Before the start of the Milwaukee Bucks’ first-round series against the Indiana Pacers, it was clear that the Bucks had two defensive priorities:
- Slow down the Pacers.
- Keep Tyrese Haliburton in check.
In two games, the Bucks have had mixed results.
In the first game, they largely took care of business on defense. Thanks to a strong offensive performance in the first half, the Bucks were able to set up their defense on most possessions, and the Pacers were unable to come out and run. Additionally, Haliburton only scored nine points on seven shot attempts.
In Game 2, the Bucks failed to execute across the board. Although they managed to score with the Pacers through the first three quarters, their lack of shooting discipline on the offensive end finally caught up with them as the Pacers went on a 23-4 run in the fourth quarter to seal the lead. game 2 on the road. Haliburton once again didn’t score much for the Pacers (12 points), but he distributed 12 assists.
Now that the Pacers have found their playoff spot, the Bucks know that if they take care of the ball offensively and make the right shots, their defense can slow down Indiana’s transition attack. However, the focus on Haliburton and the Pacers’ slowdown in transition created another major problem for the Bucks.
In two games, the Bucks have not found an answer for Pascal Siakam. The Pacers’ two-time All-NBA forward is averaging 36.5 points, 12 rebounds and four assists per game while shooting 64.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the 3-point line.
“It was a major (game problem),” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said of Siakam after his Game 2 performance. “I thought the difference was the 3 ball, and I also thought he was a playmaker. In the first game he scored, but he didn’t really get anyone else involved. I thought (Tuesday) he did everything for them.
While the rest of the Pacers struggled in Game 1, Siakam showed off his championship experience. In all series, he has looked comfortable, and his dominance thus far will force the Bucks to make a decision regarding their initial game plan.
Without Giannis Antetokounmpo, Siakam became the worst matchup for the Bucks. At 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds, Siakam is too big for Khris Middleton. And if he’s too big for Middleton, he’s too fast for Brook Lopez or Bobby Portis. The Bucks’ best matchup for him would be Antetokounmpo, and until the two-time MVP can play, Siakam will have something of an advantage against whoever is tasked with covering him.
“We just have to find a way,” Middleton said of Siakam. “He’s a proven champion. He’s been to this stage before and he knows how to play. He takes advantage of the different shifts, goes to the post, knows when to drive (against) certain guys.
“He’s a great player. That’s why they signed him, you know, for that type of basketball at that time. We just have to do a better job of trying to find ways to contain it. Limit his touches, limit him to getting to his scoring areas.
While Rivers and the Bucks have done everything possible to avoid disclosing their future game plans, the Bucks will have to consider whether or not they should shift some of the attention away from Haliburton and focus more on Siakam. Slowing down Haliburton, who runs the show for the Pacers, made sense as a top priority heading into the series, but if the Bucks have any doubts about Haliburton’s ability to score enough to keep the Pacers’ offense afloat, they could asking whether Siakam should be their biggest concern.
If the Bucks want to keep their focus on Haliburton, there are a lot of things they can do better against Siakam at the second level.
Execution of covers
The first thing that stands out in the Game 2 film is the Bucks’ coverages against Siakam. On the first pass of both halves, the Bucks aren’t on the same page as to how they plan to cover him.
Look at this reader from the first quarter:
The Bucks spent most of the game coming up short on Siakam, so Lopez clearly shouldn’t be closing in heavily on him as he lined up that 3-pointer above the break. But if you look at Lopez’s feet and the angle he takes to get to the right side of Siakam’s body, it appears the Bucks wanted to try to force Siakam to help in big-to-man pick-and-rolls. fat :
But this choice never presented itself. Myles Turner returned to midcourt on the swing, then Lopez found himself out of position against a faster opponent.
Something similar happened on the first play of the second half.
To stop the Pacers’ initial play, Lopez needed to stay in the middle of the lane to prevent the Bucks from giving up a big opportunity to Myles Turner. To give Lopez an extra second to recover and hopefully lose pace with Siakam on that 3 above the break, Middleton made a late pass to Siakam before cutting back to Aaron Nesmith in the left corner. Lopez thought that meant Middleton was taking it, and Siakam went straight to the basket.
