Weakest links by rounds

[Spud2nique]

There’s always a weakest link player in every round.

Round 1: Elfrid Payton

Round 2: Seth Curry/Ben Simmons (I would be remiss not to mention Ben).

Round 3: Bryn Forbes

Forbes is our Curry for the series. We need to attack him on D like Huerter did with Curry. Forbes is a shooting guard so there is a possibility he guards Huerter for a bit, Huerter needs to go off again. 5 inch height adv.

[NBASupes]

No Donte really helps us. 

[benhillboy]

3 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

There’s always a weakest link player in every round.

Round 1: Elfrid Payton

Round 2: Seth Curry/Ben Simmons (I would be remiss not to mention Ben).

Round 3: Bryn Forbes

Forbes is our Curry for the series. We need to attack him on D like Huerter did with Curry. Forbes is a shooting guard so there is a possibility he guards Huerter for a bit, Huerter needs to go off again. 5 inch height adv.

I don’t think I’d call Curry a weak link (143 offensive rating to 113 defensive, by far their best). For all the talk about Ben, who just has the glaring hole but does pretty much everything else well, Korkmaz really gave them nothing.

Sounds crazy to say but Giannis is the weak link IMO .  If he commits more turnovers than assists and shoots 48% from the line again we in there like swimwear.  The trick is fouling him hard without the silly referees looking at flagrants and stopping the game flow.

Edited June 22, 2021 by benhillboy

[RandomFan]

2 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

I don’t think I’d call Curry a weak link (143 offensive rating to 113 defensive, by far their best). For all the talk about Ben, who just has the glaring hole but does pretty much everything else well, Korkmaz really gave them nothing.

Sounds crazy to say but Giannis is the weak link IMO .  If he commits more turnovers than assists and shoots 48% from the line again we in there like swimwear.

Curry was who we attacked over and over again in nearly every game. He was by far their weak link on defense. The only reason his overall contribution wasn't a huge negative is because he shot ridiculously higher than his season averages from 2 and 3 the entire series. 

So while it's true he was their 2nd best scorer on offense, his defensive liability pretty much nullified his offensive shooting.    

[benhillboy]

16 minutes ago, RandomFan said:

Curry was who we attacked over and over again in nearly every game. He was by far their weak link on defense. The only reason his overall contribution wasn't a huge negative is because he shot ridiculously higher than his season averages from 2 and 3 the entire series. 

So while it's true he was their 2nd best scorer on offense, his defensive liability pretty much nullified his offensive shooting.    

I didn’t see it that way but I could be wrong.  He’s easy to shoot over true, but at least he’s always there in a good stance and ready to challenge.  A bigger defender with poor positioning would’ve been worse.  He rebounded and stole as well as you could expect from him (3 and 1 per, respectively) and had as many blocks as both of their starting forwards.  Don’t mind me tho I’m a big fan of the kid.

Edited June 22, 2021 by benhillboy

[Spud2nique]

7 hours ago, RandomFan said:

Curry was who we attacked over and over again in nearly every game.

Red velvet. The end.

[Atlantaholic]

It will be very interesting to see what we attack defensively from the Bucks. there's not a clear matchup advantage that we can exploit like there was with Curry in game 7 or how there was with whoever was guarding Trae in the Knicks series. I think the key will be if we can hit the outside shots because they will probably defend us the same way Philly did the last several games which is clogging the paint with length to force Trae to kick out to the shooters. 

[Spud2nique]

Just now, Atlantaholic said:

guarding Trae

This will be Trae’s toughest matchup. Holiday plays Trae really tight. We need a multitude of screens to brush him off Trae for most of the game. 
 

[Gray Mule]

1 hour ago, Spud2nique said:

Red velvet. The end.

Hawks waited until game seven to pull the rug.  He may not have been great on defense but he was drilling a three at every time down the floor, or so it seemed.  When Red Velvet stopped him the entire game changed.

[Spud2nique]

3 minutes ago, Gray Mule said:

Hawks waited until game seven to pull the rug.  He may not have been great on defense but he was drilling a three at every time down the floor, or so it seemed.  When Red Velvet stopped him the entire game changed.

It’s the weirdest thing. Every time I see Huerter’s dad watching his games, I feel like he can be an all star. Like his dad just intently watches his game and I feel like more and more of his game gets unlocked. Another 5 tool guy for the most part can score at all 3 levels, defend and share. Travis likes these guys a ton and he’s be right on. 

[DieHardHAWK]

1 hour ago, Gray Mule said:

Hawks waited until game seven to pull the rug.  He may not have been great on defense but he was drilling a three at every time down the floor, or so it seemed.  When Red Velvet stopped him the entire game changed.

He was still killing us with the 3's but Velvet's best defense was his offense. He wore Curry out and put him in foul trouble.

[JeffS17]

Forbes doesn't get many minutes for them.  They really don't have very weak links on defense -- I hope we drag Giannis into lots of pick and rolls and make him work on the defensive end.  I think we should let Kev/Bogi bring the ball up at times as well because Jrue is a dog on defense and can/will wear Trae out before the 4th.  This team doesn't have as many weaknesses on defense as the Sixers but their offense can get really stagnant at times.

[RedDawg#8]

Who the Bucks start is really important.

They ran with Tucker last series because they wanted more defense and size. If they do that this time then there is no weak link on the floor for them defensively.

Forbes and Connaughton can both be attacked if they choose to go with them. Other than that, they don't have any real liabilities defensively.

In the 2nd game we played them, with no Divicenzo they chose to run with Forbes instead of Tucker or Connaugton.

We also were without Collins and Gallo so they probably figured they didn't need any extra size that night.

[Spud2nique]

1 minute ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Connaughton

 

1 minute ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Connaugton

 It’s the good and the bad Conn! 

2 minutes ago, RedDawg#8 said:

they probably figured they didn't need any extra size that night.

@kg01 

[AHF]

14 hours ago, NBASupes said:

No Donte really helps us. 

Not nearly as much as no Hunter really helps them, though.

[NBASupes]

Just now, AHF said:

Not nearly as much as no Hunter really helps them, though.

Hunter slows ball movement so while his defensive value is massive, he really hasn't had the offensive impact for us that we think he should have. He kinda stops the ball movement like Kawhi. Still, he has value. 

[RedDawg#8]

The more I look at who did and didn't play in the regular season games, the more I feel good about this matchup.

Just look at the list of players who missed games

 

Bucks game 1- They had all their key guys, only their end of bench reserves got DNP's

Hawks game 1  (3 starters out) no Bogi, Dunn, Capela, Young, 

Bucks win 129-115

 

Bucks Game 2  - No Divincenzo

Hawks Game 2- No Collins, Gallo, Reddish, Hunter, Snell, Dunn

Trae came back on an injured ankle this game and was clearly rusty

Bucks Win 120-109

 

Bucks game 3- No PJ Tucker

Hawks Game 3- No Trae, Hunter, Reddish, Dunn, Snell,

Hawks win 111- 104

 

So in 3 matchups, they missed Tucker for 1 game and Divincenzo in another, who wont be back for our series.

Even if you remove the guys who probably wont play for us this series (Hunter, Dunn, Reddish) we were still missing starters each game, or multiple guys in our top 8 rotation at the time (Snell was a starter for us when he missed games 2 and 3)

That being said, we hung around enough to make it interesting, and won 1 without our best player.

Both teams have evolved since they last played. We have hardened and gotten some playoff scars to toughen us up. They flipped a switch and started playing with more urgency on both ends. Their defense looks good. 

That being said, these teams are not going to look like the ones that played in the regular season. It's going to be a dogfight. I like our chances