Also Raptors became one of the few teams to have defeated the Bucks two games in a row. Serge Ibaka ferocious on the boards and on shooting. Also big credit to VanVleet and Powell.
Raptors bench excellent. 48 Points, 22 Rebounds, 11 Assists. Despite being one of the best benches in the regular season they have struggled in the yoffs, we will see if the performance can translate when they aren’t at home, if they can, they’re a very scary team.
2017: Raptors go down 2-1 vs the Bucks, and make an adjustment to start Norman Powell and the Raptors win in 6. 2019: Raptors start 0-2, and give Norman Powell more minutes and a bigger role, series tied 2-2.
Fred "unplayable" VanVleet finished with 13 pts, 6 asts, +26
Kyle Lowry 25/5/6 outplayed Eric Bledsoe 5/3/2
Despite 25/10/5 Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with worst plus/minus of the game at -19
The theme of the ECF so far has been the defense. Both teams are elite defenses and it has become a chess battle of limiting each others superstar.
Toronto's defense, in particular, has been extremely effective these playoffs that trend continues against Milwaukee.
The Wall
Thus far the Raptors have allowed an 83.5 ORTG by Milwaukee in the half court. For context the worst half-court offense in the regular season, the Knicks had an ORTG of 88.
How the Raptors have done this is by forming a fucking wall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2IGueMF-Ec
Heres what the Wall looks like when Giannis has the ball
https://imgur.com/UsEKXYt.jpg
and here's what it looks like when Giannis is in the paint
https://imgur.com/Jk93rzl.jpg
The rules of the Wall are as follows
- Giannis must always see bodies between him and the rim when he has the ball
- Giannis will be hard doubled whenever he attempts to dribble or post up
- The help defender will try to prevent the spin move in the paint
- Giannis can shoot as much as he wants outside the paint
Here are some examples in real time
The Wall in transition
https://streamable.com/v9t8v
The Wall on a drive
https://streamable.com/poni9
Aggresive Doubling
https://streamable.com/mgmwv
Preventing the Spin move
https://streamable.com/q13ah
Why it works so well
So with all this attention on Giannis, Milwaukee's shooters should be having a field day right?
The answer is no and that's thanks to two major factors
- excellent defensive rotations by Toronto's players
- forcing Giannis to make extremely tough passes
The Wall is showcasing one of Giannis is a weakness, is that while he is a good passer he isn't a particularly accurate one.
The defense forces Giannis into making some tough passes and the ones he does deliver aren't always on target and allow Toronto's defense time to close out
Heres some examples
Giannis runs into Wall makes a difficult pass to Mirotic,
https://streamable.com/x6mqi
Slow Pass no time for Hill to shoot
https://streamable.com/2f5x0
Pass way off target forces a stagnant possesion
https://streamable.com/wqt4r
The other reason why this strategy has been so effective is that Toronto is filled to the brim with excellent help defenders, Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, Danny Green, Fred VanVleet and especially Kawhi Leonard has allowed Toronto to execute this scheme at a very high level.
Kawhi Leonard especially who seems to be on one leg yet had provided DPOY level defense these past 2 games
He does an excellent job contesting Giannis within the Wall
https://streamable.com/wyq2s
and his help defense is as elite as ever
https://streamable.com/bl6hu
Another benefit of matching up Leonard with Giannis is that it allows Leonard to completely ignore Giannis whenever he doesn't have the ball and provide help defense
https://imgur.com/LkPfjpD.jpg
Concluding Remarks
This type of defense isnt a particularly new concept, in fact, the Celtics used the exact same strategy the previous round. It just didn't work as well for them largely because of the gap in defensive talent.
Counters for the Bucks
- The Bucks could adjust by running more PnR both on-ball and off-ball making rotations much harder for Toronto. They generated some very good looks with this last game.
- Play less Bledsoe, the Bucks already reduced his minutes in game 4 so not sure how much less they can play him but Toronto has completely ignored him defensivey and made life much harder for the rest of the Bucks
Rest Heal and see you all Thursday
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