Apr 22, 2013
The NBA Playoffs are an obvious tense time for every team that participates in the hectic post-season, adding on to the stress is the imminent first game – that has already happened – showing what team has the best chance, what the losing team has to improve and players that are you are going to watch. With 16 teams and 8 games played on the weekend, with even more rolling in through the week, it’s time to evaluate Game One, of each playoff series.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Milwaukee Bucks at Miami Heat – April 21, 2013
“Milwaukee in 6” – Brandon Jennings.
The Summary: The first game of this series included the Bucks’ Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis as the main scorers who tried to take on the defense of Miami. The duo combined for 48 points on 18-39 shooting, the woes were even more prevalent behind the arc with Jennings being the light spot with 40% 3pt shooting but it didn’t help the 26% overall team shooting from the 3pt line. It was a horrid shooting performance on the part of Milwaukee unlike the surging Heat. The Heat went 38-68 on the field with an extraordinary performance from LeBron. ‘Birdman’ came through on the offensive glass to soar for a dunk and had his share of alley-oops late in the fourth quarter to put the game away. The blocking phantom that is Larry Sanders was silenced by a barrage of fouls that left him ineffective on the defensive and offensive side, this left wide penetration for a dunk or a kick out three. The Heat were 30% from three point land but in the first quarter Chris Bosh lighted it up with two three’s, finishing 3-4 beyond the arc for the game. The score was 87-110 for Miami.
How Milwaukee Can Improve: Larry Sanders needs to block and defend smartly, he came into the playoffs with the mindset that he could block everything with ease from all of the talking and the promo for DPOY made by Milwaukee. If he can be defensive and think at the same time Milwaukee can help protect the paint, his presence is enough to make drives a second thought for Dwayne and maybe, just maybe the locomotive LeBron. If he’s fouling and getting stuck on the bench, there’s no other player that’ll fill that void and Ersan Ilyasova isn’t going to defend LeBron efficiently enough. Milwaukee also needs Monta and Jennings to get better shot selection, I don’t care if they’re the only one’s shooting because it’s obviously the only way they can win but the other players need to set picks, isolate when needed and just get out of their way. Selfishness may be looked down upon but if it leads to victories it’s okay.
After Game One Series Prediction: Miami in four. LeBron is too good and well, that’s all you need to know.
-LefttoWrite
