Dame was by far the best player on the floor. Giannis needs to quit throwing up longer shots, and work inside, where he does his best work, going to the bucket. These outside shots aren't helping the team. His free throws are worse? I'm glad he gave the ball up near the end. Dame had the ball and was fouled, dropped in both free throws, and the 3 at the end left them one point short. If Giannis was shooting those free throws, it's probably either a tie and overtime, or we lose by one. They have to convince him it's share the ball time. I believe Dame is an over 90% career free throw shooter.
The defense was slow, and plodding most of the time. They gave up too many uncontested shots when it should have never happened. They weren't rotating over to give back defense. But, the one thing they did effectively on defense was double up on Embiid when he had the ball, force the dribble, and then they had him. He'd make mistakes, and there were turnovers. Objectively, when his back was to the basket, and he started a dribble, he was most vulnerable, outside of 8-10 ft.
Middleton is going to take time getting up to speed. He's going to be instrumental in helping the defense. Beasley? His track record is that he has a solid first season with a team, then falls off considerably during the second season, when his weaknesses start to hurt his team. He has defensive lapses that are costly. Last night he played as if he was a name on a card, put on a dining table, with his name on it. He was just "there," not really into the flow too much. It might take time. Not impressed, but could be wrong.
Portis is still Portis. A good player. Connaughton had a bad night. He wasn't that good last season. He needs to get his game up, his minutes are heading down. His floor time could be dented by Beauchamp, if he gets his game going just a little better.
Lopez is still the guy around the bucket. He does a good job down there.
I didn't like the fact that without Dame in the lineup, they were milquetoast. Look at the attached stats, and you'll see the difference as to how they were playing on the +/- line. Giannis was not the leader, while he was in the game, the Bucks were playing losing ball. The winners, in that category, are clearly shown. It showed in Giannis game too. It was like he was trying to prove something, and taking too many chances.
Anyhow, it was game #1.
Curiously, as I watched the game, I began to wonder how well this team would do, if they traded Giannis away, and added a 4, and a top level guard, to work with Dame. Then, have a couple of 1st rounders, to add a big down the road?
Not saying I'm in favor of it, was just thinking to myself.
I forgot to mention. Watching Crowder out there last night, I realized how poorly Bud managed the players. Crowder showed a lot of poise, and took on some hard assignments, and did very well. Last year I thought he was a waste, but am already glad he's with the Bucks this year. It fortifies even more what I thought about Bud's inability to handle players floor time and assignments like it should have been done.
www.cbssports.com
