Eric Nehm
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
uh that's a great question um they are old they are not uh you know like they're not the youngest team anymore and winning in the nba is hard like it just is like some teams make it look very easy and if you have lots of talent it can be made even easier but if you want to win every single night you have to put in the work you can't just roll the ball out the league is far too talented
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
Teams are trying to win too much. They're too well coached, all of it. Like the league is just too good. You can't just roll the ball out and win basketball games. If you could, the Bucs would do that on a nightly basis because they are overwhelmingly talented. But that is not the case. And it was funny just to kind of hear the Bucs after, you know, you have this great juxtaposition of two games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
They go to New York on Sunday and get smacked. 140, 106. It's not close. It's the second time that they've gotten blown up by the Knicks. They're 0-8 against the top three teams in the Eastern Conference thus far this season. And then you see tonight where they play the Kings. They're in control wire to wire. They blow them out. They have a 47-point first quarter in the
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
After the game, both Giannis and Dame are like, the thing that we have to do is keep our competitive spirit high. That's what we have to do. We have to consistently compete night in, night out. That is what is going to lead to us winning games on a nightly basis. And while that is lovely to say,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
It's true in January, just like it was true in December, just like it was true in November, and just like it was true in October. This ain't new. This isn't something they weren't aware of.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
This is the reality for an older team as they're trying to win games, get through a regular season, and most importantly, something that they haven't done for the last two years, stay healthy for the postseason. They haven't done that. They've been trying to do that. They keep having injuries. Giannis keeps getting hurt, not playing in the last two playoffs. Chris Middleton's dealt with injuries.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
Dame's dealt with injuries. They've just not been able to be healthy. They know what they can do if they can stay healthy, which is where all of this becomes very interesting. They know that to win games, you have to compete every night. They also know it's really hard. They also know you could get hurt if you do those things. And to me, it's just fascinating to see
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
This team go through this because for five years under Mike Budenholzer, they pushed really hard. They won all the time. It was an easy 50 wins every season, and they would blow teams out. Guys would sit out the fourth quarter. You honestly play 30 minutes a night, and they'd just be destroying teams. And that was the whole thing. They would just like be locked in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
And this is how hard we're going to compete every night. Yeah, it's just turned 30. You know, it's it's a little bit harder now. It's not quite as easy to get up every night and compete in that same way, which to answer your question, where are they? What are they going to be? it feels like this is what it's going to be. There's going to be nights where they decide that they got it in their legs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
There's going to be nights where maybe they don't. And hopefully by the end of the season, they're somewhere around the third, fourth, or fifth seed, and they can then attempt to compete every night in the playoffs. It might be harder to do considering they didn't do it for the whole season. But when you have older legs, these are some of the concessions you sometimes have to make.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
So it is a really fascinating team to watch on a nightly basis because of really that. It's not existential in the way that the Warriors are trying to figure out who are we and what's going on. Can we actually do this? The Bucs know they can actually do it. They just know how hard it is to do it on a nightly basis in an 82-game regular season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
Yeah, you know, this is not a Doc Rivers thing to do. Doc loves his veterans, loves playing the older guys because they know what they're doing. They know how to win games. But, you know, they've started Andre Jackson Jr. for almost the entire season. And Andre doesn't always close games, but he starts every game. Doesn't always play 25 minutes, but he plays at least 15 to 20 each night.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
And that's a step forward. A second year player getting 20 minutes a night, great. AJ Green, same thing. Rather than starting, he comes off the bench, he gets 20 minutes a night. You know, they added Gary Trent Jr. as a free agent. Gary Trent Jr. is a veteran, but a young veteran. He's still only 25 years old.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
So you have those, like, those bit players, those role players are starting to get more and more incorporated. You mentioned Ryan Rollins. He's on a two-way for the Bucs right now, but he's been a real bright spot for them as a two-way player, being able to take some of the backup point guard minutes, being able to play alongside Damian Lillard, use his length defensively. Like, they are...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
getting some of those things right like they're starting to fold in some of those players where uh this is what you have to do when you are a second apron team under the new collective bargaining agreement like you have to find ways to get cheap players to contribute in different ways and they are doing some of that and i mean i didn't even mention a guy like torian prince like last year for the lakers he's still under 30 another one of those young vets or olds young whatever
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
However you want to say it. He's a young vet. Yeah, he's a young vet. However you want to say it, he can help with the legs. Maybe Dame and Chris and Brooke still doing his thing. All those guys can be a little bit older.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
