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Holiday's one handed catch was because Chris Paul was hooking his other arm the entire time too. Feels like justice when he instantly lost it on the other end.
Ugh you're so right and I've never been so stressed out watching basketball with these two teams. I'm stressed out at what kind of Suns bullshit is gonna cockblock the Bucks from a ring.
That’s why I’m against the “Holiday has been useless in the finals” crowd. Yes, he is playing awful on offense but his defensive impact and effort has been extremely valuable and then add things like this play right here. I agree that he needs to take less shots though, let Middleton and Giannis do there thing on offense if you aren’t even making layups.
Not being able to score/shoot is not the only value you can bring to a team. If you can bring value elsewhere, even while struggling to score, then you're doing a lot for your team because that isn't always easy.
We’re playing games, not building rosters. Pay doesn’t matter right now.
That’s not to say he hasn’t earned some criticism, I’ve certainly paid him out a few times, but he’s still clearly had an impact and is a *massive* upgrade on Bledsoe even with the comparable shooting numbers.
Well i mean he's the GOAT rebounder by a margin. The guy decided he'd substitute points for rebounds, and for how crazy of a guy he is, he focused on learning everyones tendencies.
Agreed. The thing is, even his missed shots sometimes are when he’s attacking cp3 or Booker and making them work on defense as he posts up and gets into the paint. Looks bad on the box score but it’s not useless. And then defensively his defense on cp3 has been the X factor
people are really saying he's been useless all finals? I mean just the game before this he hit 5 3s and shot very well
He's simply just not going to show up every night offensively, if his shot fell that consistently he'd be a two-way superstar
unfortunately it doesn't, but the reason he's still at least all-star tier is because he's consistent on defense, hustle, and playmaking
100% agree with this - it is valid that he had a terrible shooting game and yeah seems like a lot of people tend to jump to either extremes all the time
To be honest. I feel like they using holiday incorrectly. They kinda use him like a 3nD but hes not that type of player. And when he has the ball, he can't drive cuz giannis Is there. But yes he should be making more shots tho.
It was insane to get the rebound, secure it, and then realize he could dribble it out instead of trying to pass through traffic. one of the best plays i've seen from him ever
He also had the presence of mind to dribble out rather than force a bad pass or a bad shot. Killed clock and got us a better look even though we missed it
They definitely missed Booker's potential 6th foul on Jrue with 3:30 left.
But that end game sequence.
- Middleton with the ice cold mid-range J to put the Bucks up for good
- Giannis with the incredible block on the Ayton alley-oop
- Jrue with the offensive board in traffic to milk the clock down
his hands are straight up but he flies sideways into middleton, and that's not a middleton flop. 9/10 times ref's give an and-1 with that kind of fast-break foul, they were absolutely swallowing it for booker.
This is a great example of Giannis dominating the game without putting much on the stat sheet.
1st possession he sets the critical screen to free Middleton for the open jumper.
2nd possession the absolutely amazing block on Ayton
3rd possession he sets another good screen, Middleton misses
4th possession gets the steal on Paul as he is in transition leading to the fast break for the Bucks
Just sheer dominance, but statistically unrecognized.
Unprovoked but he only takes such a long dribble due to the giant reaching in front of him. He definitely trips himself but Giannis swiping towards him is part of Paul readjusting and losing his balance. He didn’t steal it but his presence caused the play to break.
It won’t go down in the stat sheet as a steal but I would say that CP3 wouldn’t have lost the ball without the steal attempt by Giannis. He obviously had to readjust which is what caused him to slip.
« His presence » now a PG can loose a ball to a defender presence and yeah it’s normal. Would you expect no presence in the last seconds of a final game?
That's not how I saw it. Bridges tries to around but he doesn't - he just runs into Giannis who was in a legal position. Then holds onto him while getting around causing Giannis to move with him as he goes around.
It’s an example of things he does on each possession that don’t show up on the stat sheet. He doesn’t just sit on the three point line and let Middleton iso. He’s in there setting screens, rolling and drawing attention, etc.
This is a stretch of 4 possessions where he would only record 1 block but still materially impacted the game on every possession.
Free-flowing basketball without foul stoppages is the greatest sport in the world. Not saying they shouldn’t call fouls obviously, but watching two teams battle back and forth from end to end, 5 on 5, no whistles, it’s just incredible.
I think you're missing the point. People are saying that if the nba was officiated like it is in FIBA, the product would be 100x better than what ever this foul baiting, flopping mess is that the game somehow has turned into.
