Facing the Lakers deprived of LeBron James, the Bucks undoubtedly thought they had done the hardest part by taking a 19-point lead a little over eight minutes from the end of the match. But we still had to conclude… Los Angeles will go 16-2 to come back and, in the “money time”, things will become very difficult for Doc Rivers' troops.
Over the last seven minutes of regulation time, Milwaukee will shoot at 3/12 including 1/6 at 3-pts, losing three balls, thus allowing the Californians to snatch an extension.
“The ball wasn’t moving”, regrets Giannis Antetokounmpo. “At the start of the match, things were going well. Everyone touched the ball. I find that, in the last two minutes, it was a pass, a shoot. Lots of insulation. »
Why did you lose track? “It was not wanted”specifies the Greek. “They defended well, changing and forcing us to play one-on-one. If we don't move such a defense from one side to the other, then it becomes difficult to score. »
The executives forced too much
In this poorly negotiated end of the meeting, since the Lakers finally won, the MVP of the 2021 Finals was not helped by his two teammates from the “Big Three”, Khris Middleton and Damian Lillard. The latter also agrees with him on the observation.
“What hurt the Lakers the most was our ball circulation. The ball dictated our shot,” insists the leader. “At the end of the match, we kept the ball a little too much. Me first. Same for Khris and Giannis. We all wanted to redress the situation by trying to be aggressive and attack. And it hurt us in the end. »
From this fourth quarter and until the end of the match, after 58 minutes of effort, “Dame” took very difficult and contested shots when Khris Middleton increased his dribbles, without making any difference individually. Result: over the last 22 minutes of the match, the “Big Three” of the Bucks shot only 8/32…
Did Bucks executives want to play saviors too much?
“I've already experienced these situations where, in a close match, the opposing team has the momentum and we want to put it on hold. I'm going to do something and it will provide quality. Giannis did the same, Khris too,” continues Damian Lillard. “It’s negative, given the talent and players on our team. We should trust our style of play because it will give a shot to someone who can make a shot, and a better quality shot. This is what we should have done in this situation. »