uh but the young guys are starting to get folded in and that has been like a real priority of the season but i think at the same time those guys don't know how to win in the same way so you have some of the mistakes that come along with these things the inconsistencies the ups and downs so uh again it just puts them in this fascinating place where uh i don't know if they will ever like make the decision like as a team like
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
you know what, screw it. We are going to compete every night. And let's say in the next 40 games, they rattle off 25 and 15. They could do that. Or they could just be like, you know what, we're good. Like, let's just keep getting through this. Let's stay healthy. Let's get the four seed. And then let's make our run in the playoffs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
Like it's, it's a really, I think a tougher decision than it may look like from the outside, because you do have to, Figure out how much you have in your stamina bar. How low is it getting? Do you need to have this much to get through the whole postseason? That could end up being, what, 40 games? An extra 40 games at the end of the year that you end up playing? It's tough. It's a lot.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
It's tough to get to those 16 wins. I think it's easy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
I think they believe they are a championship team now. That is something that when you talk to Giannis, Dame, Chris, Brooke, Bobby, Doc Rivers, all of them say, we can compete with anyone. We have no doubts about that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
Even when they lost their eighth game against the top three teams in the East on Sunday, and I brought that stat up to Doc Rivers and said, hey, you're 0-8 against the top three teams. He just kind of laughed and said... You know, that's something you guys, like, write about. Or that's something Tim Bontemps is going on TV and he's going to talk about. Oh, you know, Evan won against whatever.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
And he's like, but coach is a big athletic guy. Yeah, I know. Hey, I mean, he knew I was writing. So I guess bomb temps on TV. Like, I'll have to work on my TV presence. It's a good point, Dave. But just, like, the idea that, like, that matters more outside of their locker room than inside their locker room. So I think there's a high level of confidence inside the locker room.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
But that doesn't mean they... think they're a complete product, that there isn't more that they could do, that they can try to find some more. And I think to your point, Dave, where it gets interesting is you look at that cap table. The Bucks have been in the luxury tax for years. They've been in the second apron for years.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
They're going to pay among the most of any teams to have the team that they have this year from a luxury tax perspective. There is a ripcord to pull. Chris Middleton has a player option for about $32 million next year. Brooke Lopez is in the final year of a two-year $48 million deal.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
Bobby Portis has a player option for next year that one would guess at his age and what he's been doing that he's going to opt out of and look for a new contract. If you want to very quickly drop down and get out of the second, get under the second apron, under the first apron, get out of the tax, maybe even have some cap room this summer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
There are, there is at least the possibility of a lot of expiring contracts there. So you could wait until the end of the season and do all that. Or maybe you look through it and you say, that's $52 million in expiring contracts. And you go and make a big play. Go to the market. There's a guy out there that could end up being a mercenary. No one really knows.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
Maybe only Bernie Lee knows what Jimmy Butler is really thinking and how he's actually thinking about playing. But those are...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
it's not I don't think the Bucks feel like they're desperate in in maybe the way that some of the other teams are right now like oh my God we have to make a move but I I do think if you believe the next step for this team is going all the way back under the tax and you know trying to find some cap room how do you want to use your 50 million dollars in expiring contracts like that is that is that to me a real question that that they have to ask so again that that doesn't mean that
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
they should be considered favorites or anything like that for anyone or to make huge moves or anything like that. But those are, as you mentioned, Dave, those are the future thinking questions you have to be thinking about of where do we want to go after this? And also, where does where we want to go after this affect what we do in the next three months?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
And that's why I do think maybe this trade deadline could be a little bit more interesting than people might think for the bucks, or it could be even
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors waving the white flag? | Cavs bounce back
more boring than anyone could ever imagine and all they do is trade a minimum guy for a minimum guy like they did last year when they traded you know backup point guards and brought patrick beverly it was incredibly boring it wasn't exciting they made a move they moved the deck chairs around a little bit and and that was that so uh the the possibilities seem almost endless right now which i think is very exciting as we approach the cherry deadline about three weeks from now
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
threw it to Brook Lopez, and then caught it back from Brook Lopez and went up the floor and shot a deep three. That was not something they tried. They had Giannis inbound and then had Giannis try that. They did that with Giannis, right. Right. And again...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
