Looking for some slam-dunk answers
Bucks are focused on slowing Butler, Dragic
As they prepare for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday against the Miami Heat, the Milwaukee Bucks have plenty of issues to correct.
Their Game 1 loss featured 19 turnovers, an unreasonable number with many of them serving up easy buckets and leading directly to 28 Heat points. Miami scored at every level with relative ease, locked the Bucks out of the
paint and dominated the boards, doing particular damage with offensive rebounds.
Those are all problems, sure, but they're probably not the biggest problems. The biggest problems have names – Jimmy Butler and to a lesser extent Goran Dragic.
“Those are kind of the two guys that have the ball the most,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said after Milwaukee's practice Tuesday. “They command a lot of attention and you've got to be good with those two as a starting point. Then there's other what we consider off-ball screens and actions they're running for either (Duncan) Robinson or (Tyler) Herro and those guys. They scored some, but I think at the end of the day, I think being better on both Butler and Dragic is probably where it starts.”
Butler slammed the door on the Bucks in Game 1, going 6 of 6 from the floor in the final six minutes, part of a 40-point night – his highest scoring total in a playoff game. Most of Butler's late success came against Khris Middleton – Butler also took advantage of his size for a couple buckets on George Hill and scored one-on-one against Pat Connaughton – who tried to stay in front of Butler and contest his shots.
Sometimes Middleton did that well. At times, he too easily let Butler get by. Either way, it didn't change the result. In order to slow Butler in the future, Middleton believes Milwaukee is going to have to find ways to commit more bodies to him.
“One thing I do think is he's a great one-on-one player and I think we allowed him to play one-on-one,” Middleton said. “We're team defensive team, just like they are. They won't let some of our guys play one-on-one. We've got to find ways to not let him or some of their other guys play one-on-one. We've got to make them play within the team defense.”
Notably absent at crunch time was Wesley Matthews, who had spent most of the game keeping Butler relatively tamped down. According to NBA.com's tracking data, Matthews guarded Butler for 5 1⁄2 minutes – the most of any Bucks player – holding him to six points on 1 of 4 shooting, sending him to the freethrow line twice and blocking two shots. Against Middleton – the second-most common defender – Butler was 5 of 5 with 14 points.
Matthews subbed out in the middle of the third quarter, came back in for a couple of minutes in the middle of the fourth and didn't play the final five minutes. He logged just nine minutes in the second half and 24 in the game, the fewest among either team's starters.
Budenholzer confirmed on Tuesday that Matthews was fully healthy. When asked multiple times, Budenholzer did not disclose exactly why Matthews wasn't in the game.
“You're always having to figure out who is going to be on the court and everybody brings something to the team and you got to make tough decisions,” Budenholzer said. “Just went with the guys we had out there . ...
“He does a lot of things for us, but certainly his defense stands out. He's certainly somebody we feel great putting on whether it's Jimmy Butler or Dragic or whoever it is we need him on. I think the ability to have him and what he brings to the table defensively is important to us. I think to some degree, Jimmy Butler hit some tough shots. I think at the end of the day you give him credit, he had a very good game. Now, it's on us to be better defensively. All of us.”
The Bucks are certainly going to need to be better on Butler. It's possible Giannis Antetokounmpo, the recentlynamed Defensive Player of the Year, could be in play as the primary defender on Butler at times, something Budenholzer said Tuesday was among the options in consideration. Milwaukee can't afford to let Butler get in a rhythm, especially considering what he did in Game 1.
The Bucks are also going to have to do a better job of handling Dragic, who masterfully carved them up with the pick-and-roll. Dragic shepherded the Heat offense for much of the game, finding comfortable windows in the midrange in the pick-and-roll to orchestrate from. He got to the hoop, drew a few fouls, scored effectively in the midrange, hit three-pointers, and zipped passes to teammates as part of a 27point, 5-assist performance.
Hill, who spent most of the game on Dragic, offered a good challenge, though Dragic was able to score fairly well when passed off to Brook Lopez down low. He had much of his success against Connaughton, going 3 of 4 from the floor with Connaughton as his main defender.
The fact that Hill and Connaughton were the primary defenders on Dragic underscores a major issue for the Bucks. Without Eric Bledsoe, who missed Game 1 with a right hamstring strain, they're down one of the best defenders in the league, someone whose quickness, athleticism and strength can make Dragic's life that much more difficult. Bledsoe, too, could hold his own against Butler in certain situations if needed. When Hill can be a team's second point guard defender off the bench, the defense should be that much better.
If the Bucks are going to improve against the Heat's backcourt in Game 2, getting Bledsoe back – provided he's healthy – would be a major boon. Bledsoe participated in Tuesday's practice – one Budenholzer said was “very, very light” – taking part in all 10-15 minutes of the basketball work the Bucks did on the court before getting in some additional individual work. He is officially listed as questionable for Game 2.
“What we do miss with him not out there is just our floor general, somebody who can run our offense and penetrate, get guys involved,” Middleton said. “He does a little bit of everything for us on the offensive end – scoring, attacking the paint, hit shots, playmaking. On the defensive side, he's a hell of a defender, somebody who is one of the best on-ball defenders, off-ball defenders in the league.
“We need him out there, so hopefully we'll see him out there soon.”