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ESPN.com: Giannis Antetokounmpo has Bucks as last unbeaten team in NBA

From Jamal Collier:

The Milwaukee Bucks are the NBA’s last remaining unbeaten team, improving to 4-0 with a 119-108 victory against the New York Knicks on Friday night.

It’s the fourth time in franchise history the Bucks have started a season at least 4-0 and their best start since 2018-19, when they rattled off seven straight victories en route to 60 wins and the league’s best record.

“We have a very good team, but we got to stay humble as much as we can,” Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said after Friday’s game. “I remember the year, 2018-19, we had the 7-0 start to the season, but we didn’t win the championship. [The 4-0 start] doesn’t really matter.”

Antetokounmpo nearly put up a triple-double against New York on Friday night, finishing with 30 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists to help carry Milwaukee to another victory despite starting the season without two key rotation players in forward Khris Middleton (wrist) and guard Pat Connaughton (calf).

This was a weird game, because the Knicks played so poorly that they likely would have lost had the Bucks had the Bucks not played well, but the Bucks DID play well, so it was never really in doubt in the second half.

So I really don’t know how much this loss said about this current Knicks team. When they have bad games against good teams, they lose. But is it a fluky bad performance? That’s what we don’t know at this point.

It is hilarious that RJ scored 20. Too funny.

80 replies on “ESPN.com: Giannis Antetokounmpo has Bucks as last unbeaten team in NBA”

In my opinion without Middleton’s injury the Bucks would have won last year, they’re really good, they’ll get better and are the only unbeaten team left, so this was an expected defeat and who knows, maybe that our (very supposed) big-3 did lay an egg together in a semi-certain loss is a good thing, it could be worse if it happens in a close/winnable game.

Bucks started 8-0, we clawed back and even took the lead but a sudden blackout put us in a big hole and we can’t crawl out of it.

In general it looks like we’re back to the old “Bench Mob is better” recipe, except for Reddish.

Spida’s Cavs are next.

Play(s) Of The Game:
0-4 FG, 3 TOs, 2 shooting fouls (including an and-1).
Everything that happened during the Bucks’ 18-0 run in the third, with all our starters except Mitch on the floor. 3 minues of hell, lead balloned to 24, game over.

Stat(s) Of The Day:
19. Bucks’ offensive rebound (26.3% of their missed shots)
16. Both teams had a bad shooting night, but the Bucks took 16 more shots.

Brunson D
Honestly I wasn’t expecting this kind of game: 3-10, more TOs than AST (3-2), 3 missed FTs(!) and some bad defense. Better put this in the closet and go on fast, Spida’s coming.

Fournier D
The only starter with a decent start, then he vanished like his namesake Casper. We know he’s a placeholder for Grimes, but Grimes has disappeared to another dimension and we don’t know when he’ll be back, so he needs to play better.

Barrett D +
Ding ding ding, he got his 20 points again and this can become a season long joke.
Honestly, had a good 3rd quarter but was terrible the rest of the game and he’s back bricking free throws. Plus, his defense so far has been subpar.

Randle D
In a really mediocre performance I try to play optimist and point to three positive (or not-negative) things: he went to the line (8-9 FT), rebounded well (12), he didn’t lose his mind with the refs/opponents/teammates/staff. The rest was putrid.

Robinson C-
Limited by fouls, he did suffer Lopez physicality and Portis activity.

IQ B-
A good spark then went cold but put a lot of effort on D. Why did he start missing FTs?

Rose B
Another very efficient but short display (12 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast in 15 minutes). I’d raher have him play more in JB’s bad days…

Toppin C +
His energy and effort are unquestioned, alas he’s not a good rebounder and he’s totally unable to box-out opponents, I think that’s the main reason Thibs’ isn’t playing him more with Randle struggling.
6-9 from long range in the last two games, but I don’t like him wandering outside the arc all the time.

Reddish D
That’s the Reddish we know: shots taken without a single pass, wandering defense… a bad game or is the pixie dust’s effect over? We’ll see in Cleveland.

