Khris Middleton nears a return as Giannis and Dame are starting to gel

Khris Middleton nears a return as Giannis and Dame are starting to gel

On today’s lock on bucks it is well almost the news we’re all waiting for an update on Chris Middleton’s injury status for the game in Sacramento against the Kings and also what’s been working for the bucks it’s really two names specifically that have really started to click so we’ll take a

Closer look at the Giannis Damen Lillard actions that we’ve seen under Doc Rivers and a look ahead at what is a very interesting schedule coming up for the Bucks all of that after this unlocked 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 you can hear me on the Bucks radio network joined as always by Camille Davis who you can hear on the technical file podcast and as of today busy time for you in two spots Camille

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Adventure check them all out today at nissanusa.com uh Camille I I suppose we’ll start with what could be a big adventure for the bucks and Chris Middleton in these next couple of days potentially Tuesday in Sacramento but um the news that we got what late in the afternoon in the Bucks

Injury report submission that Chris Middleton is listed as questionable on the injury report and not out for that game against the Sacramento Kings it’s been what I think five weeks I think that game day will be five weeks to the day since that uh that sprained ankle that he suffered against the Phoenix

Suns and we should preface with questionable typically means you don’t play in that game but just not seeing those three letters of u t next to the name of Chris Middleton is what sparked a whole lot of optimism with a lot of Bucks fans progress it’s progress we’ve been hearing that Chris

Middleton is close he’s close he’s close soon but now to finally see on the injury report that it is no longer listed as out like you said but rather questionable it means we’re moving in the right direction I saw that Eric name tweeted out the fact that um on Friday

Doc Rivers poting out like Hey we’re going to put Chris through a really hard workout on Saturday see how it goes and then the report from that was hey everything went really well he got some good working uh things look like they’re progressing the way that they should be

So to hear that report and then the very next day you see the now Heist as questionable um it’s getting me excited I’ve been very vocal about me being a big 22 supporter love Chris Middleton have for a very long time um so seeing him back in the lineup personally I get

Some joy out of that and just thinking about what that means for the bucks as well it’s hard not to be excited about Chris Middleton coming back into this Bucks team playing the way that they have been yeah and uh doc himself had uh he said before the Lakers game he was asked

About Chris’s status and availability um and asked too about the road trip and could we see him on Sunday and and he did say it’s a possibility and and followed up with that of Tuesday yeah you got the sense Tuesday is much more possible than Sunday in Los Angeles

Um because he mentioned that that workout that they were going to put him through on Saturday on the off day before that Clippers game again with the designation is questionable I know Giannis has played in games where he’s been listed as questionable it’s a little bit different it’s not yeah it’s

I mean number one that Giannis is a freak of nature but um I think between that and something that we’ll get to a little bit later in the show as well the schedule I think he’s going to play on uh Thursday against the 76ers is my inclination because of the way the

Schedule sets up of you get a day off in between the Sacramento Kings game and then the Sixers game you got to travel back home but that game against the Sixers on Thursday starts a very interesting stretch for the bucks that we’ll get to a little bit later in the

Show but because of what’s baked in there with the off days which is going to become a norm for the bucks over the course of these next two weeks basically I think it seems like Thursday is when we’re likely to see him on the floor but

As Doc Rivers promised he’s close and I think it was before the Clippers game as well said look I know I’ve been saying that a lot I know I keep saying he’s close what does that mean I don’t know but like but promise I promise you trust

Me guys he is close and we’re making progress here you’ve mentioned it before too aaka is gone and as far as saying if this was a postseason game I think Chris Middleton would play so it it does very much seem like look this is an incredibly important piece for our

Postseason hopes we saw that for you know two years in in injuries and what they can do to this team in the playoffs although not to get too sidetracked it is very funny now hearing more and more of the narrative that was not there a year ago from the national perspective

That has suddenly shifted back to well if Giannis was healthy in that first round series who knows where it goes when those same people were saying it doesn’t matter if Giannis was healthy or not this Miami Heat team was going through the bucks but nonetheless two