that worked out in a way right because you did get the ball up the floor and you were able to get a shot off but I don't think you necessarily want Giannis dribbling two-thirds of the way up the floor and pulling up for three that's just not a shot that's in his comfort zone uh and it didn't go in and and the Bucks lose and you know now they're in a spot where they are tied with the Indiana Pacers with 18 games left in the regular season uh the Indiana Pacers are the team that beat them in the playoffs
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
season in the 3-6 matchup obviously no Giannis last year as he is out with the left soleus strain but there is lots of residual beef, let's say, between these two teams. They do not like each other very much.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
That's right. NBA Cup last year. They played each other a million times last year. So five times during, well, four times during the regular season, plus the NBA Cup game. So five times during the regular season last year. Add on six more games in the postseason, so 11 times. And now all of that leads up to Saturday, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And we get to do it all over again. So, yes, the beef continues. It has been lovely. It has been just a wild storyline over the last year between these two teams. And we just get to keep writing more chapters of it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
I think it's really kind of a disappointing performance from them in that they did many of the things that they struggled with last season against the Indiana Pacers. You mentioned the fast break points, excuse me. Well, an easy way to give a fast break points is turn the ball over a whole bunch. And the Bucs committed 15 turnovers tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And that is something that plagued them last year in the playoffs. And to me specifically tonight, it was the types of turnovers. It was let's throw it backwards. And oh, my gosh, TJ McConnell picked that off. Of course he did. He lives for that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
He does it every day long.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
He did it to you six games in the playoffs last year, five more games in the regular season. You know, he's going to do that. Don't throw it backwards. That is going to get picked off. And you just kind of saw a number like, you know, the Bucks had an inbounds play out of a timeout. They drop an ATO. They're trying to get the ball inbounds.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
They can't do it and it gets picked off and it turns into a three. And that was the thing that happened in the playoffs last year. That was the thing that happened at the start of the season. Like these are problems that have occurred for the Bucks, you know, kind of consecutively for the last year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Like it hasn't been something that I think for a long time it kind of disappeared and now it's back. And you just have to think to yourself like, okay, Mistakes can happen in NBA games. There's 82 of them. It's going to happen. But the same mistakes should not happen. There should be lessons learned and there should be things done to avoid those same mistakes year over year, game over game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And this to me, that's part of what made this loss so frustrating or kind of so disappointing to see for the bucks is that it was so many of the habits that I would have thought after 11 games against the Pacers last season, you weren't going to see again this year. And it just kind of all came back.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
You have all those turnovers and, you know, you get to a spot where you drop a game that obviously I don't think the bucks think they should have lost. Right. Like they, they, put themselves in position to have a three-point lead with 3.9 seconds left. And you could have taught all those same lessons in a win, but at least you would have had the win.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And here, now you got to learn those lessons all over again, and you got a loss, and now you are tied with the Indiana Pacers, and you got to fight them off for the final 18 games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
You just wrote about their offense. They're middling, and they shouldn't be. They have Giannis. They have Dame. I mean, this should be at least top 10 offense at all times at any stretch of the season. They should never be middle of the road like they are. Giannis gets one shot in the fourth quarter, the last shot, right, that runner.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
What do they do between now and the playoffs to juice this offense? Because they're going to have to score more. The defense is fine, but they have to score more.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Yeah, I think it's a really interesting thing to think about. Because throughout this season, when I hear people talk about the Bucs from the outside, it's like, oh, is the defense going to be good enough in the playoffs? And I always have to remind people, the defense has performed better than the offense this year. And as you mentioned, Dave, that's a crazy thing to say, considering...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Giannis is putting up MVP numbers, improved numbers from last year, one of the most efficient seasons of his career. He's 30 points per game, 30-11-6, doing the same thing that he did last year. That's insane, right? That alone should be enough. But not only do they have that, Dave. They have...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Dame Lillard putting up 25 and seven in the third or fourth most efficient season of his entire career. And that is a top 75 all NBA eight time career. So it's a pretty impressive career and it's still one of his best seasons. And not only is it that the Milwaukee Bucks are second in the NBA in three point shooting percentage. when I put all of those things, I stack all of those things up, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
That screams amazing offense. That should be a top five offense. That should be a top three offense. And this season, the bucks just haven't been able to, I don't system.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
There's too many times where I'm watching them set up a Brooke Lopez post up. There's just an, and against miles Turner even, and Brooke is good in the posts, but it just, it, it slows their offense down to a crawl to get these post-ups, man. Bobby Portis does the same thing when he's out there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