Hartenstein C-
His floater is ugly but mostly efficient. Always in the middle of action, good or bad, forced to play 28 minutes by Mitch’s foul trouble he did what he can. I dislike the disappearance of point-center Hart.

Thibs C
Went with mixed-lineups using IQ and Hart a lot more than the other bench players, maybe he would have done better playing Rose and Obi a little bit more, with JB and Randle so subpar.

I went to bed right as this was getting out of hand. The Bucks clearly outclass us, even without Middleton. Having all of our Big 3 play badly on the same night is insurmountable if the bench mob isn’t playing superhumanly. RJ is the only one of the 3 I’m genuinely concerned about, though.

The Morning News bot strikes again, i’d suggest we always comment on the post game thread (meaning here, in this case), and let the morning news one without comments until a person with editing powers comes and deletes it. But hey, this idea probably has the same chances as the current Knicks iteration has to become a championship contender. 😀

RJ is the only one of the 3 I’m genuinely concerned about, though.

Me too, Alan. But at least when we were down 20+ pts the good RJ showed up, maybe it was because the Bucks were resting their stars, but at least we saw a glimpse of good play from him. Maybe this game woke him up, that’s my hope. He can’t keep having long stretches of horrendous games, he’s on his 4th year in the league, two or three bad games is one thing, eight or nine as he usually does it’s not a good look on the prospects of RJ the #2 option on a good team.

The Bucks are quite impressive. Giannis and Jrue is a pretty amazing defensive combo and their offense isn’t terrible.

Mitch had some dumb fouls. Still needs to work on it which is slightly discouraging.

Overall, this team is what we thought it was so far.

so this was an expected defeat and who knows, maybe that our (very supposed) big-3 did lay an egg together in a semi-certain loss is a good thing, it could be worse if it happens in a close/winnable game

Yeah, if they were to choose a game to do it, this one would be at the top of the list. What i don’t like is having 3 options to take the game in their hands and all 3 being off, because having 3 options should guarantee you that at least one would be playing well, right? And that’s the thing, unless they get better, RJ and Randle are not good options, meaning Brunson can’t have a bad game because they don’t step up and take his place leading the team. Another thing, Randle seeing Brunson playing bad and trying to lead the team was exactly the bad Randle from last season. It’s early, but now we have 3 good games and 2 bad games on the Randle redemption tour. I’m still not convinced he changed all that much, but let’s hope he proves me wrong.

The Morning News bot strikes again, i’d suggest we always comment on the post game thread (meaning here, in this case), and let the morning news one without comments until a person with editing powers comes and deletes it.

I totally agree Cyber 🙂

Another thing, Randle seeing Brunson playing bad and trying to lead the team was exactly the bad Randle from last season. It’s early, but now we have 3 good games and 2 bad games on the Randle redemption tour.

I’m keeping tab too… 😉

RJ was 6-10 from inside the line and took 8 FTs, those are positives. He would have had a good game if he made a couple 3s.

Also good to see IQ play more minutes than Frenchie.

From a Twitter account I haven’t seen before

Knicks Analytics

+/- tonight:

Evan Fournier -22
Immanuel Quickley +11

Since 2021:

Evan Fournier -105
Immanuel Quickley +291

RJ was 6-10 from inside the line and took 8 FTs, those are positives. He would have had a good game if he made a couple 3s.

Give us hope, DRed, give us hope! 🙂

Also good to see IQ play more minutes than Frenchie

Speaking of frenchie, i think you all know i’m a big fan (LOL!). What would it take to have Detroit agree to a swap Fournier for Bojan? I think Bojan is way more consistent than Fournier, that always disappears on parts of the game, and that would be very important for this team, to have a steady teammate that you know you can pass him the ball and he’ll deliver. Funny enough, ESPN’s trade machine give us 12 more wins if we make this swap. What would remain the same would be defense, because Bojan is as bad as Fournier on that end. Maybe Bojan would get a little better with Thibs, who knows.

I had to skip this game, and the KB thread and box score make it seem ugly indeed — and not ugly in a “We played our hearts out but they’re better” way but ugly in a “Starters had nine turnovers and couldn’t hit a barn door” way. Maybe that’s a good wakeup call, and the Bucks can really play, so ….

