before you

Know it and take a look ahead at the second half schedule for the bucks which remains very very challenging I’ve heard a few people ask me so where do the Bucks sit with their schedule that’s left just assume it’s going to be in the top five most difficult from here on out

That it’s only going to get tougher at the end of this first half schedule with a 500 Miami Heat team and a very bad Memphis Grizzlies team that I think they were fifth most difficult after tonight it’s probably going to be somewhere around third or even second after uh

These two games to to get into the All-Star break so it’s a challenging stretch ahead for the bucks but next up tomorrow night against the Miami Heats we’ll be back for the recap for that one for Frank I’m Justin thanks for tuning in to lock on bucks we’ll talk to you once again

Tomorrow

Justin Garcia and Frank Madden dig into another impressive outing on the defensive end for the Bucks. What worked in their defense against Nikola Jokic? Was Pat Beverley the missing piece? Is Giannis moving near the top of the MVP list? Justin and Frank discuss all of that and more on the latest Locked on Bucks

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