Stephen A. explains why a 1st round playoff exit is ‘entirely possible’ for the Bucks 👀 | First Take

Stephen A. explains why a 1st round playoff exit is ‘entirely possible’ for the Bucks 👀 | First Take

Could the Bucks be in for a first round playoff exit oh it’s entirely possible they don’t seem uh to have any Rhyme or Rhythm to what they’re doing now obviously last night neither Damen Lillard Chris Middleton nor Patrick Beverly played and Doc just told you that Giannis looked like he was running

On fumes and so you take that into consideration and you know in all likelihood that’s not going to be the case come playoff time Damen L is expected to be back this Friday uh according to Doc Rivers in terms of how he’s looked and practice uh he should be

Back uh in the playoffs you don’t have back-to-back games or anything like that you’re not in the throws of an 82 game schedule there are times to get some additional rest so you don’t look as exhausted as they looked last night but this team has not been in sync all year

Long from the very very beginning and obviously the loss of Jew holiday has had a devastating effect on them because you had a quintessential point guard from the standpoint that he’s in Elite Defender and he was somebody that didn’t need the basketball that much in order

To be effective he didn’t have to be a primary scorer so he ran the offense he led you defensively and what have you and you don’t have anybody that’s doing that for Milwaukee this season without him you don’t have anybody that’s making statements on the defensive side of the

Ball so the opposition is going on a court against them and they’re like listen we can score with them they can’t stop us so let’s go at them and what have you and it’s forcing Milwaukee to expend far more energy than I think they anticipated and as a result it’s been a

Tremendous challenge for them they’re holding on for their life to that number two seed having lost four their last five games Cleveland is still in the mix obviously New York has been you know saddled with a bunch of injuries or whatever but we known from the days of

Miami that it doesn’t matter if you can get into the playoffs no matter what your seed is you could potent potentially knock off some of those top seeds and when you look at Milwaukee right now they look ripe to be had they got molly they got two problems when it

Comes to this first round okay number one Joel embiid came back two days ago and I thought looked pretty good and I can’t predict the future about whether he’s going to stay healthy but I think if Joel can strengthen and get his conditioning back assuming they get

Through the play in which I believe they will if he’s healthy they’re they’re headed for the seven seed the ESPN projections have them over 40% to be the seven seed uh obviously some things got to fall into place but that could line up with Milwaukee and that’s a terrible

Break even if the Bucks were playing great even if they’d won these last two games by 20 points as they should have um it’s a bad break to get a team like the 76ers who have an an artificially deflated record because the MVP was out

For for a big portion of the season and so right there you have a a 27 problem that is unfair that was is a challenge that you probably didn’t quote unquote earn as a two seed and that’s where I think the Bucks are going to be secondly

Guys we’ve talking about it on and off for the entire season they can’t keep people out of the lane this is just basic basketball if you can’t keep a guy in front of you you’re going to have a hard time in the modern NBA last night by the way the Memphis Grizzlies and

Hats off to jiren Jackson who’s had a couple of great games this week he had one of his best games of the Season he played brilliantly but they allowed 38 baskets in the paint 38 and johnar wasn’t there okay the night before against Washington they allowed 35 and

That was without Kyle kozma and tus Jones two of their better offensive players that’s not acceptable and by the way Memphis came into the game averaging about 23 baskets in the paint per game which was last in the NBA they’re not even a good driving team or interior

Scoring team if you can’t keep those guys out of the paint and dve Mard not being there was obviously a factor they’re they’re one and seven when he doesn’t play so I’m not going to freak out about a loss when he’s not there since clearly they need him but it’s not

Like he comes back and you that solves your perimeter defensive issues they are really challenged by the fact that they can’t keep people in front of them and that combined with a possible Joel embiid match up in the first round is worrisome it’s funny Wendy because you’re absolutely right in terms of the

76 points in the paint they gave up yeah Giannis also had five blocks in that game though which you would think on a night where Giannis is patrolling the paint you wouldn’t expect that sort of outcome look this goes back to me y’all to this thing that we do and I love it

We love sports ooh the superstars team up but but I continue to think how much of an exception to the rule the kawhai Leonard Toronto Raptors operation championship at Water scenario was we’ve heard both Giannis and Dame admit that the time to Jael was taken a little bit

Longer and granted Yan or excuse me Dame didn’t play last night Middleton is hurt last night as well but it just takes time and and I think when you lose a piece to your point Stephen A as significant as Drew holiday the identity of this team has sort of shifted between

Two coaches now since they were the champions of the league and your personnel it just takes time and we are seeing quietly as it’s kept we continue to harp on age when it comes to LeBron James because of the masterful things that he’s doing but janisan Tumo been in

The league for a minute Daman L been in league for a minute Chris Middleton been in league for a minute and so I think we’re starting to see the culmination of a team that needs more time to figure out just what they have both from a health standpoint and how to be most

Effective as new teammates and a new head coach and other teams that are basically hunting them out I’ll start with you are you higher on the Suns or the Lakers heading towards the playoffs because they’re getting hot at the right time I’m going to be higher on the

Lakers simply because uh you know I’m still ler on the Suns and their defensive prowess in the fourth quarter for some reason once the fourth quarter arrives they’re not as formidable as we expected them to be this this this season that’s my issue with them the big three they haven’t played every game

