The Milwaukee Bucks Playoffs have begun! If you tuned in last night you saw Dame light it up for the first half of the game versus the Indiana Pacers. He legit LIT IT UP. The entire state of Wisconsin has been waiting to experience Dame time in its true form, and last night, we got it. It was everything we had hoped for. The second half was a different story. The Pacers made adjustments at half time and the plan was essentially, shut Dame down. Which they did, but it required that one players job was to do nothing, but make sure he never left Dame’s side, and when he actually got the ball, he was immediately double teamed. So here is my conundrum. Seeing what Dame can do, do we wait to pull the trigger on Giannis’ return? Do we wait for Giannis until we NEED him, but if we do that, it means we may have dug a hole we can’t quite dig our ways out of. Or do we push Giannis and hope to get the series done in 4?
Hear me out. I am a fan of taking it one game at a time. And if that is the case, you play Giannis…right? We have to win this game, before we focus on the next game. And playoff games, every game is a must win in my eyes.
So this is my thought process on Giannis- we play him with limited minutes and here is the game plan in my eyes. So Dame showed up and showed out. It truly doesn’t matter if Dame does that again the entire series, because the Pacers have to play him like he is going to show up again. He was so impactful, that you can not risk that again. So that being said, you throw Giannis on the floor, what the heck is the game plan then? Their plan will be imploded with pure and total chaos. My thought process is you play Giannis, forcing the Pacers to focus on more than just Dame. You put Dame and Giannis on the floor, and make the game plan about Lopez, Porter, Middleton, and Beverley. The Pacers won’t even know how to react.
Or here is the other option. You sit Giannis, hoping that Dame shows up again. And if Dame, doesn’t show up, you hope that Connaughton, Green and Beauchamp and Beasley can hit the threes that they are known for. Although can we address Connie’s corner…still waiting for him to hit the corner, its’s been awhile and have becoming glaringly so. Also another fun fact, Beasley is actually the leading 3 point shooter for the Bucks this season. So back to this game plan. You hope that the supporting staff can take the pressure off of Dame. But let’s say they can’t. How many games do you give it to bring Giannis back into the fold? Do we force ourselves in to the MUST WIN situation?
This analyst says bring on Giannis. Just to scare the crap out of the Pacers. The threat of the Dame/Giannis duo that we, as Bucks fans, have been patiently waiting an ENTIRE season. I will tell you this though, if this duo decides to show up and show out during the playoff run, you will hear ZERO complaints from staff writer 2.