RE Obi’s D/rebounding: With his body, he should be able to box out fine. Someone should teach him.

Thx for the Stevie link, Z-Man.

Onward.

It doesn’t show in the box score, but Brook Lopez is a great complement to Giannis. He’s so big, strong, skilled, and crafty. He just manhandled Hart on a couple of plays.

Yeah, i think we have a problem going against strong Cs. With Adams it was the same. It’ll probably be a disaster when we meet Embiid. Yesterday it also didn’t help to have Mitch getting back to committing stupid fouls.

The Knicks starting lineup is really boring, essentially unwatchable.

Good to great nights for the incineration/pathos squad: Hali, Bones, Agbaji, Jalen Johnson. Hali might be headed for superstardom.

1. I think we should give as much credit to the Bucks defense as our own players for shooting poorly last night. The Bucks have an elite defense.

2. The plus minus of our bench is far exceeding the starters again this year. I don’t think that means the bench is a better unit. It means the gap between our bench and other benches is significant but our starters are struggling against other starters. We knew that would be the case coming into the season. We don’t have a real #1 option.

3. RJ has been playing some minutes with the bench players and imo looks better with them. I haven’t looked at any data, but maybe he’s a little better against the softer defenses playing faster.

“Yeah, i think we have a problem going against strong Cs. With Adams it was the same. It’ll probably be a disaster when we meet Embiid. Yesterday it also didn’t help to have Mitch getting back to committing stupid fouls.”

I said that last year and mentioned it again this year prior to the Adams game. Matchups matter a lot. The thing is, if Mitch has a rough matchup, maybe we have an edge somewhere else and can take advantage of that. Whoever that is should have a big night. Some nights it may be our bench vs. theirs. If the other team has the best of practically every matchup, then they are simply better than us.

Someone said yesterday that Lebron only plays for the accolades now, and today’s headlines confirm it.

LeBron passes Malone for most career 20-point games

I hate our defensive rebounding. When other teams attacks the offensive boards we give up too many 2nd and 3rd chances on key possessions.

Either Thibs is a genius or our defense is gonna implode:

* Knicks are 2nd in defensive 3p% at .299(!)

* Knicks give up 2nd most attempts, 19th most makes

The rankings aren’t far off from our last 2 seasons but holy crap that 3p% It’s low

Sad to see all that pretty ball and player movement fade away under solid ball pressure- something to watch going forward. Great defensive game from Javon Carter though- that’s what you hope for from Deuce- great point of attack defense and hit some threes.

Also- To me “Bad Randle” is 6-20 with 5 turnovers and pouting instead of getting back on D. Randle had a bad shooting game but other than taking a few wide open threes early, he didn’t really try to hijack the offense- his usage was 21%. He really does need to to get back to at least the 34% from three he put up in NO to be efficient long term but while he’s had a bad play here and there (mostly unnecessary fouls) and a couple of bad shooting nights we haven’t had a true “Bad Randle” game yet.

Max, good breakdown. Don’t know how to feel about this game. It felt like we should have lost 125-77, so the fact we stayed within earshot (and for a long time within striking distance) despite our big three playing like kindergartners is sorta kinda maybe a plus.

At the same time those big three played like hot burning garbage (I won’t even give Barrett the third quarter). I do give Brunson a pass, everyone has bad ones and hopefully that was his for the month. Also he didn’t do anything head-grippingly stupid that I remember, he just missed shots and turned the ball over (okay, some of those were just careless, but there was some serious ball-hawking shit going on from the Bucks guards).

At the same time, they were going to lose to the Bucks. Just wish they hadn’t pushed all my triggers while doing that.

Mitch is funny. Totally man among boys against mediocre length, but against the big guys he’s outmatched. Which, I guess, is how it should be. So there’s that. I do like the man against boys games more.

“The rankings aren’t far off from our last 2 seasons but holy crap that 3p% It’s low”

It’s more than twice Barrett’s season average so far…

I’m with DRed on looking at 2p% which stabalizes faster and with the expectation 3p% will regress.