Siakam was by far the Pacers’ leading scorer in this series. The Bucks can’t make any more mistakes against him.
Contest the 3 points
Siakam attempted eight 3-pointers in the first two games of this series. As Rivers mentioned, Siakam went 1 of 4 from deep in Game 1; he made 3 of 4 in Game 2.
Of his eight attempts, five were on the corners and three were above the break. He made 3 of 5 from the corner, where he shot 46.1 percent this season, and just 1 of 3 from above the break, where he shot 29.9 percent this season.
Lopez is essential to everything the Bucks do from a helping standpoint against Haliburton. He’s the backcourt defender who needs to stick around to help the big man roll to the hoop or protect the rim if Haliburton turns the corner. With Lopez being responsible for so many things, the rest of the Bucks have to make sure they execute their assignments.
For example, this pass cannot be thrown in front of Damian Lillard’s face:
If Haliburton turned the corner to Jae Crowder as a help defender and then threw a kick pass in the corner behind Lillard, it would have been understandable. But Lillard needs to be higher on the line in a helping position because this pass shouldn’t be able to get past him in the corner.
Overall, the Bucks need to make a decision on Siakam’s corner 3-point attempts. If Lopez continues to be assigned to him, the Pacers will continue to place him at the weak corner. Siakam can be a serious threat in the corners, so how will the Bucks handle that?
Become more physical
The Bucks felt pretty comfortable offensively throughout the first game. The Pacers decided to make sure that didn’t happen again in Game 2 by increasing their physicality. No matter who the Bucks tried to hit in the post or elbow, the Pacers got underneath them and pushed them further from the basket.
When Siakam tried to hit the post, it was way too easy in the second game. Watch the near post position Siakam established on Portis during this first quarter possession:
Portis was obviously strong enough to handle Siakam in the post, as Siakam didn’t move Portis while trying to push him back. But that didn’t matter. Siakam had already established great position with his work early in the possession, so he was able to set up a short jumper on the glass. If Portis pushed it further before catching it, this shot might not have been available.
The Bucks need to respond to the Pacers in Game 3 the exact same way the Pacers responded to the Bucks in Game 2. They need to bring physicality to Siakam when he tries to post up.
Rivers will also need to think hard about his lineups and rotations. Two of Siakam’s easiest buckets of the game came on possessions where Lillard got stuck on Siakam in transition, and the Pacers forward took him straight to the post.
In both halves, the Bucks had stretches where they only had Lopez or Portis on the floor, while the Pacers had both Turner and Siakam on the floor. With Antetokounmpo out, the Bucks are one of three men in their regular big rotation, but Portis and Lopez were the two starters who played the least for Rivers in Game 2.
With a lack of legitimate size, can the Bucks afford to play long stretches without competing with the Pacers’ big men?
Siakam and Turner were both on the floor for the final 6:32 of the first half of Game 2, while only Lopez was on the floor, while Portis sat on the bench. Rivers faced just one big man against the Pacers’ two-big lineup during a two-minute stretch again in the third quarter – which included the post-up on Lillard above – and then again from 7:19 to 5: 49. the fourth trimester.
The Pacers outscored the Bucks by five points in the first half, by five points in the third quarter and by eight points in the fourth quarter. This makes a total of 18 points; the Bucks lost Game 2 by 17. (In Game 1, a single big lineup for the Bucks against the Pacers’ double combo of Siakam and Turner was minus-2 in 14 minutes.)
Setting up lineups and rotations with Antetokounmpo is no easy task. Rivers needs to figure out the best way to extract enough offense from the group while still performing well defensively, so he’ll likely have to continue tinkering.
But moving forward, trying to find enough physicality to counter Siakam might be a bigger question than he initially thought.
Required reading
Located: Siakam proves too much for Bucks: ‘He just won’t let himself be shaken’
(Top photo by Pascal Siakam and Chris Middleton)