( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) )

pretty much the textbook definition of tight three defense that is not a foul

I actually think that call is ok

Damn this game was over

The out of bounds call was really obvious tho and none of this happens without it

lol

lmao what even is this

love to see jump shot fouls decide the game

refs wilding out

What the fuck that was not a foul

utter absurdity ban the refs

the foul on the middleton three is just so hard for me to understand, the little forward motion they kept talking about on tv is just his natural forward momentum once he established his feet

every seen a playoff game decided by a makeup call lol

Yeah that definitely wasn’t either but losing on a make up call is really not fun

coach thorpe is a cop

I agree with both calls. Bad, bad defense.

— david b. thorpe (@coachthorpe) September 3, 2020

the end of that game was the crowning achievement of bubble refereeing

Agreed

Bitching about refs is one of my least favorite things about sports but wtf was that shit

lol at calling that and not lopez getting bodychecked on his steal + lay-in

I honestly dont know which emotion to feel right not

pick one of the bad ones

feel them all baby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrJEFrth27Q

Guys giannis can’t do that

Like that was so so dumb

the whole end of game circus also obscures the more pressing issue which is that the bucks need to figure out how to flip the terms of engagement on both ends of the floor or else they're going to lose. i didn't think the heat would go up 2-0 but it was pretty easy to point out the ways in which their style of play matched up well vs the bucks. does bud have anything else in his pocket? defensively they were better tonight but i don't know if they can let herro, crowder, olynyk have open threes in a silent gym. offensively it's tougher bcuz middleton and giannis just haven't been able to dominate when they need to dominate, but also they need to figure out spots from where giannis can score and some creative ways to get him the ball in those spots, because the heat know he's not shooting from outside of 3 feet right now

Giannis' shot chart tonight, per @nbastats. For all the focus on his development as a 3-point shooter, I still think the in-between issues are what limit him most against elite defenses who can keep him away from the rim. pic.twitter.com/iTOwTspqwT

— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) September 3, 2020

yeah that's just describing the bucks, their bag of tricks is exceedingly small

theoretically when the heat trap him like they did down the stretch there should be an open man to pass to but it seemed like the game was just moving too fast for the bucks to deal with

bucks have a losing record in da bubble

i'm struggling to find a physical comp for dort. he's like a giant armadillo that can jump 10 feet in the air.

Some of those games didn’t count but yeah they’ve not been themselves

dort really just looks like when a football player plays basketball

he prob wouldve been a football player except hes from montreal

imo bucks problem remains that they don't really have a guy they trust to keep the ball out of giannis' hands all game long i.e. they still need a pg

they list him at 6'3" 215 it's really ideal OLB size

the bucks choosing to make brogdon the odd man out might end up as a harden-trade level butterfly effect front office decision

yeah that turned out not great, also in retrospect the way they used him while he was there was also not great, as soon as he went to indy he was getting to the basket all the time, bucks mightve not realized what they had

the initial bad decision in that case was giving bledsoe a big extension in the middle of the regular season before he had a chance to suck in a second consecutive playoffs

i'm sure there were medical concerns on brogdon and they were able to trade him for picks so it wasn't like he walked for nothing. i can easily see how they talked themselves into believing it was a good idea to let him go. but it was very obvious watching the raptors series last year that he was vitally important to them in the playoffs as someone who was willing and able to put the ball on the floor in the fourth quarter. subsequently, they are down 2-0 in a series where the thing they need more than anything is a guard who can handle the ball and score. they probably should have stepped back and realized they needed to win now and not worry so much if brogdon is hurt in year 4 of the deal.

they made a brook lopez choice too and that contract seemed entirely fair but right now every team wants guys who can score from the perimeter be it shooting or driving and the bucks let their one guy who can do that go. brook has been nice but he's not counteracting the minutes going to wes matthews, connaughton, divencenzo etc

yeah you cant have enough creators these days

i just think if they knew they were only going to pay one of bledsoe/brogdon you have to let that postseason play out and if they did there's absolutely no way they're picking bledsoe, even noting brogdon's injury history.

brook to me was an independent decision and they need him for their defense.

honestly irrespective of all that they play connaughton, divencenzo, etc. more minutes than those guys deserve which gives them an illusion of depth.

it's crazy to me! like you have this huge playoff run coming up and have to make all these critical roster decisions and you say hey it's march 4th, let's extend eric bledsoe for 3 more years at market value.

not a great decision but also he could be effective in this series, needs to be effective in this series, and was effective in this game at the end of the first half. and then in the second half he totally disappeared. i think there may be a personality issue among the players but also bud doesn't seem to react to what is happening in front of him? like how do you scout the heat's playoff series against the pacers, watch bledsoe take dragic and herro to the hole repeatedly in the final three minutes of the first half and then not, like, call any clear outs or anything in the second half where you could exploit the heat's one blatantly obvious defensive weakness

I did not understand the decision to extend Bledsoe either. when it happened most fans thought it was okay since he was on fire for like 5 games up to that point but the memory of the last playoffs still stung and he still kinda felt like the odd man out on that team

like even if they'd done it at the end of the season I guess I'd understand but doing it midseason was just strange

the reductive reading is that they did it so he would feel secure going into the playoffs but that's not how this shit should work

re: coach bud's passivity, i agree with this tweet

*clears throat*

Mike Budenholzer is just Diet D'Antoni

— Seerat Sohi (@seeratsohi) September 2, 2020

at this point a rockets loss would be pretty catastrophic for harden, he's been awful

dort has him in a sleeper hold

good noel minutes in this game too, his athleticism plays in this series

i was listening to a simmons pod earlier today and he wasdoing hypotheticals like "if harden scores 47 and they win this series....." and my reaction was that i do not consider that to be a realistic scenario. we have the track record. he can't do it.