The Bucks only narrowly avoided disaster Thursday night, clawing out an 86–83 victory against the Nets in a must-win Game 3, putting their deficit in the second-round series at 2–1 as opposed to a dreaded 3–0.
During the playoffs, nearly every night you can throw your hands up and play the shooting variance game, essentially chalking up wins and losses to whichever team actually made the open shots they generated.
Antetokounmpo is obviously one of the most talented players in the league, but every time he shoots a three, he bails out the defense to a comical degree.
According to NBA.com’s playtype stats, Antetokounmpo is finishing possessions as the roll-man on pick-and-rolls only 7% of the time in the playoffs, even though he’s scoring a whopping 1.21 points per possession when he does so.
Any time he pulls up from beyond the arc or pounds the ball at the top of the key while the defense loads up the paint, Antetokounmpo bails out the Nets.
On the other side of the ball, Milwaukee only barely survived thanks in large part to an off night from Durant.
Durant shot 50.6% on midrange jumpers during the regular season, and he’s one of the few players in the game who should be taking that shot regularly because of his efficiency.
Still, Lopez needs to be playing a little higher on screen-and-rolls, something he finally started doing a little bit later in Game 3 .
The problem with the Giannis threes and Lopez dropping is it feels as if the Bucks have the personnel to be a little bit more aggressive in how they deal with the Nets.
Ultimately, Milwaukee is still very much in this series and deserves credit for pulling out a win in Game 3.