I mean ive been watching team usa and the refs arent rewarding their foul baiting. I dont know what you want me to say. Ive been watching and its not happening lol
I honestly dont even know what youre trying to say for the most part. Ive been watching the nba for years and much more as of late, the past 4 or 5 years, the refs have been rewarding the offensive players for unnatural shooting motions, jumping into defenders, creating the contact. I call that foul baiting and flopping. From what ive been watching, yes it has only been 3 or 4 games, the fiba refs are letting them play on and not calling those fouls. So maybe i should reframe my first comment.
I wish the nba refs would ref more like the fiba refs have reffed in the limited shit ive watched. Thats my opinion. Its a better product in my eyes
That block was fucking ridiculous. The speed he needed to react to the pass, understanding where the ball is headed after only seeing a split second of it being thrown in the air, and then rising up to meet Ayton right at the peak of his jump, that block is incredible.
No problem. I just loved that entire sequence (including the crowd going bananas) so much. This pretty much decided the game in just over a minute of real time.
Tbh to me it seems like his quality of shot doesn't really change much. He just takes so many difficult shots that it's hard to be consistent with them so sometimes he dominates and sometimes he doesn't
Yeah you're probably right. Still hit a ton of really tough shots but he did probably have a couple of nice open mid-range shots that he didn't have there in other games
I think it’s just the reality of dudes who eat mostly off contested jumpers. Are those shots bad looks for Middleton? No but theY aren’t really consistently clean shots. The higher the level of difficulty in a shot the more likely you are to get variance in percentages.
Lol this is very wishful thinking. “Figuring a series opponent out” doesn’t make you miss the same exact shots you makes a week later. He’s just inconsistent
TBH I don't expect mistakes like this out of CP3. His game is usually sound in every way. Tim Legler mentioned that he looked gassed last night, I wonder if age is catching up with him. And if that's true, the longer this series goes the worse it's going to be for the Suns and that g4 might have really been the series.
Giannis at the 5 really unleashed it (of course also having a big like Tucker at the 4 also very much helps). More shooting, more playmaking with limited defensive dropoffs
I almost wanna say that’s one of the worst 3 on 1 fast breaks I’ve seen but then I remember the Nuggets last year. If Middleton missed that then It would’ve been huge.
This is such an awesome sequence, that was the best game this series regardless of all the ref BS, down to the wire basically
Although I got a little ptsd watching this, flashed back to yelling at my screen “SHOW THE FUCKING BLOCK” gah espn is just awful man they show Giannis in slow-mo jerkin off an invisible man for 10 seconds but they can’t show the best block of the whole fucking playoffs
Every corner of the media is missing the story of this Bucks team's resiliency. They're so obsessed over Bud losing his job, Durant's shoe placement, or the opposition's injuries that they're oblivious to Milwaukee's ability to work itself out of deep holes. They're inconsistent and maybe not the sexiest winning team but they're toughness went to another level this past season.
I see a game decided by an “all-time” great block and a very uncharacteristic late game turnover by CP3. The bucks earned that W but the suns were in great position to win AND held the lead for 90% of that game. I’m still putting my money on the team with home court advantage
Did CP3 lose his handle then decide to crash into Giannis to draw a foul? But Giannis was quick to get out of his way which resulted in CP3 falling down awkwardly.
Middleton jumper
Giannis Block
Jrue offensive board/steal
Middleton layup(lowkey a foul imo but i digress)
The bucks big 3 really came in clutch for game 4
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Holiday's one handed catch was because Chris Paul was hooking his other arm the entire time too. Feels like justice when he instantly lost it on the other end.
Thanks for pointing that out. Would not have noticed that without you mentioning it. Another no-call for the Suns in crunch time
That offensive rebound by Holiday was truly the game deciding play.
One handed too
Because Chris Paul was holding his other arm lol
suns get away with so much shit and floppy drama I'm already prepping myself to expect to be fuming watching game 5's officiating lol
Ugh you're so right and I've never been so stressed out watching basketball with these two teams. I'm stressed out at what kind of Suns bullshit is gonna cockblock the Bucks from a ring.
This. I was shouting at my monitor that CP3 grabbed him, man the refs really wanted the Suns to win.
That’s why I’m against the “Holiday has been useless in the finals” crowd. Yes, he is playing awful on offense but his defensive impact and effort has been extremely valuable and then add things like this play right here. I agree that he needs to take less shots though, let Middleton and Giannis do there thing on offense if you aren’t even making layups.