Years in a row that we’ve seen how important it is to be healthy for this team and really three years when you think about the Brooklyn Nets team that they went up against in the postseason and everything else that happened throughout the course of the playoffs Yannis returning from an injury so

Health is very important and really taking your time and making sure we have Chris Middleton for the playoffs that above everything else is the most important thing for this group absolutely I mean you you hear Trey young saying you know he didn’t get hurt in 2021 you know the the Hawks win that

Series against the bucks so on and so forth but hey everybody looks back on history and has a different view of things uh as time continues to pass but for the bucks what is very clear to me about Chris mton returning especially with uh Dam and giannis’s chemistry

Picking up which I know that we mentioned we would kind of check in about since me and you didn’t get a chance to talk about that uh is thinking about how those actions can also just set up Chris as somebody else who’s a third man either in the action or

Someone who’s going to be able to benefit from the gravity that they create like hearing Dame and jannis break down their twom man game and what they’re looking for and Dame being like I noticed them playing me this way the entire game and I was just like I’m just

Gonna continue to wait because I know if we keep running this action the way the defense players are going to get a little bit tighter on us tighter on and it’s going to open up opportunities for somebody else along the way and eventually like Brooke was able to get a

Really good shot off because of our actions and I think about putting Chris Middleton in those situations like I definitely get it from the bench perspective I can’t wait for Chris to get back for that as well because these bench units are in dire need at times of

Having uh somebody who can create their own shot like Chris as well as just playmake and help set up other guys as well um so him coming back it’s just going to open up things so much for this team um we should probably get less than n galinari minutes which at this point

I’m ready to say that’s something that needs to be done but hey who know doc might actually you know keep playing him because that’s his guy but hopefully Chris midleton’s return means a few less minutes uh for galinari as well as we continue to ramp up to get into playoff

Form when it comes to rotations I mean you say that right as Danilo galinari knocks down his first shots M of the Box Camille I mean he’s on a heater in these last couple of games now uh I know we mentioned that that Giannis and and Dame

Chemistry we’ll get to but we should just finish off the point on Chris Middleton and the schedule and it kind of ties together um I think it’s going to be Thursday that you see him back on the floor because of that questionable designation and the fact that after that

Game against the 76ers on Thursday you have two days off then you play once again at home against the Phoenix Suns after that you have two days off then you have a backto back but I I think it’s safe for all of us to assume Chris

Is not going to play in both sets of a back-to-back going forward he he wasn’t doing that early I think he did it once this season um but you would have two days off I would assume you would play him in the Boston game then you would

Have three days off if he did not play in the back end of the back-to-back it’s another set of two days off after that and then you have a game against the thunder so if you just stretch it out one more game and and say look we think

He’s 95% let’s wait until he’s 100% And by the way if he’s 100% on Thursday we also get a ton of time off with the way this schedule has broken out that’s been the good and the bad of this schedule for the Bucs it does not let up at all

In terms of the caliber of opponents that are on there although they have dropped from a third most difficult schedule down to Fourth overall so that’s somewhat of the positive um but it it’s still tough opponents that you have but now for the next what 10 days

You got a lot of rest on that schedule yeah so that’s definitely a good point to consider with Chris Middleton we know they’re going to look to ramp his minutes up they’re not going to throw him back out there with him playing the 30 minutes a game that he was before he

Got injured and not even just because of the ankle itself that’s part of why this has been taking so long because when he gets back on the court they want to make sure the ankle is no longer a problem making sure that all of the swelling is

Done making sure that he’s going to have all his Mobility back so on and so forth but the minute restriction and ramping him up is more so about his conditioning and making sure that he’s going to be able to play those big minutes have the lungs to do so come playoff time because

As we know we’re getting closer to that time we only have what 17 games left or something like that at this point so it’s really getting to that time where rotations are going to start to sh rink and you’re going to start seeing what a playoff rotation might look like so guys

