Dave DuFour and Es Baraheni react to Paul George's debut as a member of the 76ers and the return of Steph Curry for the Warriors. Then, Eric Nehm, Milwaukee Bucks beat writer for the Athletic, stops by to discuss the mood around the Bucks as they lose another game.Check us out on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6NrH3f68_EYHost: Dave DuFourWith: Es Baraheni & Eric NehmExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson Moody Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What happened in Paul George's debut with the 76ers?
My voice is barely here because we've been talking, trying to figure out how we're going to cover all these games. We got to start with the big comebacks, S, because for the first time this season, we got a chance to see Paul George in a Sixers uniform in a regular season basketball game, and we Look, the results, they lost. They lost to the Suns. 118-116, they're on the road.
But I have to say that the early returns, just seeing him out there, even without Joel Embiid, immediately so many of their pieces just made sense.
Yeah, shocker. Right. Paul George adding an all-star in is just good for the Philadelphia 76ers. I mean, obviously there's been a lot of talk about the Sixers and the Embiid saga and everything, but this is incredibly good news for them. Right. They came in saying that he was going to be on a minute restriction. He still played 32 minutes tonight.
So it doesn't seem like it was that much of a minute restriction. Again, not the most effective as a score tonight. He only had 15 points shot for 14. I thought some of that was just rust because, You know, typical Russ from a guy who had missed a couple of weeks of basketball. He started at five, by the way.
I mean, he clearly was out of rhythm.
Yeah, totally. And I also think some of the playmaking from him is really going to pop on this team because you saw a guy like Kershawn Yabusele just cooking the bear, right? He was hitting threes. George was connecting on a lot of them. I thought some of the dribble penetration made a lot of sense. So from Philly's perspective, this is still a pretty positive outcome.
Yeah, and they were plus three in his minutes. Again, individual plus minus can kind of give you a read on what happened in that one game. Tyrese Maxey had 32 points in this game, and there were some times there where you could just tell Tyrese Maxey had an easier time just because Paul George was out there. A lot of guys getting better looks.
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Chapter 2: How did Kevin Durant perform against the Bucks?
But they were playing the Suns, man, and the Suns have kind of figured out who they are. They're 6-1 now. Kevin Durant had a huge game, 35 points, including the game winner. Actually, kind of Kind of two game winners. I thought Bradley Beal continues to look pretty good since he's come back.
Yeah, I think Beal in general is working really well off of the ball. Tyus Jones is setting the table for some of these guys, I think, in a good way. I've had my gripes with how Yusuf Nurkic has started this season, but has really picked it up over the last couple of games, especially had a really good game tonight. 15 points, 15 rebounds was effective.
It helps when you're playing against Andre Drummond.
Yeah, that is true. Yeah, the opponent matters. But I look, I mean, to the to the point about the identity of the Suns, they went on multiple streaks in this game where it was like the Suns have made 10 shots in a row. The Suns have made eight shots in a row. And a lot of that is just the scoring prowess of Book and KD and Beal. And when they're going like that, man, they're really hard to beat.
When Mike Budenholzer just gets him to do the make-every-shot offense, it is a beautiful thing. Steph Curry's back, guys. He only missed three games. The Warriors went 3-0 without him. They are now 1-0 since his return. They beat the Wizards 125-112. We had Steph versus Jordan Poole. We actually got some good Draymond and Jordan Poole interactions. Yeah, they're pointed, right?
And it, you know, didn't get physical, which is also good. What do you think about Steph? 24 points. I mean, he, you know, immediately when he's out there, all eyes go to Steph and he looked, he looked good. I'm so happy. This isn't a serious ankle injury.
Yeah, I thought Steph, you know, initially he was a little bit rusty out the gate, kind of like Paul George. But again, you know, once he got into the rhythm of things, he just looked like regular old Steph. And it's important that they won those games. Obviously, the first three games without him. It's good that it wasn't too long term, but he just fit in seamlessly into what they do. Right.