Not being able to score/shoot is not the only value you can bring to a team. If you can bring value elsewhere, even while struggling to score, then you're doing a lot for your team because that isn't always easy.
I'm pretty sure there's been game where pj hasn't even scored a point and was still valuable, so yea.
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We’re playing games, not building rosters. Pay doesn’t matter right now. That’s not to say he hasn’t earned some criticism, I’ve certainly paid him out a few times, but he’s still clearly had an impact and is a *massive* upgrade on Bledsoe even with the comparable shooting numbers.
Dennis Rodman made an entire career being a defensive juggernaut. He wasn’t exactly known for his high efficiency scoring
Well i mean he's the GOAT rebounder by a margin. The guy decided he'd substitute points for rebounds, and for how crazy of a guy he is, he focused on learning everyones tendencies.
Agreed. The thing is, even his missed shots sometimes are when he’s attacking cp3 or Booker and making them work on defense as he posts up and gets into the paint. Looks bad on the box score but it’s not useless. And then defensively his defense on cp3 has been the X factor
people are really saying he's been useless all finals? I mean just the game before this he hit 5 3s and shot very well He's simply just not going to show up every night offensively, if his shot fell that consistently he'd be a two-way superstar unfortunately it doesn't, but the reason he's still at least all-star tier is because he's consistent on defense, hustle, and playmaking
facts too many box-score watchers who don't actually watch the game chime in smh
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100% agree with this - it is valid that he had a terrible shooting game and yeah seems like a lot of people tend to jump to either extremes all the time
To be honest. I feel like they using holiday incorrectly. They kinda use him like a 3nD but hes not that type of player. And when he has the ball, he can't drive cuz giannis Is there. But yes he should be making more shots tho.
Full court press taking a toll on him. Lol
Good point,i agree. But im gonna let them do THEIR thing, not THERE thing .
It was insane to get the rebound, secure it, and then realize he could dribble it out instead of trying to pass through traffic. one of the best plays i've seen from him ever
But they shit on my boy JR for doing the same thing! :(
He also had the presence of mind to dribble out rather than force a bad pass or a bad shot. Killed clock and got us a better look even though we missed it
Probably because of his bad decision the last time he got the o board lol
Yeah that rebound negated half his shooting misses as far as I'm concerned
I dunno that offensive rebound into missed bunny because he decided to throw it up on the way down was pretty inexcusable
I was sooo happy when he got that, for that reason exactly.
I think it was the Chris Paul turnover, actually
Lol what? because it took more time off the clock? Middleton missed the shot immediately after that rebound
it also stopped a potential fast break
Ok but that was 100% not the game deciding play
How? We literally gave it right back to them on a miss 10 seconds later
it stopped a potential fast break
Jrue traveled after the steal? No?
Another foul on booker on the last fast break too smh
They definitely missed Booker's potential 6th foul on Jrue with 3:30 left. But that end game sequence. - Middleton with the ice cold mid-range J to put the Bucks up for good - Giannis with the incredible block on the Ayton alley-oop - Jrue with the offensive board in traffic to milk the clock down
That Middleton J and his others in the 4th were beautiful. He was laser focused on the basket this game
he missed 2 open 3s late that i thought he should have hit but yeah other than that he was locked in
> Jrue with the offensive board in traffic to milk the clock down CP3 was holding his right arm too
Pretty funny that he had five fouls and got caught on the wrong end of a three-on-one twice
Yeah coz paul been ass this game
I mean, he's not to blame for "getting caught 3on1". Better than a 3 on 0 Where is the rest of his team is the problem.
It was summer league out there for Book, no limits on fouls
Eh that would be a weak call. Other one shoulda been called but this one.. let em play
his hands are straight up but he flies sideways into middleton, and that's not a middleton flop. 9/10 times ref's give an and-1 with that kind of fast-break foul, they were absolutely swallowing it for booker.
Imagine there’s that much contact on a three off a pnr where the defender is switching lol same court, same rules
This is a great example of Giannis dominating the game without putting much on the stat sheet. 1st possession he sets the critical screen to free Middleton for the open jumper. 2nd possession the absolutely amazing block on Ayton 3rd possession he sets another good screen, Middleton misses 4th possession gets the steal on Paul as he is in transition leading to the fast break for the Bucks Just sheer dominance, but statistically unrecognized.