Can get used to the minute load because one thing we know about Doc is that he is going to play his guys in the playoffs they’re going to get the big minutes so you need him to get his conditioning up and as well as just get

Used to playing uh with this team with the direction that doc wants to coach it in like it’s been some changes since the Eli played on February 6th with this team and how they they they play now I mean the the Giannis and Dame chemistry is the focal point of this offense right

Now that Twan game is the focus of this offense and other actions come from that so Chris is going to have to also figure out exactly how he fits in with the way that they’re playing now and develop his chemistry as well so that he can also

Get on that page where in game things just feel natural and it’s not like a okay my turn you’ve had the ball I let me get a shot now and just figuring all of that out as well it’s going to help a lot with the offense to have Chris Middleton back out

There and the Ripple effects too of what we we’re going to get into coming up after the break and that is the Giannis and Damen Lillard pairing but even some of the things that you mentioned as well whether it be Danilo galinari even Jay Crowder the way that you uh distribute

The minutes once Chris Middleton is back out there will be an interesting thing for Doc Rivers to examine as we start to move forward so we’ll get into that conversation the Giannis and Damen Lillard to Man game what we’ve seen from that duo really since the allstar break

And how it’s suddenly lifted this bucks offense it was catching a lot of daggers for the last couple of weeks we’ll discuss coming up after this on lockdown bucks well this next segment of lock on bucks is brought to you by our sponsor better help sometimes we all need the

Opportunity to get something off of our chest big or small certain things can really start to get to you it’s important to let that out especially to somebody who’s unbiased on your life so today I want to say how I really feel about something and you may even be

Thinking the same thing this week it’s what we just alluded to this bucks offense continues to take some daggers it hasn’t been bad folks when you look at the way they’ve performed in the half court we’re starting to see the overall offensive rating lift in games played

Since the all St break a lot of that is the product of the work that Doc Rivers has put in with Giannis and with Damen Lillard and it’s the same type of work that we can all put in on ourselves therapy can be different for everybody

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Stories of the day with the local experts you’ve come to expect from lock on plus all of our national shows that get into each and every League find lockdown sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app the offense Camille uh you and I have talked

About this quite a bit and it’s been the look we need to see Chris middlton is is the number one caveat that we’ve all put out there of it’s just going to change things right it like Jay Crowder another player that has come under criticism for

Some of his lack of shot making that we’ve seen really since the allstar break his minutes Jay Crowder being the person that gets those open Kicks that changes and gets reduced when you have Chris Middleton back on the floor when you think about the spacing when you

Have that twom man game and Giannis and Dame as we’ll get to are clearly getting not not fully there but getting much more comfortable in those situations when you got Chris Middleton sitting in one Corner Malik Beasley in the other Brook Lopez is maybe number five in

Terms of guys that you’re going to say okay we’ll let him take the shot that changes a lot too in how you can defend this team so the way that that duo inanis and Dame have been playing and and seem to really be starting to gel

Coming out of the All-Star break that to me is is just as important but it’s especially huge to have that start to take off as you’re going to reintroduce Chris Middleton absolutely given the fact that Chris Middleton’s shooting nearly 38% from three on the season and

I believe if you look at that number just coming out of January 1 until now is an even higher percentage than the actual season average for Chris um so one hope is that when he comes back uh the three-point shot hasn’t completely deserted him uh when he comes back he’s

Getting back into Rhythm because we’ve seen with Jay Crowder since he’s returned from injury like you mentioned since All-Star break hasn’t been great but for being honest it hasn’t been great shooting really since he came back from his injury which is unfortunate no way in like that I really think he was

Going to continue to shoot like 50% plus percent yeah yeah like he was previously to the injury but him shooting in the the mid 20s low 20s that’s that’s a concern like you want to see that at least 10% higher you want to see him you

Know mid to to high 30s at minimum from with that three-point shot so what we’ve been getting hasn’t been great but the defensive effort has from so it’s not like he’s a net negative when he’s on the court but when you think about those drives and those kicks that you can get