RJ is now at .484, his previous high was .457. That’s a massive improvement! It’s honestly still a terrible % though 91 on 2p+ (plus if it didn’t show). He could overcome that number if he shoots 40% from 3 (Randle was lower in his good year), but he’s not exactly doing that.

Randle is also at his highest Knicks 2p% (slightly over his Knicks yr 1), but I’m skeptical he can hit enough 3s for it to matter much.

Just to be clear, like Thibs I absolutely believe Barrett is going to turn things around and start playing well, or at least better. Until then I reserve the right to roll in his putrescence like a puppy with a roadkill skunk.

On a different subject, didn’t watch the game, sadly, but this is an interesting take, from the Athletic:

‘I asked my friends from STATS Perform to look into every other game in Verlander’s Cooperstown-bound career, regular season and postseason, in which his team handed him a lead of five runs or more. Guess how those games went:

• His personal record in games like that? How about 99-and-0!

• His team’s record in games like that? How about 101-and-2!

Here’s another way to look at it: The Phillies needed to climb out of a five-run sinkhole against a pitcher so good that he had three different months this year when he didn’t allow five runs (April, July and September).’

The Bucks are a really, really, good team…championship level.
They are better than the Knicks in almost every position.
Brook > Mitch
Giannis > Julius
Middleton > RJ
Grayson Brunson
I could go on. It was a credit to the team that they competed. But I agree with most of the assessments. It was not a well played game by the Knicks. I was hoping for much more from RJ and Julius.

Jericho Sims has to play more when the Knicks are facing disruptive Bigs. Mitch tries to do too much and Hart is routinely outmuscled on the defensive end. Sims has the speed and leaping ability to place pressure on an opponent.

Grayson < Brunson
One game isn't going to take all the great games Brunson has had in his career.

Agree on Sims. If Mitch and Hart are not working well with strong Cs, let Sims try to see what he can do.

“Jericho Sims has to play more when the Knicks are facing disruptive Bigs. ”

Thank you…I have stated that during the games where it was evident…but although the Thibs accolades roll in on how he has evolved…I still don’t think he has that out of the box mentality, i.e, put the 2nd string QB in to spark the team…thing going on in his head…I don’t even think he has contemplated it yet…which is sad/depressing…i mean I guess he is thinks of him only as an insurance policy now for the inevitable injury to one of those other two guys but he adds something that neither one of them has…

I wouldn’t put Sims on Lopez, I’d put him on Giannis. Sims moves very well laterally. It probably doesn’t work, but he’s potentially our best perimeter defending big.

It’s probably six quick fouls, but I agree on trying Sims against someone like Giannis. He’s our only big with real lateral quickness. I don’t think there’s any question it’s worth a five-minute experiment. Especially when the alternatives aren’t really working.

Reality check game, particularly in terms of how effectively the Bucks were able to contain Brunson. Obviously, they are an elite defensive team, with a ton of length and athleticism, on top of having a coach who’s good at scheming against opponents. But when Brunson can’t just have his way in the paint and get into his bag, the offense is going to revert to what it’s been in previous Thibs seasons. And when that happens on a night when guys aren’t hitting shots, it could be ugly.

That we kept things relatively close for most of the game is a testament to guys playing hard. But the talent deficit is going to continue to be an issue.

Things are going great on the other side of the river!

Nets owner Joe Tsai and the team have condemned Kyrie Irving‘s social media posts promoting the 2018 film ‘Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,’ which is widely considered to be antisemitic

(1) The offense was the real issue last night. Defending Giannis and defensive rebounding were an issue, but the defense was just fine (although it did seem like Giannis could’ve taken over anytime).

(2) Brunson got stonewalling by Carter, which is very worrying, but Randle & RJ need to start hitting 3s. End of story.

(3) Thibs needs ride the bench when it’s hot, Rose/IQ/Obi can he as potent as our starters.

(4) Randle over Obi was the right call. He’s our best defensive rebounder. Maybe pair Mitch/Obi & Hart/Randle?

(5) We need an alternate backup 3 who can board better than Cam. This is another place you expect RJ to step up too.

