Bucks Playoff run starts with a thud as Pacers predictably embarrass Milwaukee in Game 1

Good afternoon everybody.

I'm Bart Winkler. Welcome into the Winklerverse as we come to you on a Saturday, April 19th after game one where the Bucks go to Indiana and predictably lose game one. Now some more optimism perhaps about the series as Damian Lillard is going to come back in game two, maybe game three, and they need him. I heard from some Bucks fans that were excited that the Bucks had been winning games at the end of the regular season. They won. They won eight in a row with the lineup that is professional. There's professional guys on this lineup. At least they're in the league. Oh, Damian might ruin the chemistry. Some settle that is so dumb.

His site would be very welcome if he was able to get back in here. The Bucks lose game one 117 to 98. Again, I mentioned it's April 19th. That means Sunday is April 20th.

April 2420. Happyplacehemp.com. Promo code is Bart. 25% off each and every order at happyplacehemp.com. The seltzers, the tinctures, the gummies, whatever you need. Use the promo code.

This is a great weekend to do it with 420. So, what were the initial thoughts? Okay. Initially, they seemed competitive. Initially, Giannis was getting fouled a lot. Initially, Giannis was not making a lot of those freezes because of their FanDuel Sports Network.

The very easy to say FDSM. So what were the initial thoughts? Okay, initially they seemed competitive. Initially Giannis was getting fouled a lot. Initially Giannis was not making a lot of those free throws which got them a little bit behind. Certainly they don't win that game if he makes a few more free throws, but that is something that you would like to see happen.

And when he's at the line, Indiana is going to be one of these teams that more aggressively counts to 10. I thought that that was a played out thing. Maybe it affects them. I know that if I was a Pacer fan, I would count to 10 and I would do it enthusiastically and then go to my buddy after he missed.

I'd go, we did that, we did that, we did that. Maybe they did. I don't know.

I just know that they are probably and I would definitely enjoy it and be more obnoxious about it than I think I deserve to be because I don't know how much that works, but maybe it does. He was not that great from the stripe today. So then after that, you know, the Pacer is going a little bit of a run and I think one thing that bothers me and maybe it's unfair, Halliburton does it, especially Miles Turner, when they're like, when they're like, ah, yeah, but it's 21 to 15 in game one.

I don't know. I feel like, I feel like Halliburton is a premature accelerator. I'm just super much a fan. Jay Carr says, glad we on YouTube right after the game. Brew Crew says, need to knock Halliburton out.

Even if Pacers win the series, make sure they lose the next one. I think he had Coniton trying to send a little bit of a message at the end of the game. Al says, this is the least groined up I've ever been for a playoff run. Corey says, I know things are bad, but are you filming live from a bunker? It's just the basement, but my Lord, I wish I had a bunker. If I had a bunker, I would be there all the time. Zuckerberg's got a bunker in Hawaii.

You think rich guys just build that for a lark or you think they got a hat. Tyler says, Brooke was the worst player on the court. I've been annoyed with Brooke all season.

Brooke Lopez annoys me. I don't think he's that good anymore. He was good. And I like, like Brooke Lopez, but he's just so, and I thought, you know who I thought was bad today too, was Bobby.

Bobby seemed lost. I don't want to make the same Monstars got their talent, but a lot of these guys looked uncomfortable playing basketball. The Pacers, it was just bad basketball, just embarrassing basketball. Maybe what was one of the worst parts of the game was when the Bucks went on a 9-0 lead or run and cut it to 12. Four or five minutes left.

And you knew this was a classic Wisconsin sports. We're getting our ass kicked. We're going to at least pretend like we're alive for a minute, but then still lose. But the Pacers were missing shot after shot after shot, but then so were you. One of those has to go down.

Two of them have to go down. I mean, a better team cuts it to six and we've got an interesting couple of minutes to finish this game. But that was a big, big, as bad as the rest of the game was, and the terrible second quarter, Deshaun Wright about that one losing the game there, terrible second quarter.

As bad as that was, I was kind of disheartened with the stretch. First half, the Pacers had a 68 to 43 lead going into halftime. Bucks did win the third quarter, but they didn't even win the fourth. Statistically, Giannis, eight of 15 at the line, 14 to 23 overall shooting, 12 boards, just one assist. The Pacers were not letting him do anything other than they said, basically, okay, you're the third best top three player in the world.

You go and try to outscore us because nobody else you're giving the ball to knows what they're doing. 36 points. The rest of the starters, guys, the rest of the Bucks starters combined for 14 points. Brook Lopez had nine in 21 minutes. Ryan Rollins had five in 19 minutes. Torian Prince had zero in 20 minutes.