Off of those actions uh you want to have a shooter out there which is why the AJ Green minutes have been interesting um in seeing him be able to be that young guy that cracks the rotation so to speak even though it’s not like he’s getting you know Mega minutes or anything like

That but of the young guys we’ve been talking about throughout the season with AJ with Maran with Ajax normally the conversation was around Maran and Andre Jackson Jr because you know we said hey team needs defense these are the guys that seem equipped to do it but we knew

The whole time that AJ Green had a set of skills a very dangerous skills the ability to shoot the ball really well from three um so him being able to stretch the field the floor out that way has been great too so again you think about Chris Middleton coming back in a

Lineup and what that does and when you’re thinking about how they get to those actions like we mentioned it’s the heart of it is going to be that d in that Giannis two-man game I loved hearing how the two of them talked about it after the Clippers game and getting

More insight to how things have been going and how they’ve been able to develop that chemistry because Doc Rivers clearing out the court and making the two of them just run actions by themselves for 15 seconds straight okay now someone shoot do it over do it over like in practice yeah we’re laughing

Because it feels weird like you feel like you’re getting singled out it’s just this happening at the moment and everyone’s watching it but like you seen that Clippers game it’s starting to synchronize between the two and it’s looking more like two guys who are learning how to play off each other and

Dane mentioned it like we’re starting to understand where to put the other guy in order to take advantage of the defense like you’re seeing that now more so than being two superstars saying hey my turn your turn and going back and forth so that chemistry that Synergy having that

Starting to develop now as we’re getting ready to head into the playoffs I love to see it coming together yeah and look if if we’re going to be fair um as much as there was I think there was more positives in that Giannis and Dane pairing than there were negatives over

The weekend but there were some negatives and and largely that came Friday night and Doc Rivers was quick to point out after the game too we did a lot of good things and I think you even pointed to the late minute the late game possessions in those final minutes in

Both of the games Giannis and Dame with their touches and how much that created offense for the bucks in those two spots um but there were some areas where they fell a little short and as doc River said after the game against the Lakers

You know I think it was two out of five sideline out of bounds plays that we ran coming out of timeouts we didn’t execute on it and and we guys didn’t know what to do and guys ran the wrong play and we we kind of left it out there on the

Floor and you can’t do that in the playoffs you can get you can get away with it I know we didn’t tonight but you can get away with it at times in the regular season you can’t in the playoffs and these are the things when Doc Rivers

Continues to say look it’s great that we’re winning we’re not there yet and and we got to keep getting better and we got to keep figuring this out those are the things that he’s alluding to but again the progress that this team has made along the way is the encouraging

Part and I think that’s what doc has continued to hammer home as well is we’re not there but I see the signs that we’re going to get there and we keep getting better we keep seeing things that are going to work and we’ve talked about it on this show quite a bit when

Doc Rivers took over there were two very clear things that were the initiatives for Doc Rivers and I’m sure for the organization as a whole that it was just trickling down is fix our defense right we’re not expecting us to be a top five defense but fix the defense they we cannot be

22nd and look we put a lot of our eggs in this Damen Lillard basket I’m not going to say he’s been bad and I don’t think anybody in the organization would say say that I wouldn’t say he’s been bad you wouldn’t say he’s been bad some

Bucks fans have said that but he’s not bad he’s maybe not being the guy you anticipated you would get but there’s a lot that goes into it so the the other big initiative Doc is get Damen Lillard to be as close as he can to the guy that

He was in Portland he’s not GNA be that guy in Portland when he’s playing on a team with the honest de aumo right but we need him to be very close we need him to be 80% of that that’s what you’ve consistently started to see since the

Allstar break I think it’s a number of things the play calls some of the things that Dame has talked about and things that they’ve worked at that doc has drilled into these guys in practice and specifically Giannis and Dame but you know I remember when we did a show after

