The first round series between the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks seems to be in complete turmoil before game 5. Both teams have been extremely close together over four games so far – but it seems that interim coach Joe Prunty may have found the solution.
There are games like that, one cog fits into the other, a flow of games is created, everything runs as if from a single mould. It all makes sense at once, you can see what the underlying plan is and why the staff is deployed exactly as it is deployed.
As I said, there are such games. However, they rarely take place with the participation of the Milwaukee Bucks.
To a certain extent, the team is synonymous with wasted or not ideally used potential this season. There is a transcendent talent in Giannis Antetokounmpo, an absolute superstar, and also a quite proper supporting cast – especially Khris Middleton currently shows that he can be called a Two-Way-Star for quite some time.
However, this existing talent does not lead to the basketball nirvana described above. Milwaukee’s offense is incredibly often fragmented, bad throws are taken over and over again, while four players stand around and watch. To be fair, Prunty took over the team in the middle of the season and was not yet able to fully implement his philosophy. Nevertheless, his lineups alone are often quite frustrating, even for the neutral observer.
In the series against Boston, this can be seen on the biggest stage, respectively. In the first two games, the series could be described as “one team (Boston) lacks healthy players, the other (Milwaukee) lacks a plan”. The Celtics compensated for the talent deficit by making much more targeted use of their own strengths and punishing the weaknesses of the Bucks.
But something has changed in Milwaukee. In a way, Prunty stumbled upon his antidote. Thon Maker had only been given one minute to play two games in Boston, but 24 and 31 minutes in the two home games, because Starting Center John Henson had to pass injured.
“He’s the reason this series has changed,” said no less than Giannis after game 4 – and rightly so. In fact, Maker’s presence completely changed the dynamics of the game on both sides.
This has nothing to do with his own figures, even if they were good: In games 3 and 4, Maker blocked five rolls each, scoring 11 points on average and potting five of his nine threesomes. Offensively, however, its value lies in theory: it is not primarily about hitting one throw after the other – more important is that the opponents have in mind that he can hit these throws.
The whole season the Bucks had problems with spacing. Henson is not a shooter, Eric Bledsoe’s litter is not famous, Giannis’ anyway. The familiar Starting Five Milwaukees usually only had two above-average shooters in Middleton and Tony Snell, although it must be clear how much easier the game could otherwise be for Giannis.
You can see it in these playoffs especially at LeBron James, Ben Simmons and James Harden: The more space these dynamic wing players have for their drives, the more impossible they are to control. One of these players, combined with four shooters, is simply not defensible in the NBA under today’s rules. It is strange, therefore, that the Bucks needed an injury in order to bet more on this recipe themselves.
And it has to be said: It’s not as if Maker has been a constant imperative this season. On the contrary. The 21-year-old South Sudanese never found a constant rhythm and only scored 4.8 points at 29.8 percent of the triad over the year. At the beginning of the season he started a few more times under Jason Kidd, but under Prunty he was often only on the road in garbage time or collected DNPs especially at the end of the season.
Maker still has a lot of physical work to do to withstand the NBA strains. However, the fact that he didn’t enter the playoffs with any great expectations seemed to inspire him in the last two games.
“I have nothing to lose,” said Maker himself after game 3, “The playoffs just spur me on and I just want to give everything I can. By this time of the year, many players are already sitting at home watching us from the sofa. I don’t want to be one of those players yet.”
The energy and shooting of Maker – and also of Dellavedova, who recently played a lot better than Starting Point Guard Bledsoe – caused the Celtics enormous difficulties in games 3 and 4. The sample is of course small, but Milwaukee had a net rating of 27.5 in the 55 maker minutes compared to 0.7 for Tyler Zeller, who represented Henson as the starting center.
It remains to be seen whether this effect will be confirmed, the figures will hardly remain that absurd. The Celtics are pretty good at adapting quickly thanks to Brad Stevens – for example, in the second half of game 4 you could see that they realized that he was biting on every pump fake. This gave them a few points in the course of the game that he would probably have blocked before.
Against his offense, on the other hand, one might not find the antidote so easily. At his height (2.16 m), no one will block him anyway – as an opponent you can only hope that he either misses or hesitates. Giannis is also aware of this: “If you hesitate, I will beat you”, he said to the rookie last season during an overtime game. The Greek Freak also knows how much easier Maker can do his job.
This also seems to have arrived with Prunty, whereby one must wait, how the minutes with the Bucks distribute themselves, if Henson of his back problems returns. It is still unclear whether it will be available again in game 5. However, it seems unlikely that Maker will collect another DNP.
“There’s one or more players in each series that no one has talked about before, but they still have a big influence,” said Prunty after game 3. That may not be the best player on the court, but someone who has a decisive impact.”
It is quite possible that Maker is this player for the Bucks. The fact that this solution was somehow obvious and was found by chance is a perfect match for the entire Bucks season.