Kyle Kuzma had zero in 22 minutes. O for five shooting. O for two from three. O for two from the line. No rebounds, no assists, no steals, no blocks, two fouls. Tony Snell, graphic,.gif.

This is pretty bad. Here's one thing that I don't quite understand in basketball that some people might better than me is when you have starters, but then you play the bench more than the starters, why don't you just start the bench? Like, is that really, even with Deimau, is that the best starting lineup that we have? Gary Trent had 27 minutes. AJ Green had 27 minutes. Kevin Porter Jr. had 29 minutes.

Bobby Portis had 25 minutes. So you're clearly more comfortable with those guys? And I understand first unit, second unit, and maybe some balance there. But like Jokic, the thing with him and the Nuggets, why his plus minus was always so good is they never let him be on the court with players that sucked. It was pretty much always the starters.

And I think that's what I'm going to say. It was always the starters. And I just, you're starting, Janus, with the guys that like, they wouldn't let Jokic play with. Three-point shooting was bad.

That's from Greg. What did they go? Nine of 37. I think middle of the third quarters when they knocked down their third three. So I'd love to complain about the Pacers. Pacers, I hate them.

They're terrible. This was about the Bucks. This was a Bucks team that did not look like they were ready to play, that did not look like they knew how to play, which I think is a bigger concern for me. Now, it is one game of a seven-game series. I don't think a lot of us were growing up about this playoffs to begin with. I think the prospect of Dame coming back helps, but they had to get this one out of the way.

I don't know what it is about, you know, game ones in Milwaukee. Although last year in the series, the Bucks did win game one. Remember Dame had that great first half and then like scored two points in the second half, but the Bucks had that big dominating first half the same way the Pacers did this time around.

Jake says Doc seems too stubborn to change the lineups, just have to survive the starters plus Janus lineups. Pacers were shooting 60% for two and a half quarters. Yeah, yeah, it was a tough hole to come out of, but I think that there were plenty of times where if the Bucks just played competent basketball, it's a much more competitive game at least and you don't lose by 19 points in game one. Thing to remember is I am better at watching playoff basketball than anybody is that they are not down 19, they are down one. They are down one nothing and that is it, okay. Next game on Tuesday, I believe they're down one nothing and Dame coming back at some point, so that should be a welcome sign.

It was just so embarrassing. I mean, you're not going to win every game. You are never going to sweep the Pacers and if you beat the Pacers, it's probably not going to be in five and it's probably not going to be in six. This may have to go seven for the Bucks to win. I think if there's a team that's more likely to win the series in five, it's Indiana. In six, it's Indiana and then I'd maybe give the Bucks if it goes seven. That might actually favor the Bucks long term, but the Pacers got their one at home.

They're going to go again in a couple of days and we'll see how things play out from there. I think the takeaways here, bigger picture is I'm not like out on doc. I'm also not in on doc. Maybe we shouldn't have fired, but maybe maybe we shouldn't have fired or ever hired Griffin, fired, hired, or fired. With doc, he's going to be appropriately judged. I think no matter how these playoffs go, should we get Dame back, which it sounds like that's happening, should we get Dame back, you're going to have a healthy Bucks team. How can you coach this team in the playoffs?

If you get them a series win and there's, okay, we think we've got it, I'm all for doc returning. If they do lose in the Pacers with a healthy team outside of the one or two games, we won't get Dame, then I think there needs to be a lot of changes. I think there needs to be possibly a coaching change, certainly a general manager change.

I think that's going to have to be something that changes. The veterans that he's brought in over the years, the second round picks, the abuse of them, either giving them away or trading them away. AJ Johnson, who we traded with Middleton for Kuzma, I'd rather have him out there. That's not a hot take. Kuzma was ass. This is not playoff nerves.

This is not, you know, like he's just got to figure it out. The Middleton for Kuzma trade, whatever. The AJ Johnson for Kuzma trade, you just throw them in. Why did you even draft them?

What is the point of these guys? So Kuzma worries me, you know, going forward. Q says game one, loss on the road. Bucks shot 24% from three. To take anything else away from this game, is projecting for clicks?

No. I get the line of thinking. I get the line of thinking. And a lot of times that's where I'd be. I don't know how this series goes out, even from somebody that says I know playoff basketball better than anybody.