The All-Star Game too talking about that conversation that Shaq had with Damen liard I think it’s things like that too when you get a little bit of time away you get to not hit the reset button but you get a a little bit of rest and you

Get to just kind of clear your head and say okay here’s how we’re going to attack and approach these final 20 what six 28 games whatever it was coming out of there I think it’s all of these things that have just converged and we’ve seen a much different version of

Dame I mean I hesitate to say we’ve seen a much different version of Giannis Because by the Numbers he’s been as good and efficient as he was pre All-Star break but for Dame especially 42% on his threes that was a lot of the chatter going into the break is man when when

Are we going to see this consistent version of Dame I know it’s just nine games but he’s shooting 42% on threes he’s 94% at the free throw line he’s 45% from the field and he just looks like he’s picking his spots much more it’s not that he’s overpowering people with his

Point production it’s relatively even to where it was before the All-Star break but his presence I think has been f a lot more in these games coming out of the break I love that you brought up the shat comments again from Allstar because it just made me start thinking about all

The things I’ve heard since then that kind of support that theory of like hey this is your team giannis’s team and Doc like that’s the three guys who names are going to be all over this I think about that comment from Shaq saying like you three have to get together and own this

Situation and have everybody else fall in line thereafter I think about what Pat Beverly mentioned on his podcast where he said like hey I want Dame to be shooting all of these shots and sometimes in the playoffs when you know we get to that time what you’re going to

See is that the star guys are going to be taking 25 shots a game and there might be some guys on the bench saying why you going G with the ball right now but the reality of it is that’s what they’re supposed to do and as role

Players we have to understand that and pretty much get in where we fit in because the offense is going to be driven by the Stars I think a beanis post game of the C Clippers where he’s saying like you know the ball has energy we want everybody to touch the ball we

Want people to be involved in the game but the reality of it is in the last six minutes or so of the game the ball’s going to be in Dame’s hand and we’re going to be running our actions and that’s the way that it it’s it’s going

To go pretty much and like our teammates have enough trust in us that we’re going to make the right decision in those moments so I love hearing how it seems like these guys really are taking ownership of it DOC he’s been you know he’s been straight for transparent

Saying exactly how he feels since he got here so he already you know was doing his part um and taking ownership of the situation but hearing other players on the team hearing Dame hearing jannis just coming together about hey here’s how this is going to go what we’re

Understanding roles be a star in it and we’re getting comfortable in that and I I know I mentioned too before the break of you know people could could harp on where the Bucks were in terms of their offense rating I I think if we just look at the the overall performance I believe

They’re 10th best uh defensively since Doc Rivers took over so it’s it’s it’s what we had been uh pointing to for a while now is that look this this defense has shown you consistently they’re not a a 21st 22nd wherever it was at the time that the

Coaching change was made that’s not who they are that they’ve consistently moved further away from that and have been you you know for what 20 plus games basically they’ve been more like a uh a a top 10 defense than they have a bottom 10 defense the offense was what

Everybody was kind of scratching their heads over of yeah but this offense has kind of switched places with the defense and dropped down to I think it was 17th or 18th at the the time um the offense have started to move upward I think it was around

15th since Doc Rivers took over which again you need Chris Middleton back on on the floor to solve a lot of that but I kept pointed to half court offense still in the top 10 since Doc Rivers took over offensive rating may be down there but the half court where it’s more

Important in the playoffs what you brought Damen Lillard for uh it’s in the top 10 since you made this coaching change and since the All-Star break it’s the sixth best halfcourt offense in the league and again you you look back at the way they closed out the Clippers

Game and some other performances and that speaks to what they’re getting there I would imagine it’s only going to enhance and increase once you get Chris Middleton back on the floor um but you know the other thing that I think we we should point out which you know is a

Credit I suppose to the players um also to Doc Rivers is the bucks now have a League average defense for the season as a whole they’re at 15th you and I talked about this at the time too of you know let make the best of it essentially was

