Watching the game last night against Toronto and for about one quarter Lillard showed he knew how to play defense. That's it. One quarter. The game before he played defense the entire game. Had busy hands and was getting steals. Kept his position between the guy he's guarding and the bucket. Did it all, the way it should be done.
Whereas I did believe he wasn't capable of playing defense I can now see he knows how. He apparently just doesn't seem to see it as that important.
I keep hearing from the Bucks that they are so much better with both Khris and Bobby coming off the bench. Meanwhile, they start two guys who struggle to find double figures, or even prove that they can play the boards in the majority of games. They start with a 3 man team out there. Giannis, Lopez, and Lillard. Then they have Middleton and Portis coming in off the bench.
The idea of Khris and Bobby off the bench is great, as long as you don't have two guys starting that are really not much more than place holders. This is the fallacy in what Horst has done. He's failed to recognize the need to field 5 strong and 3 main subs behind them to keep scoring and defensive consistency.
In fact, the decision as to who starts the game at these two questionable starting positions are the two guys that Doc feels will play the best defense because Dame isn't going to do it. He's taken some potentially good back up talent and benched them, and elevated guys that he considers "the future," and quite honestly none of them are ever going to amount to much in this league.
Before it's too late, the Bucks need to trade Khris, Giannis, Dame, Lopez, and anyone else who has potential of being a draft pick for the future. They need to get rid of Horst, the President of the organization, and send Doc packing too. They need a coach who knows how to develop talent but and doesn't try to "tweak it" into being something different.
I doubt I'll ever see them at the top again during my lifetime. It's a shame. I was supporting them and there for games back when they started and won their first championship. I'm here now, in support of the team after they won their second. I just think they lack the leadership off the court to make the team what it was capable of being with talent like they had when Middleton, Holiday, and Giannis led them to the championship. Horst got rid of too much talent for nothing just to prove he was in charge.
...and, #5 in the conference!!!! Can you feel the electrical energy emanating from my right index finger right now?