This one's a hard one to kind of navigate. I don't like look at this game and say, okay, the series is over. I'm still as optimistic or either way. I'm still whatever. I'm not optimistic, pessimistic. I'm within my being. I'm just watching this series. And I'm not any more apocalyptic than I would have been coming in. And I'm not any more. Okay, Q, you were just talking about firing Doc. Let's say Dame comes back and then they get swept. Yeah, maybe you should fire Doc. Or maybe you shouldn't.

I don't know. But my larger point is they have been firing coaches and making coaches changes based on an uncompleted product, incomplete product in the postseason. You fire, but Middleton's hurt. And then Giannis is hurt. Then Giannis and Dame are hurt. And you keep making all these changes.

And even with training for Dame, like is there a world where nobody gets hurt? Drew's still here. Bud's still here. They just keep the train rolling.

Maybe. They keep making decisions based on a product that is not complete. So I'm saying it would make more sense to fire Doc if they do, then it did firing Bud when they did. If they get swept. They just can't keep, like, I want to see this team be healthy. I want to see this team be healthy. Now, I don't think they're playing the right lineup. I don't know what the Twitter consensus is about who should start.

Because that's something you can talk about. So if Dame's coming back, that's one thing. I want to see more Kevin Porter Jr. So if we would have traded Middleton for Kevin Porter Jr., I think I'd been fine with that. But it's like, here's Middleton for Kuz. Here's Kevin Porter Jr. for Marjan Bochamp.

No matter the outcome, Doc ain't it. That's from Jake. We didn't trade for Kuzma this year. It was cap flexibility for next year. Anyone that doesn't see that doesn't understand the league. It's from Q. Yeah, I don't know that we can play the next year game. There's limited time here.

They have to win. When Dame is back, Tori and Prince are going to not see the floor. Prince is one of these guys. 3 and D. You know, 3 and D. 3 and D, to me, is... And I know this because of how many times I used to play Damari Carroll on FanDuel. And I'd watch him.

Because I'm like, oh, it's got Kapow, it's got Kuzma, it's got Kuzma, it's got Kuzma, it's got Kuzma, it's got Kuzma, it's got Kuzma, it's got Kuzma, it's got Kuzma, it's got Kuzma, I watched him. Because I'm like, oh, this guy could pop threes. And he just runs up and down the side line. And then maybe a reboard bounces to him. A rebound.

A reboard. And then he takes a 3. And then if you miss the first one, they don't look at you the rest of the game.

And then what kind of D are you really playing? Yeah, they were bad from three. they were bad from three. And so on a larger picture, you look at this one loss and you say, okay, Siri's not over, and I would not do that. But I do look at this and say, this starting lineup's terrible, and they have better guys off the bench. So how about if Dame comes back, put his buddy Gary Trent Jr. next to him. Who else are you starting then? Portis, why don't we just start Dame, Trent, Portis, Giannis.

And how about, fuck, we suck. I mean, Brooke, I guess. I thought Beanie season was over, yeah, I forgot to pack a hat. If you start Bobby, then Brooke won't play at all, no, that'd be so bad. Look, there's a lot of people that are out on Bobby, and there was a lot of people that were out on Middleton, and Brooke's my guy of that. I'm out on this version of Brooke. He was chucking threes early. It's like, okay, you missed the first one. Take three steps further back and make it?

Aye, es mios, I don't know. I didn't think they were gonna win today. I don't know that my series, I mean, I did predict, I guess, the Pacers.

If you were to give me a million dollars risk free, predict the Pacers. I can't do this Tuesday, I will be doing my show. But you can call into my show. What time do they play Tuesday?

Six, I guess I could sneak in at 830. I don't know, that's hard, we'll see. But for sure, on the Infinity Sports Network, you can find me.

So just wanted to give some thoughts and say hi to you guys. Shitty game, some good basketball the rest of the day. WrestleMania the next couple of nights. WWE with a heel turn of their own organization this week. I don't know what the hell they're doing.

Very strange PR week from them. What's a good excuse to miss Easter for Mania tomorrow? I think you just say Mania.

I mean, I think Mania is a good enough excuse. I'm excited to watch it with the boy, Jay Guenther, go on first. That's the one he wants to see the most.

Worry about it though for him, he's a Jay guy. Probably make it up the whole night tonight. But I don't think we're gonna make it up for Cody Cena on a school night. Have to watch it the next day. All right, Bucks lose 117 to 98. They are down 1-0 in the series. You guys have a great Easter weekend, and we'll talk next week.

Thanks as always for stopping into the Winklerverse. Get them gummies.