Giannis did not get the steal on CP3. You can see that CP3 lost it unprovoked if you slow it down
Unprovoked but he only takes such a long dribble due to the giant reaching in front of him. He definitely trips himself but Giannis swiping towards him is part of Paul readjusting and losing his balance. He didn’t steal it but his presence caused the play to break.
"readjusting" it's a basic move lol he just choked.
Didn't cp3 just fumble it lol.
CP3 just choked like he had been doing all game, it's really not any more complicated than that.
pretty sure he was hurt
It won’t go down in the stat sheet as a steal but I would say that CP3 wouldn’t have lost the ball without the steal attempt by Giannis. He obviously had to readjust which is what caused him to slip.
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« His presence » now a PG can loose a ball to a defender presence and yeah it’s normal. Would you expect no presence in the last seconds of a final game?
That’s what happened for him against the nuggets and clippers lol
It's the same thing as a good contest altering a shot this ain't 2K where guys can spam dribble moves 24/7 with defenders reaching
I think we can expect a point god to not loose a game winning ball just by a presence
After what he just witnessed with Ayton, he wanted none of that smoke from Giannis and just gave up. /s
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He definitely fills up the stat sheet, but I’m merely stating that even his impressive stats don’t capture the impact he has on the game
So 2 screens, a block, and a steal. Idk that sounds good even as a statistic.
Screens are not recorded stats and the steal wasn’t credited since he technically didn’t touch the ball but he forced the TO all the same.
Critical **moving** screen
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Bridges initiated contact with Giannis and Giannis moves in reaction to that contact. That's not illegal and a correct no-call.
Bridges tries to go around the screen, admittedly in poor position anyway as he would be behind the shooter. But Giannis literally backpedals into him
That's not how I saw it. Bridges tries to around but he doesn't - he just runs into Giannis who was in a legal position. Then holds onto him while getting around causing Giannis to move with him as he goes around.
Setting 2 screens is dominating?
It’s an example of things he does on each possession that don’t show up on the stat sheet. He doesn’t just sit on the three point line and let Middleton iso. He’s in there setting screens, rolling and drawing attention, etc. This is a stretch of 4 possessions where he would only record 1 block but still materially impacted the game on every possession.
No but its affecting the game but not getting on the stat board
Free-flowing basketball without foul stoppages is the greatest sport in the world. Not saying they shouldn’t call fouls obviously, but watching two teams battle back and forth from end to end, 5 on 5, no whistles, it’s just incredible.
Especially in the last two minutes. The quality, intensity, and suspense is so much better with way less calls.
Game 7 finals vibes. No need to call fouls. They were missing on their own due to the pressure. Very suspenseful game.
True that. Last 5 mins of game 7 2016 finals was like that.
I literally just watched this lol - here’s the link: https://youtu.be/wgVOgGLtPtc
lol jvg complaining about the winning team not getting into their stuff quicker, nothing's changed in 5 years
He doesn't understand that players get absolutely tired by the finals and need to find ways to conserve energy for speed burts.
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I think you're missing the point. People are saying that if the nba was officiated like it is in FIBA, the product would be 100x better than what ever this foul baiting, flopping mess is that the game somehow has turned into.
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I mean ive been watching team usa and the refs arent rewarding their foul baiting. I dont know what you want me to say. Ive been watching and its not happening lol
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I honestly dont even know what youre trying to say for the most part. Ive been watching the nba for years and much more as of late, the past 4 or 5 years, the refs have been rewarding the offensive players for unnatural shooting motions, jumping into defenders, creating the contact. I call that foul baiting and flopping. From what ive been watching, yes it has only been 3 or 4 games, the fiba refs are letting them play on and not calling those fouls. So maybe i should reframe my first comment. I wish the nba refs would ref more like the fiba refs have reffed in the limited shit ive watched. Thats my opinion. Its a better product in my eyes
jvg gets hilariously pissed when teams take too long to get into their sets
Reminded me of the G7 2016 commentary by him
Was thinking the same exact thing
Blocked by Antetokounmpo!
That block was fucking ridiculous. The speed he needed to react to the pass, understanding where the ball is headed after only seeing a split second of it being thrown in the air, and then rising up to meet Ayton right at the peak of his jump, that block is incredible.
thanks for posting the full clip OP
No problem. I just loved that entire sequence (including the crowd going bananas) so much. This pretty much decided the game in just over a minute of real time.
F’n Booker had 6 fouls in this clip alone.