(6) Portis had a 25%(!) OReb%. Presumably also shared the floor with Nwora and/or Ibaka who were at 14% & 15%. That’s 40% ORebs to our 60%. Atrocious.

(7) The East is big man.

@uSTADIUMNBA:
Julius Randle and RJ Barrett have the worst 3PT % for any starting G/F duo in the #NBA so far. They are 10/50 from deep (20%).
Randle is 6/22 (27.2%)
Barrett is 4/28 (14.3%)

It’s really tough to watch (and fathom) RJ Barrett and Julius Randle in the same lineup.(*) If you’re going to insist having both on the roster, they should almost never play together.

(*) And then pretty much a “traditional” center added in. Aesthetic atrocity, thy name is Knicks.

Fournier has impressed me so far.

He rarely gets open looks. Everything is off the bounce or doing that corner fadeaway with someone in his face. Usually both. He’s still hitting 37.5%.

He’s the best shooter in the league, he’s just been awful inside the arc and too slow coming off curls.

RJ is hitting 16% of his wide open 3 point attempts because dummy Thibs is playing a traditional space clogging center and mercenary Julius “The Tantrum” Randle (who has managed to hit only 11% of his wide open 3s because he is pouting about the spacing)

Very strange that the Nets are playing the Pacers back to back (tonight and Monday) and both games are at Barclays

Here’s hoping that Donovan Mitchell gets so amped that he shoots the Cavs out of the game.

Probably not, though. Anyone see that posterization of our poor little Luke Kornet? That was cruel.

Might be a game to see more than 1.7 seconds of Deuce. But I guess this late into the season it’s no time for crazy experiments…

Wow…. I hope the NBA takes this more seriously than the NFL takes Deshaun Watson.

Article says he’s seeking mental health treatment. I wish him well in that pursuit and hope it works.

OMG.
I’m scared about the “trauma” he referred in his statement.
The kid (he’ll be 20 on Christmas Eve) needs help, let’s hope he gets it.

***DONNIE NOO***

Sorry. But I have to give a voice to the voiceless. it’s the Kyrie in me.

Jalen Brunson gives me 08/09 Nate Robinson vibes. In the details they’re different in that Robinson had crazy hops while Brunson is more of a crafty player.

But they both can go off on offense and are overall good offensive players who also are generally neutral at best offensively.

Brunson is a more well-rounded offensive player, but he still just feels like a competent starter who can seem better than he is since offense tends to stand out more than defense.

The Knicks’ greatest strength still seems to me to be their depth. If anything though my expectations have dropped. Barrett was the big x-factor, and so far he’s been horrible. He needed to take a big step for this team to be more than a play in team.

Portland has a hella exciting team. If Sharpe is the real deal, that team could be the best ticket in the NBA. Simons is electric and Josh Hart is ferocious. Grant, Nurcic and Winslow are all in their 20’s. And Dame is worth the price of admission himself.

Saw that one, Owen, although I also liked his takes on DSJ and Mathurin.

Also excited about Mathurin. One of those guys who popped for me the first time I watched him. Having a great night too.

Dennis Smith Jr getting the better of Steph Curry in the final minute to send game into OT is not something I thought I’d ever write.

32 points, 22 true shots, and one turnover.

I mean, a star is born. That’s ridiculous.

Going through box scores, and I’m pretty much jealous of every roster except the Bulls maybe.

bailed on another show…I’m gonna have to start planning this stuff out a little better…turns out a 90 minute drive each way is a persuasive argument to do nothing…

plus, my social network is not so large…one hundred and eighty minutes spent alone, will not take place on the I10 and 101…

All the tanking teams forgot how to tank

.
Yeah, and on the other hand Brooklyn, Miami, Sacramento and the Lakers seem to be racing to the bottom despite their intentions otherwise.

Going through box scores, and I’m pretty much jealous of every roster except the Bulls maybe.

That’s the real bummer. The one time we finished high in the lottery, we wound up with RJ, who is still an extremely flawed player in year 4. Obi could perhaps be great, but he rarely plays. So we don’t get to enjoy the kind of player that nearly every other team in the league has at least one of.

Yeah, but those teams don’t have the memories of Alec Burks’s clutch steals!!!

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