The approach of look you’re not going to crack this number so as long as what you see in games played since this date is good you can live with that well now you may be able to crack that number that is not inconceivable to think that the

Bucks could finish the season with a defense somewhere around 12th or 11th with the climbs that they have already made and how close they are to the rest of the pack so that is another thing that I I don’t know it’s the interesting spot of boy I don’t know if this is

Credit to Doc Rivers or if this is more of man what was going on those first 43 games yeah that’s a great point to point out how far the defense has climbed uh during this time as a whole because we have been looking at it in segments

Where it’s like okay since the coaching change the bugs have been this before the coaching change the Bucks were this but to see where they are as a whole with the understanding of where they were before the coaching change that’s impressive that’s what you want to see heading into the playoffs that’s the

Progress that we’re talking about that you want to see this team making a lot of progress has been made and uh we’ve seen that on the court and now we’re starting to see it in the standings as well these last couple of games potentially to get even more help

In the next couple of days we’ll take a look at the Eastern Conference Outlook after this un locked on bucks are you the kind of driver that likes to push things a little further ever wonder what Adventure could be around the next Corner our friends at

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Here um the Bucks we mentioned moved into second place in the Eastern Conference that came on Sunday when we saw the Cleveland Cavaliers lose the Bucks win so they pulled tide or pulled even in the Lost column and we’re ahead with one more win but now today the

Cavaliers who who we should point out have been dealing with a number of injuries and that’s been the story for a lot of teams behind the bucks no Joel embiid all the injuries that the New York Knicks are dealing with the Cavaliers I believe this was their fifth straight game played Without Donovan

Mitchell in third or fourth now without Evan Moy but all these teams are starting to deal with injuries the Bucks are now taking advantage so they are now one game up on the Cavs in the Lost column and a full game up in the overall

Standings at 42 and 23 and the Cavs 41 and 24 Cavs have a matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday as well and New Orleans they have been as hot as anybody in the Western Conference I believe they own the longest win streak in the Western Conference now A Team the

Bucks will play in the very near future they’ve moved all the way up to fifth so if you win and I know this is a lot of ifs and looking ahead which are two things you should should never do but if you beat the Sacramento Kings and if the Cavaliers lose to the

Pelicans the Bucks will now be two games if that happens we’ll be two games up on the Cavaliers in the Lost column and in the standings and it’ll be with 16 games left again divisional tiebreaker is going to be important so you still need the Cavaliers to lose both those games

Against the Indiana Pacers but if you start to build up a lead that that’s going to be little less importance is getting that tiebreaker IND divisional play yeah you love to see it you love to see you don’t love to see the injuries I mean be very clear about that but you do

Love to see the Bucks making up ground in the standings um and given the fact that you know coming into this road trip we had a conversation about hey what would this record have to be for it to be successful we’re I think a great road

Trip would be three in one yeah and we still have the game in Sacramento to play but hopefully the Bucks win that when if they do they come out of the road trip two and two which is all right like generally speaking you want to try

To win at least half your games on the road uh and you want to win you know a lot more at home you want to have a very good home record and tried to split on the road so at the bare minimum like it’s okay like this is this is fine it

Just hurts a little bit more with that Lakers game because you had it in your hands and you you let it slip away so that’s why it’s like I don’t want to sound like a two and two it’s nothing but and again that’s assuming a win against Sacramento but that Lakers loss

That’s one that sticks with you but the Bucks do get to see the Lakers soon they’re coming to Milwaukee in a matter of weeks here so they’ll get a chance to get that Revenge game in so to speak but looking at the standings and what’s going is why you you continue just play

What’s in front of you and the Bucks have had pretty good injury uh luck throughout the season like the biggest main injury before this Chris Middleton ankle sprain was the Jay Crowder injury that took him out for you know a month or month and a half or so something like

That um so that’s been the biggest injury for this team and you knock on wood and hope that nothing else comes up with them and they continue to get healthier as they come towards that playoff push and with this remaining schedule that they have because you have Sacramento you finish that California

