"He's still by far the best player on the floor in the first two games overall" - Zach Lowe lauds Boston Celtics defense for limiting 5x All-NBA honoree in their Round 2 series
The Milwaukee Bucks lost Game 2 to the Boston Celtics in their Eastern Conference semifinals matchup. Many have come to the conclusion that the Celtics' defense has finally figured out how to stop Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Bucks shot three out of 18 from the three-point line, notable due to their poor shooting efficiency as well as low volume.
Zach Lowe, on ESPN's "Get Up," drew attention to this fact. Despite the Boston Celtics locking up Giannis, he is still the best player on the floor. Lowe said:
"The Celtics, by far, they've been the best defense in the league for four months now, five months, they have a ton of guys to throw at Giannis, and to me, we can focus on Giannis' shooting percentage and all that, he's still by far the best player on the floor in the first two games overall."
He stated:
"For me, the stat of the game from Game 2 was Milwaukee getting 18 three-point attempts, that's it, three of eighteen, that's a box scoreline from like 1999 or something, eighteen threes in a game in 2022 is crazy.
"It shows that they were able to guard Giannis without sending too much help towards him."
Games 3 (May 7) and 4 (May 9) will be played at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
How much will the absence of Khris Middleton affect the Bucks against the Boston Celtics?
JJ Redick's comments on ESPN's "#Greeny" perfectly sums up the Bucks situation. Reddick stated:
"What I think Game 2 specifically is a testament to is the Bucks are really missing Khris Middleton. They're missing his shot-creation, his size on defense."
He went on to talk about how, during closing-time, the Giannis-Middleton pick-and-roll was their go-to offensive scheme.
A large part of the Bucks' success in the regular season rested on Middleton's shoulders. With Middleton and Giannis on the floor, the Milwaukee Bucks are 40-18 this season.
Middleton boasts an offensive rating of 113, a box plus-minus of +16.4 in wins. He not only produced scoring but also formed a key part of the formidable defensive trio, including him, Giannis and Jrue.
The strategy of giving up threes and packing the paint is about having faith in the other team to not have historical outliers like Game 2. However, giving up open-threes to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown is just an outright bad idea.