‘Dame has been COOKING without Giannis!’ 🔥 – Chiney Ogwumike ahead of Bucks vs. Celtics | NBA Today

‘Dame has been COOKING without Giannis!’ 🔥 – Chiney Ogwumike ahead of Bucks vs. Celtics | NBA Today

An attent kmo is going to miss his second straight game here with a hamstring injury what more can you tell us about his health well Malika the Milwaukee Bucks right now are being very cautious with Giannis ten Copo just like they’ve been cautious with Chris Middleton over the

Past several weeks he just came back from an ankle sprain as as we both know this is a team that’s very focused on not just playing games now but playing games all the way into June and Yas tupo dealing with this tended apathy in his hamstring obviously a tricky thing

Hamstring ADW you seen Tyrese halberton dealing with with one for really the past couple of months now for this Bucks team that’s now three games ahead of the Knicks for that very important fourth spot in the Eastern Conference which means if you’re in second or third you avoid playing their opponent tonight the

Boston Celtics until the Conference Finals right their goal is to get Giannis as healthy as possible for the stretch run and we’ll see if that obviously he’s not going to play tonight we’ll see if he plays tomorrow but I think the plan should be to get him back

Out there pretty soon which is given his hamstring a chance to rest and healing you mentioned this potential matchup that we’re all hoping to see in the Eastern Conference Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics how are the Celtics using this game to prepare for the

Playoffs using it the same way Malika that Joe moula has used the prior 66 or so games of this season and that is to give this team every possible opportunity to take different looks and different approaches throughout games to have them as prepared as possible to win

16 games in the post season we saw when they played Denver a couple weeks ago maybe the biggest game of the regular season Joel moua changed his rotation from the game before the game before that they had Drew holiday guarding Isaac aoro just to see what that would

Look like obviously not a top perimeter threat on the Cavs this is a team that has used every opportunity to experiment with new things try different lineups try different combinations all to be as ready as possible for the playoffs and they obviously have the benefit of doing

That when they currently have a 10 game lead over the Milwaukee Bucks in the standings and are only a couple wins away from wrapping up homec court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs really they’re just a Stones throw away from being able to wrap up that number one seed in the

Eastern Conference enjoy the game tonight Tim but here’s the thing right just because Giannis isn’t playing that does not mean the Bucks they can’t give the Celtics issues right just ask Kevin Durant and the Suns because Milwaukee has won three of their four games without their two-time MVP so I want to

Ask the MVP of our breakdowns although Kendra perkins’s most improved potentially making a run for most improved what should we expect on the floor tonight look it’s the battle of the big green and if you’re telling me there’s still a chance I will tell you exactly why because in this matchup Dame

May be a solo act but don’t write the bucks off just yet Dame has been cooking without Giannis this season he’s averaging 31.5 points 9.5 assists per game when Giannis is out of the lineup but just under 24 and 7 with Yannis and I’ll show you exactly why he switches

The gears right here Dame pre- Allstar was shooting around 32% from three post allar he’s been on one it doesn’t matter who’s guarding him here Yousef nurkin should be able to defend this especially with his size he’s seven feet but y but Dame able to knock it down once again we

Say Dame time we also say logo Lillard you got to guard him the same way you guard Caitlyn Clark for real once he crosses half court but still it doesn’t matter two people in his vicinity he’s been doing so much better being more aggressive with his shot but there’s

Another star though that is stepping up in ways that you should also take note of Jason Tatum has been on fire from three-point distances we’re talking about threes since the All-Star break shooting 45% in this time that’s after he shot just 36% on threes before the

Break and I’ll show you why this tandem between JB and JT has been so great this guy right here has been averaging 33 points per game in the last five games so guess what when I move you move perk just like that you know that when he

Moves a defense when he attacks and when he’s aggressive he’s getting Jason Tatum so many better looks I mean watch this right here he’s playing so well that everyone has eyes on him all he has to do is get him an easy look pass to his tandem guy and things just really go

Down really well so this is the Battle of the big green no Yannis but don’t fear these guys have improved whether it’s Dame or JT in ways that people don’t really expect post well they’re going to need a whole lot of dami and lard right because according to ESPN bet

The Celtics are actually 10 and a half Point favorites over the Bucks that’s the biggest Underdog for Milwaukee since 2017 they also have a 10 game lead on the Milwaukee Bucks in Eastern Conference standing that’s essentially the same lead the same lead that Milwaukee has over the ninth seated