Road trip up you come home to play Philly like we said then you have Phoenix Kevin Durant’s been playing some really good ball over his last few games I saw he had like 37 tonight as well sending a streak of 35 points uh in straight games I think he’s like a three

Or four straight games now so he’s feeling really good and then you have the Boston game which is always going to be a big game here with bucks and Celtics given where they are in the standings and given their history as well and that game is in Boston on ESPN

Another chance to help make that MVP case for Giannis as well then you know you have Brooklyn you have the Thunder you have the Lakers like mentioned Pelicans Hawks like there’s a lot of different things going on so you have to stay focused on your schedule the Bucks

Hey they take it a game at a time we on locked on bucks get to have this foresight and look ahead about how things might look if things go certain ways or they don’t but we know the Bucks have a tough schedule fourth toughest in the league remaining the Cavaliers are

Middle in the pack I believe they’re 15th toughest so right there in the middle you’re looking at that two that race for the two seed like it’s going to be on but the Bucks are in better shape than what I thought they could be in at this

Point uh there look they’re in much better shape than I thought they would be at this time um I had said I thought they were going to finish third It Is by no means sealed right that you’re just a game up on the Cavs and and all the

Scenarios we went through are still a lot of ifs that need to happen it’s still to me gonna come down to those two games the Cavaliers have against the Indiana Pacers that determines who gets second and who gets third Health too is going to be the big part of it um but

Again I’ve said this elsewhere it does not matter to me it’s not important where the Bucks are at two or three what’s important is that the Bucks are two or three and don’t slide down to four and that’s the other big piece is Sunday was arguably the best day you

Could have asked for that every single team outside of the the two teams who the Pacers and the Sixers who played other Playoff teams every other playoff team in the East that played lost besides the bucks so you got that against the Cavaliers but perhaps more importantly the Knicks lost to the 76ers

So you’re currently four games up on the Knicks in the Lost column you do hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with one game left against the Knicks doesn’t matter what happens in that game they can’t win the tiebreaker over you so you’re essentially five games up on the

Knicks that’s a whole lot of ground to make up in the amount of games 17 left for the buck so especially if you win tomorrow tonight whenever it is you listen to this um in Sacramento against the Kings and the Knicks play same night game two and they’re two gam set home

And home with the 76ers if you win and the Knicks lose uh I know I caution don’t look ahead and and don’t get into all the ifs but Camille if that scenario does unfold I am willing to call it that the Bucks will not slide lower and will

Not fall down to where the Knicks currently are again it’s a lot of ifs but that’s the important part that we’ve seen these last couple of games and and weeks is injury is a big part of it but what is happening around the Bucks really clearing that path for this team to make

Sure they finish on that two or three line and we should point this out as well um you got to beat good teams in the playoffs so this isn’t a matter of man get the easiest path possible that’s not possible Right like you got to beat good teams you shouldn’t

Be worried about ducking teams but you don’t want to face the the closest thing to a guarantee that we’ve seen so far in the Eastern Conference in the Boston Celtics you want to prolong that as much as you can so if it means you’ll see him in the Conference Finals fine but the

Four seed is a guarantee if we advance in the second round pretty good chance we’re playing the Boston Celtics now in terms of the rest of the well what about this and and what about your your seating with this team it is way too early to get caught up on any of that

Because right now 4 through eight is separated by I think just two games so literally any of those teams the Knicks the magic the Sixers the Pacers and the Heat regardless of where the Bucks finish if it’s second third even if they slide to Fourth they could play any of

Those teams and I I don’t think there is a clear outcome right now so to me the big part is just keep doing what you’re doing it does doesn’t matter if it’s three and the Cavs get to two especially if the Cavs get to two as long as you

Avoid four that’s the big thing and the Bucks have done everything possible to make sure that is what’s going to happen here coming out of the All-Star break I’m glad you touched on the we not ducking smoke aspect of it that’s going to be my closing thoughts for this