You get the ball across by 10%. 20. Jokic has these coaches posting up guys at the freaking scorers table to try to slow them down.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
But like this is a lead NBA offense. You get the ball over as quickly as you can. You get yourself as much time as possible to work on the shot clock in your area in an attacking position. That's what you do.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And repeatedly when you watch the Milwaukee Bucks play, whether it's Giannis bringing the ball to the floor, whether it's Dane bringing the ball to the floor, the Bucks are going to cross probably around 18. And that already takes away your very first action. So you're limiting the number of actions that you can get into. You're limiting how hard you're making the defense work.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And this has been a problem for the Bucs all year. And part of that is, of course, you have a guy like Damian Lillard that does like to play at a slower pace. That is going to be. You have a guy like, as you mentioned, Dave Brook-Lopez. Believe it or not, a 36-year-old, but a little bit older. And he's 7 feet tall and 280 pounds. This is going to take him a little while to get up the floor.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
But there's just so many of those things where I don't like to say systemized because it makes it seem like there's not skill or talent involved. But when you watch a team like the Cleveland Cavaliers, it is action after action after action after action. And it doesn't really matter who it is. It could be Donovan Mitchell. It could be Darius Garland. It could be Ty Jerome.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
like whoever it is they're into their stuff right away the bucks are never like that and there are hard things to cover about the books right yannis is a terror if you get him into a post up you have to send help we saw the pacers do it again and again uh but often tonight when they did do that his pass was to someone in the final five seconds of the shot clock
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
It would be lovely if that pass was to someone with 12 seconds left on the shot. Right. Because then it isn't I have to shoot this. It is I could shoot it. And if it's not the best look that we have, let's get into another action. Maybe I dribble the ball uphill and it's into a handoff for Damian Lillard to get a shot because Damian Lillard's amazing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Like there's just those levels aren't there in the Bucs offense anymore. And that's, to me, how you get to a spot where you have two spectacular individual seasons, you have spectacular three-point shooting, and you have an offense that still finds itself. I would have to look after tonight. I would guess maybe it went up a spot. It's probably 13th or 14th in offensive rating.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And that's just not good enough. It can't be when you have two generational offensive players on the same team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Yeah, I mean, we get to have some fun. because the Bucs still have the Pacers one more time on Saturday. The Pistons and the Bucs play each other the final two games of the season. Both of their final games are against each other. So it's Bucs-Pistons for those two. And that's where we get to a spot where it's like, I could lay out everything for you right now and tomorrow it might be different.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
The day after it might be different. But like, just know they are all in there and you've got to play some good basketball down the stretch. And for the Milwaukee Bucks, life is going to be pretty difficult over the next little while. They obviously, you can see me, I'm in Indianapolis right now. The Bucks head back to Milwaukee. They play the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday. That's a break.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
LeBron is out. Okay, that's cool. But then they have the Indiana Pacers on Saturday. That leads into a back-to-back against the Oklahoma City on Sunday. Then the Milwaukee Bucks go on a five-game Western Conference road trip. On that five-game Western Conference road trip, they get the Los Angeles Lakers, which is... Okay, LeBron will probably be out. That is nice-ish.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Not so nice-ish playing the Golden State Warriors. The Kings aren't the best team in the world, but they're going to be fighting for a playoff position. The Phoenix Suns also. fighting for a playoff position, fighting for a spot in the plan, and have Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. That's a tough one. And then, oh, by the way, you end the road trip at elevation against the Denver Nuggets.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
That is a hellish... A hellish 10 or so games. And the Bucs are leading into that by losing three straight. So not exactly what you want to be doing. So while I would love to break down the full tiebreakers between four and six for you, Zena, I think the Bucs have much bigger problems than tiebreakers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Absolutely. Sounds like Eric is thinking like we are and that the Pistons might make the four seed, which would be absolutely absurd. I think that's a good place to wrap it up. That's going to do it for the show, folks. Thank you to Eric Name for joining us. Go and read him over at The Athletic. Thank you to Zena Keita, as always. Guys, if you're watching this on YouTube, take a moment, subscribe.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And if you're listening to the podcast, go to your favorite podcast app, wherever they take reviews, and give us a five-star review. Be very nice. If it's not five stars, remember... keep it to yourself. Thank you guys for listening as always. Thanks for waking up with us.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
I hope he brings up the blown defensive coverage because they were confused. Tarion Prince looked like he was in a zone. Kyle Kuzma was just, I don't know, he was running a slant route even though he was playing defense. Anyway, it was a heck of a play for the Pacers. And we'll talk to Eric more about that play in particular after the break.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
