Misery. It really would have been some of the best basketball of the last few years if Bucks were healthy, even if they still lost.

Listening to Pacers fans shit talk those series right after just drove me up a wall 😂

i swear to god thats y he never ok’d a trade to the warriors lol

And ultimately lost more games than he won. He bullied the people in front of him, but did he bully the Pacers game plan? No.

He’s a great player when healthy*, just like every other superstar

His injury history is exaggerated by the bad timing of when they happened. It’s always in the playoffs. Overall he’s actually one of the more durable players in the league. I think he’s going to recommit to his health and expanding his game and remind everyone he’s still an MVP caliber player.

I guarantee he has the best winning % of any coach you’ve ever had.

I do think Bam is one of the better Giannis defenders. But now he’s on his team lol, so he’ll be able to practice against on of his best matchups

No one can really guard him 1v1, but some teams got really good at forming “the wall”: three bodies in front of him and very quick rotations to shooters when he passes and back to the wall when he gets the ball back.

Nobody can stop him, so take these with a grain of salt. 

But guys like Bam, OO, and draymond can really go toe to toe and at least make him make his fadeaway and free throws. 

Giannis feasts on teams with no size, Pacers and suns in 2022 are good examples

Boston has had their fair share of Giannis and the bucks. I’ve seen them go fuck the wall and let Al Horford guard him one on one. Same thing with Joel Embiid, they both struggle vs that man, or at least used to few years back

OG, like you said, is probably the best Giannis defender in the league because he has the strength, quickness and length

Bam probably would be 2nd but now they are teammates

Felt like Giannis owned the Knicks before the OG trade and that totally flipped after that trade. The franchises overall were going that direction but the matchup was like a lightswitch.

Nick Nurse usually coaches against him pretty well. iirc, he was the one who schemed to “wall” Giannis in the post when he was coaching in Toronto

It pains me to say it but Tobias Harris has been pretty good on Giannis a few times.

Wemby had amazing games against him recently, talking about pure defense. Maybe Giannis wasn’t feeling good but I was surprised how much easier it is to him now

Marvin Williams was the best Giannis defender

Draymond I remember a game a year ago where Giannis went 0-6 FG against him and had a horrible game

This is what the Raptors are trying to foundationally replicate with their core 2-way or switchable 1-4 or 1-5 players.. Scottie and CMB fit the mold. Add Kawhi now.

Even jakobe and graves are solid rotation pieces with similar potential.

Well he still got cooked when the series was on the line lol

Not every night. Sometimes it comes out and it’s truly something to watch

8:2 is fucking hilarious.

We just beat the #1 offense in the league in the playoffs with Rudy, Jaden and a bunch of role players.

That’s a fair counterpoint

I would add that part of what makes me beleive in offense being more important than defense is seeing how help defenses really abuse anemic offense players now a days.

Yeah I agree with you in recent seasons Giannis has become a damn good playmaker. He was creating lots of chances for his teammates when they lost to the Pacers - I think he was putting up 30+ ppg with 11 rebounds and almost 7 assists? But he had to play with dudes like Kuzma lmao. Very curious to see Giannis playing for someone like Spoelstra in Miami.

He swept Miami in 2021 en route to the chip. Giannis was Jimmy Butlers primary defender and neutralised him, albiet Miami had a weird season that year. Bucks shot the ball super well as a team, including a Middleton game winner and Bryn Forbes making a bunch of 3s lol

Funny that Bud didn’t do that with Jimmy in 2023, makes sense that he trusted Jrue and Giannis was playing hurt, but Jimmy cooked Jrue pretty badly

Sounds like r/nba

Gimme P over any ESPN talking head any day of the week tho

He can be annoying but he clearly knows the most about the game along with Kenny. Don’t think the show works without him. Would get too goofy