Episode like when I’m talking about the seating race and how I want the Bucks to finish second or thinking like hey best case scenario bucks could finish second I know some people like well couldn’t they finish first I’m like technically yeah they could but I’m not sure how likely

That is but two or three I want them to have the home court advantage ideally in a Dream World for me Eastern Conference Finals is Milwaukee and Boston like that’s the setup that I want I want that to be Main Event viewing in the Eastern Conference and in order to do that like

For this is all this is personal like this is exactly why I wanted this way I wanted main event uh viewing for Milwaukee and Boston uh finishing two or three helps make that a more likely scenario I don’t want that match up early but it’s not about ducking smoke

Or anything like that I want them to make sure that they have home court and if they seeed Boston I want it to be in the Eastern Conference Finals that’s that’s mean I got random Celtics fans in my mentions now just I don’t even talk about the Celtics I don’t know how they

Even found me Justin they’re coming for me so I need it I need it to be Main Event well and I look I suppose famous last words here and I’ll add this this is I only mean it under this sense it does kind of does it not Camille is it

Just me or does it not seem like this is going to be the third time in four years the Bucks are going to get the Miami Heat in the first round it just seems like any way you slice it everything we’ve looked at it’s been the heat are

That team that’s lurking they were going to be in the playin tournament then they moved up to fifth at one point now they’re back in the playin mixture but it just seems like it’s inevitable that it’s going to be another bucks heat first round matchup uh so right now

They’re eighth seven plays eight the winner of that game is the seven seed the loser is still alive for the eight seed uh but the Pacers in the heat are seven and eight right now it just seems like you know what this is the team that

The Bucks always play in the playoffs is the Miami Heat and look if if you want to be an optimist instead of being afraid and saying well look what the heat did to this Buck team last year if if you want to point to a reason why

You’d want to play the Heat it’s well historically when these two teams play in the playoffs the winner of that series goes on to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals so at least we’ll know early if you’re done or hey we won and we’re going to the NBA finals

Bring it on whether it’s Miami or it’s Indiana either way it goes that would be such a sweet first round matchup just the narratives the Miami Heat put you out last year you get to see them again this year the Pacers talking talking talking they won the season series so

You know how that goes teams are completely different now than they were when they last saw each other a scheduling Quirk with them being done with each other in their season series at the beginning of January so either way I want it I’m I’m cool with either

Option uh yeah look what five weeks I think five weeks left in the regular season so still a lot of time I’m just saying it it it feels like what we always get with the Bucks and the Miami Heats in the first round as we wrap up here I know it’s locked

Down bucks we should also point out Camille congratulations are in order to the the team one of the two collegiate teams in our city the Milwaukee Panthers have advanced to the finals of the Horizon league tournament so I believe that game’s going to tip off just before the

Bucks and the Kings so a chance to get a double dip of basketball for Milwaukee basketball fans tomorrow and see if the Milwaukee Panthers can advance to the NCAA tournament but we will keep our eyes peeled on the injury report report tomorrow see if there’s any updates to Chris Middleton again listed as

Questionable which you got to celebrate the small things and to see Chris Middleton upgraded from out to questionable is one of those things to celebrate after what we’ve seen these last five plus weeks uh we be we will be back with the postgame show it’ll proba maybe it’ll be a live show it’ll

Probably come your way Wednesday morning but we’ll be back with the postgame show following the Bucks and the Kings hopefully breaking down yet another Bucks win and a 500 road trip and maybe just maybe the return of Chris Middleton for Camille I’m Justin we’ll talk to you once again tomorrow with rocked on

Bucks

Khris Middleton’s return is imminent – perhaps as soon as Tuesday night in Sacramento – and it comes at a time when the Giannis and Dame pairing is rounding into what Bucks fans hoped it would be. How important is Khris to this pairing and how much will their schedule determine when he makes his return? Justin and Camille discuss that and the ever fluid eastern conference standings on the latest Locked on Bucks

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