We got to talk about the Cavs because they are, once again, the biggest story of the night. They win over the Brooklyn Nets, who put a scare into them because that's what the Nets do these days. The Nets are very well prepared. They're very well coached. And they can beat you if they hit shots. And they were hitting shots against the Cavs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
But luckily, they got 18 points from Darius Garland in the fourth. And they won their 15th straight game. This is their second game. 15 game winning streak of the season. They also had a 12 game winning streak. Now they've become the sixth team ever with two winning streaks of 15 or more. Now you might not remember this. Okay. But in 1947, the capitals did this twice.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Now they went on to lose in the conference finals to the Chicago stags. Hopefully the Cleveland Cavaliers, you know, they've got a little bit of a brighter future.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
How are you? It's a good morning for everybody if you're not a Milwaukee Buck. How about the freaking Pacers? Tyrese Halliburton just has a knack for hitting these tough shots. Another game winner drawn up. Actually, it wasn't a game winner the first time, so... In case you guys didn't see it last night, we got to talk about this just right off the jump because it was an amazing play.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Yeah. And that Darius Garland flurry to start the fourth quarter. That's the sort of stuff that this is where, you know, him and Donovan Mitchell, I think that they feed so well into each other. And you see a game like this with no Mitchell. And, you know, it probably would have been a little bit of an easier night had he been out there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
But to get away with that, I'm like, this is the important stuff that that they need to do. I mean, it feels like they I looked ahead at their at their schedule.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
and i just don't know necessarily like when the streak is going to end um you know so they've won now 15 straight they've got a orlando who we keep talking about got offensive problems they got the clippers coming up who they they lost a game you know which we'll get to in a second to the pelicans and they've been scuffling a little bit especially their last 15 games they've got the kings who are up and down they've got the sons who are struggling they've got utah
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
I mean, we're talking about they've got a real good chance at going to 20 straight, which is so funny. I actually if you do the math, they've won 42 games. If you just have those three big streaks, that would be the third most wins in the league tied with the Denver Nuggets just in three winning streaks. Whoa. They just won so many games. You know, this is kind of how it works out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
They're having an incredible season. Yeah. Speaking of domination. Yeah. Shout out. He's going to win coach of the year by a mile. Speaking of dominating. Hey. The Pelicans, they got to win. They're doing okay in the tank race.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Well, the domination was from Zion Williamson, who recorded his second triple-double in the last five games, and he had never had one in his career before that. Now, look, I think that when you watch him now, and we're saying post-trade deadline, clearly he's the guy. He's done this point Zion thing for a while, but what we're looking at right now is I think
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
We're seeing a guy who is healthy, number one. He looks great physically. Had an amazing dunk in this game, of course, because it's Zion. But he now has a clarity of role where it is just there is no question that the ball is supposed to find him and that he's supposed to create for himself and others.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And I just think that what we're seeing out of Zion is it's a little bit late, but we're happy to see it now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
The Bucs have a 114-111 lead on the Pacers. You know, I'm getting my notes together. I'm thinking, OK, we got Eric. We're going to talk about how the Bucs have won nine of their last 12. They're on this great run. OK, and now we're talking about a Bucs three game losing streak because Tyrese Halliburton
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Oh yeah. That little jump stop in the lane.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Yeah. And when big guys lose weight, they're just really, really strong. They're way stronger at a lower body weight than you would ever expect. So he looks strong. He looks fit. I don't know. Having a fun season. You know, they're tanking. They're trying to tank, but he's having a fun season. Guys, stick around after the break.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Eric Name is going to help us get to the bottom of whatever happened to the Bucs on that one play. The Bucs lost last night in just about the worst way imaginable. Here to break it down and really explain what the hell went wrong, Eric Name, our Milwaukee Bucs beat reporter. Eric, what happened on that play where Tyrese Halliburton hits the three? Break down the defense for me.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Tell me what went wrong.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Yeah, I mean, the Bucs have a three-point lead after some Damian Lillard free throws with 3.9 seconds remaining. Rick Carlisle draws up a play that they used in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals last year against the Boston Celtics. It was funny, as I saw them line up, I knew exactly what was coming because I watched the exact play in Gainbridge Fieldhouse last Eastern Conference Finals.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
I covered that game and saw it happen. That time, Aaron Neesmith missed the three. This time, Tyrese Halliburton hits the three. But essentially, for those attempting to imagine this play in their head, you are looking at... an NFL four-wide set. You have all four guys in the backcourt lined up across the court, sideline to sideline, and then they're just going to run crossing patterns.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. Coming up, the Cavs win 15 straight again. Zion gets another triple-double. And Eric Name is here to talk about the Bucs, who are super down bad after that horrific four-point play to lose last night. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Zena.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