They've been such a great defensive team. And now adding the score that is Steph, they just looked great. And besides, I thought the Wizards had a pretty fun game, too, which I mean, that's
another story the Wizards have been a low-key a pretty interesting team to watch here early on they got a lot of really fun young guys obviously everyone's on top of Bilal Koulibaly now um totally Bob Carrington's pretty good uh Keyshawn George has kind of been a surprise Canada Even Alex Starr has shown some stuff.
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Chapter 3: What is the current mood around the Milwaukee Bucks?
And I think that's like obviously what you want to hear. I don't know if Doc is the most trustworthy narrator of any journey that he has been on as an NBA coach. Like, I understand that. But I mean, when you're in the locker room, like I was talking to Dame Lillard tonight and Dame's kind of saying the same thing, like, hey, We have too many good players to be like this the rest of the season.
Like this is not going to be what it is. And obviously you don't want it to happen at the start of the year. And that's why those stats exist. And that's why all these things happen. But. You know, I've been on plenty of teams where you do go one in six in seven games. It just looks really bad because it's at the start of the season and it makes the rest of the season a little bit more difficult.
But like that doesn't mean it's over at that point. So I don't know. Did that sound panic? Yeah, I think so.
Chapter 4: Are the Bucks in panic mode after a 1-6 start?
Right. I sound a little. Yeah, there's some panic in there.
I think there's some panic, but I don't know that it's. Yeah. And I don't know that it's like the extreme panic that that kind of comes from the outside. Like, oh, my gosh, is the Bucks contention run, which is run the entirety of my tenure at the Athletic from the moment I was hired.
in 2018 to this very moment, they have been one of the very best teams in the Eastern Conference, one of the very best teams in the NBA. That has been a fact. That's just who they are. I think from the outside, the thought is, oh, my gosh, it's over. Like we had no idea that it was going to end so quickly and we're here and it's over. And I think that's a bit that's a bit too much.
Like Chris Middleton still has not played. when they, when Chris Middleton plays, they're very good. Uh, they've been very good when Chris Middleton plays for a very long time now. And, and I think you factor that in, you factor in the fact that, I mean, I rattled off some of the teams that they've played already, right?
Like that's a bunch of good teams that they played three games against the Celtics and Cavaliers. Um, the Celtics and Cavs are combined 15 and one at the moment, I think if I, if I did my math right. So like, That's correct. Those are those are really good basketball teams. And they hit them in maybe the worst spot of the season because it's not just that Chris Middleton isn't out there.
I haven't looked at Gary Trent Jr. 's three point percentage since he went on three tonight. But I do know he's one of 17 across the last three games from the three point line.
I've been very, very tough to watch.
I think he's shooting like 13% from three on the season. He's a career 37% three-point shooter. That will get better. There's just all these things that have occurred. And yeah, that's how you get a one in six start. But because of all those things happening and compiling and you lose a one-point game the other night, Donovan Mitchell hits that shot, I don't know what, 35% of the time?
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of Chris Middleton's absence for the Bucks?
Well, one of the three times it went in, it went in against you. And now all of a sudden you're one in six. Like that's kind of the way that it's been going. And there's no to me. It's like I'm not making excuses. It's a disastrous start.
But when you look at everything that's piled into it, you can kind of from a logical perspective, understand why they're here and also logically see why it may get better. But it does need to get better and it's got to get better in a hurry.
Eric, the interesting thing to me is the margin that they have now, right? It's a little bit thinner. Like, there's just not that margin of error that they had in past years. And you think of some of the end-of-bench guys. You know, A.J. Green had a great game tonight. Andre Jackson was impactful. Yeah.
There's been this conversation of they should be prioritizing playing some of their younger players more. And then in the background of this, it's the transition offense and transition defense that's really been struggling. You talked about identity earlier. They've kind of lost what that identity is. So should they lean younger? Should they play more of the younger guys?