Together and even when they played together they only like seven games or so above five 00 I expected better from them I’m not blaming anybody for it I don’t know who definitively is to blame outside of vogle because you’re a head coach in the National Basketball Association because of what you do

Schematically on the defensive side of the ball what you did in Indiana what you did when you got at the Lakers to a Championship uh during the uh you know Co season all of those things I got to look at and I’m saying what the hell is

Going on with the Phoenix Suns whereas I’m looking at the Los Angeles Lakers right now LeBron is LeBron ad is AD but the other pieces are coming together to D Angelo Russell of the world the Haim morras of the world and others they anticipating that vanderbild obviously

Is going to be back and be able to do some things for them to elevate them defensively I look at that and look at the run that they went on last year in the postseason to the Western Conference finals and I’m saying they’re starting to look along those lines like they have

That capability I’m not saying it will happen because the West is considerably stronger this year than it was last year but the sort of a look like that Phoenix I don’t know what the hell to expect from them from night tonight unless they’re going against new orans I can’t

Anticipate that Deon book is going to drop 50 that’s about It oh man this question stinks uh logic I agree I the Lakers are doing some things I I think they’ve hit a nice spot in their schedule and they’ve got a lot of home games I just you know we do this every year we get into the playoffs and

The refrain somehow in the postseason continues to be what Anthony Davis is or isn’t doing and I just think if the Suns can hold par maybe get out of that playin the combination of Booker and KD once the clock strikes playoffs to me you just can’t ah this is tough but I I

Don’t think that you can sneeze at that and and I know that we are not saying one or the other definitively in this conversation but I do think that the suns are finding a little bit of Rhythm uh as of late and I just I I don’t I

Have qu I still have questions about the Lakers overall y’all like it’s not super strong argument but I’m just not ready to go in on the Lakers just yet okay go ahead Austin no I like the Lakers um you know listen both teams have been inconsistent

All year long uh both teams have had problems with injuries but if we’re talking about as of right now uh you know Lakers have won eight out of the last nine I like the way LeBron James is able to just Captivate the moment and dominate uh he’s a guy that dominates

The game not just through scoring but through passing I love book I love Uh Kevin Durant but these are two guys who you know dominate the game through ISO basketball which can be very difficult to win what we’re talking about in the playoff series I understand the game

Slows down and you need guys to make baskets but when we talk about an overall team I like the way the Lakers are built uh D’Angelo Russell had one of his better years of as of late you know Austin Reeves is still playing good basketball Anthony Davis is coming off a

Monster game obviously in DC you look at their scoring last night it was spread out all throughout their starting five all guys in double digits they have multiple guys who can step up and hit shots they can space the floor they have guys guys who can defend you know the

Lakers for me have been a team that’s underachieved for a lot of this season uh and you know right now I feel like they’re Tapp in the first year they have an inseason tournament they go and get that you know what I mean so I I

Obviously we don’t want to see them in a playing but this is where we’re at obviously we we need them to win those first two games but if they match up with a young team like OKC or Minnesota first round that’s trouble I mean that

Is not what you want uh for one of these young teams to be facing a LeBron James and a team that for the most part is healthy and has his cast around I like the Lakers a little bit over Phoenix well I think if you’re Minnesota you

Don’t mind seeing them if cat is back in the lineup with go along with the rest of the crew I don’t I think that’s a challenge you’ll Embrace Oklahoma City’s a different I don’t think yeah Oklahoma City’s a different animal I don’t think that that’s something that they should

Want particularly what we’ve seen from them over the last few days LeBron James since the All-Star break nearly 27 points per game 58% shooting from the field 48% shooting from three-point range 9.1 assist 7.5 rebounds and the Lakers since January 1st on in NBA best

14 and3 in clutch time so I give a lot of credit withs du and I’m saying to myself if you’re the Lakers if you want if if you’re rolling like that at this particular moment in time it’s very very similar to what we saw last year all

Right it is it is very similar and eventually at some point last year we saw them run out of gas everybody is pointing to the PO no they didn’t lose out of gas they got their butts kicked by Den yeah they run out of gas they run

Out of gas they just got waxed okay they didn’t get it done all right so they lost my bad my bad word choice however everybody’s pointing to running into the young teams right now right if you look at it right now the Suns would play the

Thunder do you not feel that the Suns have the experience in terms of advantage over a young team as well well you could say that but I think that size is not that big of an issue against Phoenix for Oklahoma City as it would be against a Denver or against the Los

Angeles Laker so I think that’s a that’s a that’s a matchup that Oklahoma City would welcome [Applause] [Applause] is

Stephen A. Smith, Brian Windhorst and Monica McNutt debate whether the Milwaukee Bucks could exit the playoffs in the 1st round and then Austin Rivers joins the conversation to discuss the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers.
#firsttake #nba #espn

0:00 Could the Bucks exit the playoffs in the 1st round?
5:30 Higher on the Suns or Lakers heading into the playoffs?
9:20 Austin Rivers explains why he is higher on the Lakers than the Suns heading into the playoffs

☑️ Subscribe to ESPN+: https://plus.espn.com/
📱Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
🏀 Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2yxs3Og
☑️Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
☑️Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV