Milwaukee will actually win the championship Giannis and Dame returns, they take care of Indiana, They can handle NY or Phila KP injury makes Boston less formidable Somehow, OKC will come out west and Bucks can beat them
Dame upgraded to questionable for tonight's game https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40070228/bucks-damian-lillard-upgraded-questionable-game-6
Yeah if they can win this game (and they're struggling right now) they will be putting a ton of pressure on this relatively inexperienced Pacers squad. If they pull this win off and have Giannis back for game 7 I think the Pacers will completely fold. I guess we'll either see or the Pacers will hold onto this lead they have right now.
I know this place will blame Doc but it certainly is Docs fault that Beasley, Middleton Beverly and Lopez are all missing wide open threes. The Pacers aren’t playing good defense. The Bucks simply aren’t making shots. edit- isn’t Docs fault.
The bucks will be much better next year. Historically it takes at least a season or two after big changes are made before a team learns how to play with each other. See: Timberwolves, LeBron's on the Heat. There's plenty of examples. But 3 years left until we own their draft for 3 consecutive season. Pretty psyched about that.
I would agree, on top of that it shows that nothing is guaranteed in life and the grass isnt always greener
Yeah this is very possible. They took a very good team in the Pacers who are coached by a very good coach 6 games without Giannis and with Lillard only playing 3 games. They will be back in the hunt next year.
I think some of the difference is that Minnesota was very young, and had to incorporate a 2nd center into their starting 5 (centers being the least likely position to be a multi position player). LeBrons team started off bad, but still had 58 wins. They were 9-8 in their first 17 games, and 49-16 the remaining games (including a stretch where they went 21-1). Their oldest player (that was important) was Wade, and he was 29 and had been on the team his entire career. LeBron and Bosh were both in their mid 20's. The difference is with Milwaukee is that the Bucks roster is *old*. Dame (35) Lopez, the one that stayed (35), Danilo and Pat Beav, tho both are FA's this summer and I doubt they'll both be back (35), Crowder is 33, Khris is 32, Pat C is 31, Beasley is 31 (doubt he'll be back tho), Giannis is 29, as is Cam Payne and Bobby Portis is 28. Point is, the Bucks have a significantly smaller window than the Heat did, and were/are older than the Heat core was (outside of Wade). The Bucks need to improve their bench and improve their defense, and hope that Damian finally plays something that resembles defense while on the court.
The Celtics can still get better, Philly has cap space to go star hunting and new York has assets to get better. It doesn't look great for the bucks even next year
Not sure how the Celtics get better? They have been remarkably healthy and their players are only gonna get more expensive. Just signed Jrue to a 4 year. The Sixers have a problem and it's Embiids knees. Maxey can't do it alone. Now New York will make moves I'm sure yes.
The Celtics stars are still young, maybe a year or two from their peak, and, like the bucks, had new major additions this year which can be better with another year.
