Why can't MDA and Harden figure out the Buck's defensive strategy

I mean, part of it is the bogus officiating behind it.



When your star player is saddled with 3 bogus calls (at least) and is consistently undercut on one of his deadliest moves this will happen.

Meanwhile Giannis does his JFK impression while striding to the rim and get's shots.

We need to stop arguing the raw FT total and look at the consistency of the call. For Pete's sake, let's start undercutting guys on their jumpers too. If it's not going to be called, then let's use it.

 

He did attack and get a couple of assists on his drives, but the lack of the floater was odd. It’s not like there was a Gobert waiting for him.

 

I saw some one give Harden a pick when they employed it and Harden kind of wheeled around and got a three.

 

He needs to stop using his left hand to push off. Perhaps that's the defense the Bucks are trying to employ here. Stay on his left side and wait for the offensive foul from the refs. Sad that this is the best way to stop Harden.

 

So the best defense is . . .. FLOP

Rocket River

 

they have it figured out. its just the actual decisions within the game that are questionable. @DVauthrin had a lengthy discussion about this last night in the game thread

 

I mean the Bucks have a surprisingly mobile and lengthy duo of B. Lopez and Gannis that Harden is being funneled into. Even if the game was officiated fairly, with any other team, this strategy won't work (eg. Jazz, Gobert is not mobile enough).

Just a bad matchup that thankfully we will only see twice during the season.

 

This defense breaks down if Eric Gordon makes open shots.

James just needs to keep driving and making the right reads. Don't overthink it and take bad shots.

 

Thought they handled it fine. Harden, Westbrook and Ego, your best scorers, couldn't hit ****. Wont win against elite teams when all 3 are missing shots.

 

They had plenty of open shots, so I actually would say they have it figured out pretty well.

What they DON'T have figured out is that sometimes you have to adjust to the way the game is unfolding and not hoist 3 after 3 when they aren't falling.

But the word "adjust" is not apart of D'Antoni's playbook.

 

Why is Eric Gordon, in 2 games against MKE, a combined 4-26 from the field and 3/17 from 3pt range.

They play Harden to make him drive and dish, leaving our guys open behind the arc and the guy that has to step up is Eric.

 

I know this is half joking, but honestly, this has been super effective on Harden, and it's really frustrating to watch - I'm sure it's frustrating for Harden too. I call it the Beverley defense. You start off by being overly physical - get right up on top of him, frenetic movement, arms waving all over the place, play right up in his face and act like you want a physical matchup. Then as soon as you get the lightest shove or bump, or even if there's no contact at all, you go flying and fall on your ass, and start gesticulating angrily towards the refs. Beverley does this to him, Marcus Smart did it, Corey Brewer did it last year in that one game with Philly, and it's exactly what George Hill and Wes Matthews did to him last night.

The second foul in this video is a perfect example, it's exactly what I'm talking about. Look how close he plays to Harden, he's literally touching Harden with his chest. Such bullshit. The third one is a good example as well.

 

Exactly! Harden was making the correct reads we just couldn’t make wide open shots.

 

We had that defense absolutely shredded in the 1st half. And that was with the refs screwing us.

We then went very, very cold. And that was with the refs screwing us.

 

In the first half they played Danuel house, who was not only making his 3's, but also making nice passes with the lane the bucks gave him, and rebounding fairly well. Dantoni went from that to force Eric Gordon who missed layup after layup at the rim while whining to the refs, bricking wide open 3's, and giving you 0 rebounding.

 

I can't stand this. We all see it and the refs are calling it like this is what the league wants. However, my question is... is putting your body on the ballhandler legal? If so, then yeah it's way more effective than using hands and trying to play arms up, especially on someone like Harden. It's gimmicky because it's main purpose is to lower the production of a high volume scorer. It's dumb if employed on someone who gets to make a play maybe once out of 5 or 6 trips i.e. the rest of the team.

I would love it if Harden just faces up the defender when he's on his hip and forget the basket altogether - beat him by confusing his man.

More realistically, I would love to see Harden bait the foul MORE. For example, the 1 three he took that got called for him was because he used that gimmicky defense against the defender and waited for the defender to lunge at him. Look like he did it by doing a step-back to the right and waiting for the defender to lunge at him before attempting the shot. Getting fouls called on each defender should make them doubt the scheme.

For someone who's more on the creative side, I'd like to see him think of new ways to expose this defense. It's also gimmicky because there are so many holes that we're not taking advantage of. The floater is one solution, but there are others.

 

Thank god Bucks are in the East so we only have to face them twice a season. That team is so freakishly long and annoying to play against. They also have nameless shooters that can suddenly get blazing hot.

 

There are a lot of things going on........

I'll just say that the Bucks are EXTREMELY long

Brook Lopez and Robin Lopez have 7'6" wingspans

Giannis has a 7'3" wingspan..... Middleton has a 6'11" wingspan.... llyasova has a 7'2" wingspan... Even Matthews has a 6'10" wingspan.

Even Hill and Bledsoe are long with wingspans of 6'9"

Most of those guys are fairly mobile too.....

Couple that length and mobility with the Gordon not hitting shots and it causes issues.

Both Gordon and Harden are used to having no issues getting their shots off.