And I mean, Doc Rivers, is he going to do that?
I mean, it's not something Doc is known for, obviously. But I think what you're seeing now is you speak about the margin for error. And I think this team... If everyone's healthy and everyone's playing the way that you want, so that includes Chris Middleton, the identity is pretty clear, right? Offensively, you're never going to turn the ball over. That's never going to happen.
You're never going to crash the glass because you're old and you need to get back in transition defense. And then you're going to lean into Giannis and Dame and Chris scoring a shit ton of points. And that's just going to be what it is like. You have to be hyper efficient offensively. All right. That's great. Defensively, Brooke Lopez, Giannis Dedekumbo protecting the rim.
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Chapter 6: Can the Bucks recover from their rough start?
That means you might give up some threes, but hopefully you're the best rim defense in the league. You take care of the glass. You're never going to turn anybody over because you're old. That's not going to happen. But like, that's the formula. That's the identity. And they just haven't hit it this year.
And I think one of the big things when you're talking about getting younger and trying to do some of that, like I think right now, Andre Jackson is an incredibly limited player offensively, but he is insanely athletic and he can run for days.
So if you're Doc Rivers, what you're telling him right now and to Dre's credit, he's done this now for the last three games is every time you are getting back, you are back every time. There's no excuses. You are the first person back. Just sprint over and over and over again. And that is how like their transition defense has been better because you have that. So.
I'll be interested to see doc, as you mentioned, as is not a, is not a guy that likes to lean into the young guys. But if you're talking about getting just the requisite, just the requisite athleticism, I think you do kind of have to see a guy like Andre Jackson jump up above Pat Connaughton. Like Pat knows all the plays. He's a vet. He's been there.
He's won a championship, but like he doesn't have the athleticism that trade. So you can do that. AJ green, you mentioned, um, If there's one thing AJ Green can do, it's shoot. And when Gary Trent Jr. is shooting 13% from the three-point line... Gotta give him a shot. Gotta give him a shot. So again, it's not that I think Doc is all of a sudden going to turn a new leaf.
I do just think the things that have occurred to this point have been bad enough that it's like... I gave you your chance. You got the first part of the season to the vets and you didn't do what you needed to do. So we do have to try to win some games here. Like this isn't just about getting younger. This is about winning, period. Like we need to win. And that.
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Chapter 7: What trends are emerging from the early NBA season?
to me, can help out in that situation. I don't know if it's the perfect solution. Obviously, those guys come with downsides. Andre Jackson Jr., not a great offensive player. A.J. Green, still trying to figure things out defensively. You're going to have to do some of those things, but I think
There's all of that, and then there's also just the simple fact that every Lakers fan in the world will tell you Torian Prince played way too much last season. He played 2,100 minutes. Dyron Hamm played him way too often. So on and so forth. The plan in Milwaukee was not for him to start and play 35 minutes a night. It was for him to come off the bench. He's had some of the worst... Yeah.
And when you're looking at it, catch and shoot misses I've seen this season.
So when you're looking at it, then, OK, instead of a 30 to 35 minute guy, he's when Chris Middleton comes back, he's a 20 to 24 minutes guy. And like then you feel a little bit better about the depth. It's still short, but like you're going to feel a little bit better about that. So, yeah, I mean, I do think at this point. You have to be open to everything.
Like you're not in a spot where you can say like, well, I want to win with the vets. You're one in six. So you're going to have to be open to some ideas, even if those are things that you might not be all that, you know, all that big of a fan of.
Yeah. Well, Eric name, go and check him out over at the athletic. He's got all of our Milwaukee bucks coverage and Eric, we're looking forward to the explosive expose that comes out when the team doesn't win a game for a month. Luckily though, they got Utah at home on Thursday night. So that's probably a win.
Don't say that. You have no idea if it is or it is not. Anything can happen with this team at this point.
Coming up after the break, we highlight some of the best individual performances from Monday night with our all Monday night team.
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