Nobody should want to play the Bucks in the playoffs. It's been a bit of an up and down season for the defending champs, but they're starting to round out into form and get healthy with the regular season drawing to a close.
Few teams, if any, can match Milwaukee's trio of stars.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is playing at an MVP level once again, posting 30-12-6 on a nightly basis while flirting with the scoring title and the greatest PER in NBA history. Khris Middleton got off to a slow start by his standards but is now playing his best basketball of the season. And while Jrue Holiday was the only one of the three to not be named an All-Star this season, he had a legitimate reason to feel as though he was snubbed.
They already proved they can win it all together. This season, they're even more in sync, especially in crunch time. Not that Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Holiday need a whole lot of help to get going, but there is one particular way the Bucks weaponize their three stars at the same time at the end of games.
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The play itself is pretty simple: Holiday brings the ball up the court while Antetokounmpo and Middleton make their way to the elbow. The two other Bucks park themselves on the perimeter to maximize spacing.
From there, Antetokounmpo sets a screen for Middleton...
...and that is where the fun begins.
Middleton is Milwaukee's most versatile shooter. He's at his best when he's breaking defenders down and raining in silky smooth midrange jumpers, but he's equally capable of stepping out to the 3-point line. So if his defender gets caught up in Antetokounmpo's screen, he can do his best Klay Thompson impression by popping out to the perimeter, like so:
If Middleton doesn't get open, he usually clears out to the 3-point line, paving the way for the Bucks to flow into a pick-and-roll with Holiday as the ball handler and Antetokounmpo as the screener.
Holiday has quietly been one of the league's most efficient pick-and-roll scorers this season. Nobody is going to confuse him with Stephen Curry, but Holiday is a legitimate threat to score from all three levels.
According to NBA.com, Holiday has connected on 40.7 percent of his pull-up 3-point attempts this season. Ducking underneath screens against him isn't really a safe option. That's a scary development for an already proven championship point guard.
He's also been dynamite from midrange, canning well over half of his looks from that distance.
And Holiday is one of the better finishers at his position around the basket. Just ignore him, uhh, blowing this layup:
If Holiday isn't in a position to score, Antetokounmpo or one of Milwaukee's shooters probably are. Antetokounmpo has become one of the league's most feared rollers and the Bucks have several floor-spacers to choose from on their roster in Wesley Matthews, Grayson Allen, Pat Connaughton, Jordan Nwora, Bobby Portis and Brook Lopez.
Then there's option No. 3, which is by far the scariest: Antetokounmpo gets the ball at the elbow.
Everyone in the world knows that Antetokounmpo wants to get to the basket — only Nikola Jokic and Ja Morant have outscored him in the paint so far this season — and yet there's little anyone can do to stop him. He's too quick and shifty for most centers and far too strong for most forwards.
Building a wall has become most teams' only hope of even having a shot at slowing him down, but with four perimeter players surrounding him, keeping him out of the paint is much easier said than done. And preemptively building that wall before he touches the ball opens up the aforementioned Middleton and Holiday to get to work.
There's more where all that came from as well.
As you may have noticed in some of the examples above, Middleton will sometimes screen for Holiday before he clears out to the perimeter, giving Holiday's defender yet another obstacle to fight through. Antetokounmpo is going to look to score more often than not when he gets the ball at the elbow, but he can easily dribble the ball out to Holiday or Middleton for a handoff if teams pack the paint. Holiday can even get involved as a screener to get Antetokounmpo a more favorable mismatch.
Basically, the options are almost endless, and they always put one of Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Holiday in position to do what they do best.
It's no wonder why it's become Milwaukee's go-to play in the clutch. Best of luck to anyone trying to stop it.
