Milwaukee Bucks vs New York Knicks
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Game Preview
Bucks will be playing versus the Knicks for a second time in 3 days. The first game in Madison Square ended up with Giannis "The Greek Freak" Antetokounmpo's buzzer beater with a dramatic win for Bucks. So, Knicks are coming to Milwaukee with 6 straight losses, without Kristaps Porzingis, and completely devastated. Bucks, on the other hand, are feeling the moment as they have won 3 straight games, put themselves into play-offs spot for now, and seeing how The Greek Freak is becoming a superstar of NBA. However, the game a couple of days ago was super tight and I believe that we will see the same scenario again this Saturday.
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks started this season a little slow and there was a point when it seemed that fishing season in Milwaukee will start soon this season. However, Giannis and the guys are playing better and better each day, and we can see Bucks climbing up the rankings with each day. The sky is the limit for this team and for Giannis Antetokounmpo especially.
I know, Giannis Antetokounmpo is a very hard name to remember. That is why everyone is calling him The Greek Freak. Anyway, this name has to be remembered as Giannis, at the age of 22, is proving himself to be one of the most diverse players in the league. He plays on all 5 positions and it does it impressively.
Talking about the game against Knicks on 01/05, Bucks showed that this team is mentally strong and mature for victories. They have been losing by as high as 16 in the third quarter and took a lead for a first time in a second half in the last second with a buzzer-beater. Giannis was the leading man, of course, but guys like Greg Monroe and Malcolm Brogdon also played an impressive game. Also, Jason Terry was hot this night and proved that he can still move at the age of 39. Good for him.
The future - Giannis Antetokounmpo
Two main players of Milwaukee Bucks are 21-year-old Jabari Parker and 22-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo. They combine for 44 points, 15 rebounds, and 8 assists per game, and are both are serious contenders to play in this year's NBA all stars weekend. Well, If Parker will not make it this season, I might still understand, but all stars weekend without The Greek Freak would be equal to a catastrophe.
How unique is the game style of The Greek Freak? He is playing as the main point guard of an NBA play-offs team, being 6"11 ft (2.11m) tall. Seriously, I have never heard of a point guard that tall. However, he can also play as a center if there is a need. Even Lebron would be jealous for this kind of universality. Also, it is safe to say that The Greek Freak is the most interesting player to watch in whole NBA. He needs like 5 steps to go across the whole court and he can easily dunk from a free throw line. On top of that, Giannis is leading his team in scored point, assists, rebounds, steals, and blocks. This man is everywhere and I bet that he will be a serious contender for an MVP in just a few years. The only thing that is missing in The Greek Freak's game is shooting from the distance, but at age 22 and some extra efforts, it is easily improved.
New York Knicks
It looked like the New York Knicks had it all figured out at one point when they were 16-14 and 5th in the Eastern Conference. However, last 11 games were pretty heartbreaking for the fans as Knicks only managed to win twice and had to leave the arena as losers for nine times, and six in a row at the moment. That is devastating and only indicates that there are a lot of things, which are wrong in New York.
First of all - defense. If we could agree that offense of Knicks is working more or less reliable, nothing similar could be said about the defense. All the main guys are old, recovering from injuries, weak, or simply incapable of defending. That is not the worst part, though. New York Knicks coaching staff has done something terribly wrong over the last couple of years as players just don't understand they role on the defense. It looks like everyone is always a second late and not following the schemes. How does it look on the paper? 2 wins and 9 losses over the last 11 games.
Also, Carmelo Anthony is not the same anymore. Yes, he scored 30 points against Bucks Wednesday, but he spent more time choking and making stupid slow decisions. I think that it is time for him to understand that he must give a torch to someone else and enjoy being a role player. It could only benefit Knicks. However, we will probably see the same Kobe and Lakers story again. Carmelo will be playing, he will be sinking his team, but having nice stats, and some attention from media. If I were a Knicks fan, I would be worried about it.
As for the last game against Milwaukee... The Knicks managed to waste a 16 points second half lead and lose by one. They were playing pretty careless and it is only their own fault that fans had to leave Madison Square Garden with their heads held down.
The most positive thing was Mindaugas Kuzminskas. The Lithuanian was superb from the bench, scoring 15 points and grabbing 4 boards. However, the coach only let him play for a couple of minutes in the third quarter and Kuzminskas had to watch his team blowing off the victory in the 4th quarter from a bench. I cannot explain this decision by the coach, as Kuzia was hot, but maybe he knows better. Not.
The Knicks big 3
This team is focused on 3 main players - Carmelo, Rose, and Porzingis. All the other guys are good role players. They know their tasks on the field and they usually produce. However, the outcome of the game is decided by the big 3.
Carmelo Anthony. He is playing his 6th season with Knicks, and this franchise currently belongs to him. This year, Anthony is averaging 22 points and 6 rebounds per game and is the main option in the clutch time. At the age of 32, his defense is not the best anymore, he is not that rapid as he used to be, but he is still Carmelo Anthony - arguably the best ever player of team USA. However, I think it would be for the better if Anthony would give a role of leader to Porzingis already. Yup, Carmelo is not capable of carrying on a team to play-offs on his own.
Derrick Rose. Former MVP of NBA had some very tough years, because of his injuries. Rose is 28 years old and we might still see him playing his best basketball, which he used to play before injuries. However, that might be too optimistic. The only thing that Knicks fans will be praying, for now, is a healthy Rose. Of course, we can already see situations, when Rose drives to the basket as if he never had an injury, and those moments will be more and more often if everything is all right. He even dunked a couple of days ago. But on an average day, he scores 17 points per game, makes 4.4 assists and gets 4 rebounds.
Kristaps Porzingis. Kristaps will most likely miss the game against Bucks due to his injury. That is super bad news for Knicks, as Kristaps is proving to be one of the best big offensive guys in whole NBA. He can shoot threes, he can move quickly, and he has a wide arsenal of moves.
Prediction
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Originally, Kasparas is from Lithuania, and that automatically means that he is crazy for basketball. He is a geek for sports as he grew up watching everything that was airing (even curling once). Nowadays, Kasparas is practicing kick-box and traveling around Central & South America. The biggest heartbreak in his life so far, was when Italy beat Lithuania in 2004 Olympic basketball semi-finals.
Are you guys still going to do some free/vote to play games? I know I seemed like a detractor but I don't think you should stop those games just because there was some pushback from the community. There will always be people upset if you're doing something that is having an impact.
Uh, count me as an official fan of free things.
Are we not able to vote on this game? Only the pay play system?
Hno more free steem ?
I prefered the old system :(
I guess I am saying Good Bye to SteemSports, it was a a great experience. Thank You.
The Conference is tight from 3rd to 12th position. The standings are changing every day. However, I feel that we will see Bucks ending the regular season in 4th spot. Knicks, on the other hand, will probably won't make it to the play-offs. But that's just my opinion. Nonetheless, it will be a good game today. It is always nice to see teams playing against each other twice in 3 days period.
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Milwaukee Bucks
weee, figured the Knicks had a little payback in them after such a short time since their close loss. Buck's also not so good at home.
No NFL betting today/tomorrow? =/
So awesome to see this type of posting, keep it up @steemsports. I mean 7 days into the year and we are already looking at several games covered.