Bulls Boston has over the two seat of bucks records are one thing Talent is another how big is this Gap actually as big as it is on paper there Austin there’s definitely a gap I mean Boston’s just consistently been a great team all season long we’ve seen Milwaukee have

Have identity issues they obviously had a coaching change they had new assets joined the team it hasn’t really worked great Dame plays his best a lot of times when Yannis isn’t on the floor they’ve had to figure a lot of issues out that have improved nonetheless but still have

Not been fully figured out compared to a Boston team that has arguably the best starting lineup in basketball outside of Denver because they’ve won respectively they’re right there and they’ve had the best regular season but that’s the key word here is regular season this team is very vulnerable in some ways closing the

Game is one they don’t close the game the best that guy right there Jason Tatum one of my favorite players but he has not been the best down the stretch particularly in the clutch nor nor has Jaylen Brown and we saw last year uh a

Team that was not even in the realm if we’re talking Roster Miami Heat go in and punk that team and beat him in a game seven they almost swept him before I’ll give Boston Credit they did come back all the way from three so you got to give something there but then they

Lost game seven in Boston both games this year versus Denver they’ve lost so are they better than Milwaukee sure but we’re talking about a team that in the playoffs versus Janis who I’ve seen reach the mountain top who I’ve seen go win a championship they have a new coach

Who has playoff pedigree and a championship pedigree they have Damen Lillard who’s one of the best closers in the game we just talked about uh Boston’s lack of clutch that’s all Dame does so are they better than Milwaukee absolutely there’s definitely a gap there but in the seven game series I

Have to see Boston be that team that we all want them to be I need them to be uh the regular season team I want that in the playoffs I want Tatum he says he wants to be the new face of the I want

To see that him be the new face of the NBA these are the things that I want to see Boston do so we can now legitimize how much we talk about this team cuz all we do is talk about how dominant of a team they are but then last year they

Getting bounced by Miami Miami Heat now you speaking my that’s what I’m saying it’s not just the playoffs because there’s one hole in Boston’s resumee and that’s how they have performed against the elite of the league yes they have not done well against the teams at the

Very very top that sort of 640 club that you’re looking at there and not only that like you’re saying perk that that you want to send a message and have some doubt for the bucks this is kind of a free rle tonight because they’re not going to have Giannis the last time they

Played them with Giannis they beat the Celtics by 30 and even if the Celtics win tonight they can be like no problems so like their clutch situation is a factor that’s absolutely something that they’ve got to work on but some teams that they might have to face in the late

Rounds of the playoffs have had some success against them this year and it would help you know the confidence has to be on Boston side not just on the opposing side the opponents have some confidence yeah I mean Boston’s getting that confidence perk I mean again I’m

With Austin on this one the the Celtics I could care less about what they do in the regular season their season start on April the 20th like when it’s time when everybody record is z00 and it’s time for a gut check and a heartbeat check like is your heart pumping Kool-Aid or

Is it pumping blood that’s what I want to see and when you talk about Jason Tatum he’s actually the worst in clutch time for players that qualify yeah he’s the worst but mind you they win games by the greatest margin so he’s not necessarily on the floor a lot in CL

Time but hit me out stay with me that’s not going to be the case in the postseason the game is going to slow down guys are going to elevate coaches are going to have to coach and might I tell you Eric sper is still lurking Nick nurse is still lurking like they have

Tom Tibido is lurking they have some exceptional coaches that are in the Eastern Conference when it comes out for prep preparation and it still doesn’t feel like we’ve seen the best of the Milwaukee Bucks the question is if we will we’ve only seen three games with Chris Middleton Dame Lillard deis sentac

Kmo under Doc Rivers so we haven’t really gotten to see that and then we were praising their defensive strides in March they were what they were third in defense in February and now in March they’re 28th so those are the things that the Bucks need to figure out if

They’re going to contend with the [Applause] Celtics [Applause]

Tim Bontemps joins Malika Andrews on NBA Today to give an update on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s hamstring injury as he will miss his second-straight game with the Milwaukee Bucks vs. the Boston Celtics. Then, Chiney Ogwumike previews the Bucks vs. Celtics. Finally, Austin Rivers, Kendrick Perkins and Brian Windhorst join to debate how big the gap is between the Bucks and the Celtics in the Eastern Conference.

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