Zion Williamson hit the wall in Wisconsin

The Bucks’ defensive strategy was clear against the Pelicans: keep Zion Williamson from pounding the defense.

Jrue Holiday and Wesley Matthews were thus responsible for hindering the strong winger of New Orleans on his dribble, while Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis and Brook Lopez closed the central axis of the field each time.

A strategy that worked since Zion Williamson, who is averaging 25.5 points this season, including a record 19.1 points in the paint, was limited to 18 points (7/16 shooting), 7 rebounds, 7 assists but 5 bullet losses. After three quarters, he had also scored only 9 points, 3/6 to shoot…

“Why would we be surprised?” We’ve done that before” explained Jrue Holiday on his team’s ability to slow down opposing stars. “Especially for this upcoming “road trip” (Cleveland, Brooklyn, Boston then Chicago) where we will face a lot of good players. Zion is one. But that’s part of the game. That’s why Wes (Matthews) and I are competitive. That’s why we like to defend. It’s a real challenge to do what we did in the first half, while frustrating them in the second half. We did a good job. »

The explosion of Jonas Valanciunas, unexpected but accepted

The other side of the coin is that this focus on Zion Williamson left a lot of space for his teammates, and in particular Jonas Valanciunas, author of 37 points at 7/10 from afar!

“I have to admit that we didn’t expect him to score 28 points (in first half) but some guys are bound to catch fire when you try to close the door for other players. Like we did with Zion” detailed Mike Budenholzer, the coach of Milwaukee.

But for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks could live with that.

“At the end of the day, he had 28 points at halftime but we were leading by 5 points, so our plan was not going to change. We were ready for him to have 28 more points in the second half, because we would probably be 10 points ahead. He shot really well. I didn’t know that was part of his strength, but he made what, six or seven 3-pointers? Seven in total is crazy, but hey, it’s not going to change our plan, which is to make life difficult for opponents who we think can beat us. »

And against the Pelicans, it’s clearly Zion Williamson, as finally confirmed by Jrue Holiday, who explained that depriving the bayou bulldozer of shots in the first half derailed Willie Green’s attack, which depends on the percussive abilities of his strong winger. Especially without Brandon Ingram by his side.