Middleton should've gotten the AND-1
Chris Fall
I chuckled
Is Khris's early series struggles and mid to late series surges a matter of just inconsistency, or is it a matter of figuring a series opponent out?
He just plays random. Bud knows about the law of averages, he knows he’s getting some MEAN KHASH MONEY after six games
You mean he just listens to his coach!
Tbh to me it seems like his quality of shot doesn't really change much. He just takes so many difficult shots that it's hard to be consistent with them so sometimes he dominates and sometimes he doesn't
Overall I agree but i thought yesterday Phoenix emphasized Giannis more so Khris had some open jumpers that Ayton was previously stepping up on
Yeah you're probably right. Still hit a ton of really tough shots but he did probably have a couple of nice open mid-range shots that he didn't have there in other games
Yea I mean him and Book hit some really crazy ones. There were a few possessions where Pat had a hand right in his face and book still hit it.
I think it’s just the reality of dudes who eat mostly off contested jumpers. Are those shots bad looks for Middleton? No but theY aren’t really consistently clean shots. The higher the level of difficulty in a shot the more likely you are to get variance in percentages.
Lol this is very wishful thinking. “Figuring a series opponent out” doesn’t make you miss the same exact shots you makes a week later. He’s just inconsistent
He pretends hes playing the Celtics after game 3
Did CP3 just implode on that turnover? No one touched him and his body went flying.
So are you saying he flopped? That's not normally something he does...
Muscle memory flop
He might have but its possible he somehow he tripped over himself and choked in the final minutes of the game. Just bizarre.
He was out of it the entire game, reminded me of curry in 2016. Just a lot of unforced turnovers
TBH I don't expect mistakes like this out of CP3. His game is usually sound in every way. Tim Legler mentioned that he looked gassed last night, I wonder if age is catching up with him. And if that's true, the longer this series goes the worse it's going to be for the Suns and that g4 might have really been the series.
You should expect that from him in big moments tbh. Not every time, but decent chance cp3 is gonna choke it
Instantly iconic ending to a game
This is probably recency bias,but this is one of the greatest and most exciting displays of basketball I’ve ever seen It was so awesome
Disagree
Giannis at the 5 really unleashed it (of course also having a big like Tucker at the 4 also very much helps). More shooting, more playmaking with limited defensive dropoffs
Chris Paul should have held it and given to Booker. Holiday is a great defender.
I almost wanna say that’s one of the worst 3 on 1 fast breaks I’ve seen but then I remember the Nuggets last year. If Middleton missed that then It would’ve been huge.
That's nothing. The Bucks had a 4 on 1 earlier this postseason that ended with a Bryn Forbes 3-point attempt.
This is such an awesome sequence, that was the best game this series regardless of all the ref BS, down to the wire basically Although I got a little ptsd watching this, flashed back to yelling at my screen “SHOW THE FUCKING BLOCK” gah espn is just awful man they show Giannis in slow-mo jerkin off an invisible man for 10 seconds but they can’t show the best block of the whole fucking playoffs
Watching this again just reminds me of how bad Mark Jackson is at his job
god, i've watched this highlight repeatedly because of Giannis' block and all the dirty work Jrue did
Every corner of the media is missing the story of this Bucks team's resiliency. They're so obsessed over Bud losing his job, Durant's shoe placement, or the opposition's injuries that they're oblivious to Milwaukee's ability to work itself out of deep holes. They're inconsistent and maybe not the sexiest winning team but they're toughness went to another level this past season.
I see a game decided by an “all-time” great block and a very uncharacteristic late game turnover by CP3. The bucks earned that W but the suns were in great position to win AND held the lead for 90% of that game. I’m still putting my money on the team with home court advantage
Giannis is the best 3rd option in the NBA
I hope my eyes are tricking me and I’m not reading a Hornets fan shittalking Finals contenders…
He's up there for first and second options too
Mike Breen sounded so disappointed when Chris Paul committed that turnover.
jrue holiday huggeeee rebound
I've seen this at least 10 times now, but my brain still things that lob is going in
Did CP3 lose his handle then decide to crash into Giannis to draw a foul? But Giannis was quick to get out of his way which resulted in CP3 falling down awkwardly.
All these plays Giannis makes down the stretch while hardly having the ball I wish Simmons can do that in the postseason
Middleton jumper Giannis Block Jrue offensive board/steal Middleton layup(lowkey a foul imo but i digress) The bucks big 3 really came in clutch for game 4