George Hill to start in place of Eric Bledsoe. Possessions that can hurt the Heat are ones where the Bucks get the ball to Giannis on one side then there’s quick ball movement to the weak side. Rim protection and Bucks’ IQ on defense presents some problems that need adjustments from Miami. First 6 min of the 2nd Q hurt the Bucks when they kept turning the ball over and Miami closed the gap. The Heat's initial defense is so great. Where they have been able to take away scoring opportunities from the Bucks is stopping penetration and limiting paint touches. They are walling off Giannis in transition so well. I love watching Bam Adebayo. The possibilities are almost endless when he has the ball. Sees passing angles that only Nikola Jokic sees among current centers. I have a feeling in year 5 or 6, he's going to have that range extended to the arc too. Every time when Middleton got into isolation then the Heat would guard it in the same essence of TJ Warren as they try to turn him into a passer. This Goran Dragic bubble/playoff run has been something else. He has been a completely different player in the bubble compared to the rest of the season. The big shots hit down the stretch are why you go get a guy like Jimmy Butler. One thing that left me thinking for Milwaukee is when Miami went to the lineup of Crowder/Butler/Bam with Herro/Dragic that they aren’t constantly putting those two guards in multiple actions. Tonight was the least amount of threes (12) Miami has hit vs. Milwaukee all year and they won. Another interesting stat from this game is the 28 isolation possessions from Milwaukee which the second highest this season. I understand that Bledsoe was our, but some of the lineups inserted by Budenholzer were downright awful.

Where I think the Rockets do well on defense is activity that is great but smart. Dort has lost all respect on the offensive side of the floor and has become a liability for this team when he’s on the floor because he’s only contributing on defense and with rebounding. OKC tried to go with Ferguson, but he was not any good either. It’s time for him to walk once his contract is up. Where the Thunder’s offense has struggled is making the Rockets’ defense move as they are easily switching a lot of the actions ran. Westbrook’s passing has been off as he tries to regain his rhythm on the floor and this has led to a few too many turnovers. Chris Pail has made it known that he is not ready to go home yet with his performance in the 3Q as he got into his back of tricks outside of the pull up game. Schroeder has not had a good offensive game, but his defense has been great. When Houston is moving the ball the crispness PF some of these possession then it is a thing of beauty and very hard to guard. The ball and player movement in this game from Oklahoma City has been much better than in previous games. On top of that, they have hit perimeter shots to open the floor. CP3/Schroeder/SGA have made the most of isolation possessions. This has been their bread & butter to penetrate and force rotation. PJ Tucker has helped negate some of this with his ability to help. Darius Bazley has made a few big plays in this 4th quarter. James Harden is commanding OKC’s full attention as they are placing focus on loading the his side of the floor. Everything been ran through CP3 as he looks to hunt mismatches. Where OKC fails far too often is in transition and it almost hurt them late. Thunder ice the game at the free throw line after a couple of Westbrook errors.

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