You're going to get everyone running towards the frontcourt, running towards the inbounder, and all you're trying to do is crisscross, mess people up, and get Whatever shooter you're looking for to run to the near side corner, nearest to the inbounder. The Pacers executed it to perfection.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Miles Turner, Aaron Neesmith were kind of the two guys that Tyrese Halliburton credited after the game for getting them open, but they run their crossing patterns. Tyrese Halliburton comes all the way across the floor, and he manages to be wide open in front of the Bucs bench, hits the three, followed by Yanis Dedekumbo on the play.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And the Pacers, they run an inbound play that is the football play that they ran against the Boston Celtics in the playoffs last year. It's the exact same play. Tyrese Halliburton runs an excellent underneath wheel route, catches the ball on the run, shoots a fading three-pointer, and he's fouled by Giannis Kovacic. with 3.4 seconds left, completes the four-point play.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
four-point play, and not only do the Pacers tie the game, they win the game with that play. And, I mean, as far as what went wrong, I mean, I think in that situation, if you aren't 100% sure... what you're doing defensively, it's so unusual. I would guess the Bucks have never defended that. I think the Pacers, they've ran that play. I know those two times because I was in attendance.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
I think two or three more times they've ran that play in the last year or so. So you don't see it. It's not normal.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
you do scouted even if you are you know aware of what their playbook looks like uh you probably haven't spent a whole lot of time on it so the bucks had a time out left they could have called the time out they did not um once you're there essentially what the bucks had said was like that's not something that we switch you just keep running through make them call a foul but whatever may be like just stay connected to your man um that is not what torian prince did torian
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Prince remained on the left side of the floor as Tyrus Halberd went across and attempted to communicate and say, switch, switch, switch. But when there's three other players across the floor, who's switching on you? Which one of us? And then if one of us does and they... then run to the left corner instead of the right corner, who am I with? And none of those questions were answered.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Too many guys inside the three-point line, man. You're up three. What are you doing? Also correct. I think another way to defend that is they can do whatever they want in the backcourt. Toss it back there for all I care. Whatever. We're not coming back there. We're just going to line ourselves up on the three-point line, and we're not going to let you shoot a three.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
If you want to go inside, you can do that as well. So there's a lot of things that they could have done
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
whatever they did was not right uh that is not how they handled it uh and then on top of it i think there's there's even more questions that i asked dr rivers after the game about it right um so you give it up or so one you decide not to call time up before to to prepare yourself for this unusual play that you haven't seen before okay that's fine um you try to switch your way through it that's not what you wanted to do uh you tried to run your way through it you didn't do that successfully you give up the three
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
After the three, Halliburton kind of hits Giannis. It didn't feel super illegal to me, but there isn't the full landing space. How do you define a landing space when you're running full speed three-quarters court and falling out of bounds or falling towards a defender? Whatever it may be, I don't know.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
It's harder to find, but the Bucs decide to challenge it to see if they can make it be a tied game. Well, if you don't get that challenge correctly and you lose that challenge, you lose your timeout, you lose the ability to advance the basketball. So then you've got to go 3.4 seconds full length of the floor.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And again, when I asked Doc Rivers about that, he said, you know, our bench was pretty confident that Tyrese Halliburton stepped out of bounds when he gathered. So they weren't even... They weren't even worried about, you know, whether or not Giannis fouled. They were of the belief that Halliburton stepped out of bounds on the near side corner on his gather before he let it go.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Turned out that the officials did not agree with that. That is not what they found.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Scott Foster doesn't often agree on these challenges.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
Giannis gets the inbound on the ensuing possession. They didn't have a timeout. He runs down to court and takes his first shot of the fourth quarter. It's a three-pointer, grazes the rim. But, man, what a shot by Tyrese Halliburton.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
He does not. So they decided that wasn't the case. And then all of a sudden you're in a spot where you got to go the length of the floor. And to their credit, I think they did a pretty nice job. Giannis was able to make his way up most of the floor. But unfortunately, you have a guy that's barely shot any threes this season needing to try a three at the buzzer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton 4-point play drops Bucks + Cavs win 15th straight, again
And then I think you have to think through like, OK, well. Whose hands do we want it in? I understand that they were denying the ball out of Damian Lillard's hands the entire night on every single inbounds. That was their game plan. But also, I saw Damian Lillard hit a game winner with the Milwaukee Bucks last season from about 35 feet where he was the inbounder.