Series Thread: ECF: 1) Milwaukee Bucks vs 2) Toronto Raptors

[bksballer89]

I seriously doubt this series will be easier than the Celtics series though.

yeah that's not happening

 

[Heatles84]

Bucks in 7

 

[tlance]

My bestest montalban imitation.

Bucks in 5. No Bucks in 6. No Bucks in 7. Or Raptors in 5 or 6 or 7.

That confirms it.

Bucks in 4

 

[tlance]

I really don't see how that is possible tbh. The Celtics do not have the superstar Toronto has. Kyrie was supposed to be that guy, it didn't happen.
The Celtics as a team were lost, have been for some time. Toronto is a much better team than Boston right now. I predicted 7 games but I can definitely see this going 5 or 6. I seriously doubt this series will be easier than the Celtics series though.

Agreed.

Toronto is better than Boston.

Don't think they match up all that great with Milwaukee, but they are a better team than the Celtics.

If Lowry, Siakam, Ibaka, Green and Gasol can score consistently, Toronto can make this a long series. If they struggle with consistency and make Kawhi do everything, it will be over by 5

 

[buckalis]

Agreed.

Toronto is better than Boston.

Don't think they match up all that great with Milwaukee, but they are a better team than the Celtics.

If Lowry, Siakam, Ibaka, Green and Gasol can score consistently, Toronto can make this a long series. If they struggle with consistency and make Kawhi do everything, it will be over by 5

I believe you count for the regular series Raptors being better than the Celtics, or the Raptors with Anunoby in the rotation being better...

I'll agree on this, but I think that with Anunoby out, the Raps would be be mismatched even against the Celtics... The only have Ibaka they can rotate for their "bigs", don't they? Nobody else...

Last game of the series against the Sixers, 3rd quarter... Van Vleet comes in with Raptors +10 and leaves the floor with Raptors -10 at only 6 mins! At least if they had Anunoby, they could have a man to rotate that would provide a "link" between the "bigs" and the guards... but now?

 

[raptorlife4]

I believe you count for the regular series Raptors being better than the Celtics, or the Raptors with Anunoby in the rotation being better...

I'll agree on this, but I think that with Anunoby out, the Raps would be be mismatched even against the Celtics... The only have Ibaka they can rotate for their "bigs", don't they? Nobody else...

Last game of the series against the Sixers, 3rd quarter... Van Vleet comes in with Raptors +10 and leaves the floor with Raptors -10 at only 6 mins! At least if they had Anunoby, they could have a man to rotate that would provide a "link" between the "bigs" and the guards... but now?

First welcome to SportsHoopla

The Celtics were a shell of themselves. If Irving shot half decent maybe they would have given a better fight.

Yes the Raptors are not as deep as they were before. They do however have the pieces to overcome that.
The bench needs to step up no doubt, FVV and Powell need to be much better for the Raptors to have a chance. It would also be nice to get OG back to help with some size. Although I am not sure how effective he will be coming off of his injury.

The Raptors just beat the 76ers who many say have the best starting 5 in all of basketball. And a a massive fan of the Raptors I can tell you we only played to our potential 1 game out of the 7 and we pulled it off.

If the Raptors put their game together and hit the 3 we are very tough to beat. Especially if we lock down on defense.

Oh ya we also have a guy named Kawhi the is an X factor in any series he plays.


Good luck to the Bucks. I hope for a good fun series and let the best team win.

But the Raps will not roll down like the Celtics

 

[dtgold88]

Bucks in 7

 

[tlance]

I believe you count for the regular series Raptors being better than the Celtics, or the Raptors with Anunoby in the rotation being better...

I'll agree on this, but I think that with Anunoby out, the Raps would be be mismatched even against the Celtics... The only have Ibaka they can rotate for their "bigs", don't they? Nobody else...

Last game of the series against the Sixers, 3rd quarter... Van Vleet comes in with Raptors +10 and leaves the floor with Raptors -10 at only 6 mins! At least if they had Anunoby, they could have a man to rotate that would provide a "link" between the "bigs" and the guards... but now?

Losing Anouby hurts their depth.

But they are still better.

The Celtics just weren't playing with any chemistry. And Kawhi is easily the best player the Bucks have faced this post season. He is probably the only player in the East capable of outplaying Giannis over the course of a series.

 

[buckalis]

First welcome to SportsHoopla

The Celtics were a shell of themselves. If Irving shot half decent maybe they would have given a better fight.

Yes the Raptors are not as deep as they were before. They do however have the pieces to overcome that.
The bench needs to step up no doubt, FVV and Powell need to be much better for the Raptors to have a chance. It would also be nice to get OG back to help with some size. Although I am not sure how effective he will be coming off of his injury.

The Raptors just beat the 76ers who many say have the best starting 5 in all of basketball. And a a massive fan of the Raptors I can tell you we only played to our potential 1 game out of the 7 and we pulled it off.

If the Raptors put their game together and hit the 3 we are very tough to beat. Especially if we lock down on defense.

Oh ya we also have a guy named Kawhi the is an X factor in any series he plays.


Good luck to the Bucks. I hope for a good fun series and let the best team win.

But the Raps will not roll down like the Celtics

Thanks for the welcome, nice to meet you here!

Good luck to your team in return... Although as a Bucks fan, I can trust you'll need it!

 

[TJL]

Thanks for the welcome, nice to meet you here!

Good luck to your team in return... Although as a Bucks fan, I can trust you'll need it!

Shut the hell up

 

[bksballer89]

 

[buckalis]

Cool... But the Bucks will have Mirotic and Lopez on the floor who can understand Spanish and translate to the rest and Giannis will say "it's all Greek to me" and proceed doing his (scary) thing... Q.E.D.

 

[Robotech]

In the aftermath of that Raptors win, someone brought up the buzzer beater attempt by the Raptors against the Sixers 18 years ago. It was cool to see Papa Curry involved in that old play. Curry made a nice inbounds pass to give Vince a chance, and Vince made a great effort, with the presence of mind to do a pump fake even though there was little time left, but he sure enough got the shot off in time. Unfortunately, he missed.

 

[LambeauLegs]

 

[buckalis]

Personally, I don't believe that the Bucks were planning to contend for the title this season... It just came up on the way... I believe that the original plan was to go "step by step" on a two season's plan, with "50+ wins during the regular season and a 1st round promotion during the playoffs" being the original plan for this season...

IMO, "the Bucks being contenders from this season" came up later, after Giannis said that "I believe we can beat anybody this season"... Then the F.O. accelerated things, sacrificed more picks, filled the "holes" in the roster by adding Hill and Mirotic and by taking advantage of Giannis' ability to "lead the locker room" and the new (state of the art) premises that make it "friendly" for the players to work, they turned to the "powerhouse" they now are...

If one thinks about it, the Bucks have ended up replacing 8 players out of their last season's roster on "Divicenzo, Lopez, Illyasova, Connaughton, Hill, Mirotic, Frazier & Gasol" 4 of which were added during the midseason...

 

[Shanemansj13]

Personally, I don't believe that the Bucks were planning to contend for the title this season... It just came up on the way... I believe that the original plan was to go "step by step" on a two season's plan, with "50+ wins during the regular season and a 1st round promotion during the playoffs" being the original plan for this season...

IMO, "the Bucks being contenders from this season" came up later, after Giannis said that "I believe we can beat anybody this season"... Then the F.O. accelerated things, sacrificed more picks, filled the "holes" in the roster by adding Hill and Mirotic and by taking advantage of Giannis' ability to "lead the locker room" and the new (state of the art) premises that make it "friendly" for the players to work, they turned to the "powerhouse" they now are...

If one thinks about it, the Bucks have ended up replacing 8 players out of their last season's roster on "Divicenzo, Lopez, Illyasova, Connaughton, Hill, Mirotic, Frazier & Gasol" 4 of which were added during the midseason...

Gasol has played scraps for 3 games for MIL...either way....you said it yourself MIL is taking this step by step to build towards the future. Signing Middleton, even if the contract is inflated, is part of that "process". The process isn't to let him walk and sign Mirotic and Lopez, that is just not smart. If they did that they would just be an enhanced version of the Cavs with Lebron, his first stint, Giannis would only be able to carry them so far.

I guarantee the Bucks sign Middleton long-term...I would put money on it.
4 years - $150M. Is he a max player? I don't think anyone would say he is but times have changed and he is becoming a 3-and-D player who can get you 20 a game. That is basically what Klay is and he will get a max contract.

 

[buckalis]

Gasol has played scraps for 3 games for MIL...either way....you said it yourself MIL is taking this step by step to build towards the future. Signing Middleton, even if the contract is inflated, is part of that "process". The process isn't to let him walk and sign Mirotic and Lopez, that is just not smart. If they did that they would just be an enhanced version of the Cavs with Lebron, his first stint, Giannis would only be able to carry them so far.

I guarantee the Bucks sign Middleton long-term...I would put money on it.
4 years - $150M. Is he a max player? I don't think anyone would say he is but times have changed and he is becoming a 3-and-D player who can get you 20 a game. That is basically what Klay is and he will get a max contract.

I don't think the Bucks will offer him anywhere near that... 5/130 (so that it will be around 22M next season) is the max I can see Horst will offer... If he is smart, he will take it! If he is not, then I'm sure the Bucks will offer him a 5/190 supermax as long as he agrees on a "sign and trade" (to either the Pelicans, or OKC, or Orlando)... We'll be here this off season, won't we? So lets leave this here and continue it later during the offseason... after things do happen...

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

At least the Celtics had some depth in their roster to rotate on Hayward, Baynes & Rozier... The Raptors have really none other than Ibaka... I mean they ended up playing Gasol 45mins and Kwahi 43mins against the Sixers and they almost lost the game because they used ...VanVleet (who?) for only 6 mins... How they can match up against the Bucks with this roster depth is a mystery to me... The Bucks have 2-3 players to rotate against any match up may come up and the Raptors line up is "an open book" for any coach to deal with...

1) If that depth is no good for the current situation it can't be considered an advantage.

2) I'd rather have the best player in the series than a bench mob any day of the week.

The Bucks very well may win the series handily but if they do it'll be because 1) Giannis does enough to negate Kawhi's play and 2) the other Raptors starters don't play their best game. If either of these things doesn't happen this is a long, unpredictable series.

 

[raptorlife4]

1) If that depth is no good for the current situation it can't be considered an advantage.

2) I'd rather have the best player in the series than a bench mob any day of the week.

The Bucks very well may win the series handily but if they do it'll be because 1) Giannis does enough to negate Kawhi's play and 2) the other Raptors starters don't play their best game. If either of these things doesn't happen this is a long, unpredictable series.

I also think the Raptors style of play matches up better with the Bucks then it did with the Sixers.

The Raptors will need help from the bench or else it will be a quick series

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I also think the Raptors style of play matches up better with the Bucks then it did with the Sixers.

The Raptors will need help from the bench or else it will be a quick series

At full throttle they do but we didn't really see that in the season series so I'm not too sure what to expect.

They can win with a largely quiet bench if the starters don't take games off but, yeah, a contributor or two would definitely make things easier.