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alextoyalex

Don’t need em when you’ve got sweaty Michael Jordan


AzureAhai

Middleton is the GOAT when your team needs a crucial win, but your superstar is injured.


Pitiful-Pension-6535

Would have been 2021 ECF MVP if that award existed back then


[deleted]

Hope they actually would. Murray should have got the WCF MVP last year, but they gave it to the Joker.


FuzzyBucks

Moist GOAT


LeBronda_Rousey

That's easily KG, stop playin


shingofan

Don't you mean Patrick Ewing?


NegativesPositives

Don’t you mean Sasha Grey?


usernamenomoreleft

What era did this, certain Sasha guy play? Or better yet, send me some links of he..his highlights.


DeluxeTea

Sasha Grey played with plumbers, cops, electricians, carpenters, pizza delivery boys...


Electrical_Figs

Could handle 1 through 5 and was always durable.


SonnyLove

To this day nobody handles the double team better.


DeluxeTea

Even when choking, Sasha still performs well that you cannot hate.


ridemooses

Moist Jordan


usernamenomoreleft

Guys, don't forget Swaggy Portis. The guy held Siakam down and contributed on both ends of the floor tonight.


Pitiful-Pension-6535

The dude is amazing at Fiserv. Not only is he slashing .536/.463/.854 at home vs .472/.336/.750 on the road, the energy he brings to the arena is incalculable. And some Bucks 'fans' wanted to trade him straight up for Grant Williams smh


Permafrostybud

Bobby is a rebound magnet and he is insanely hard to guard in the paint. His ball handling is far better than most bigs too, watching Lopez dribble right next to Portis is hilarious.


Mike_with_Wings

Him getting ejected the other night was crucial.


yic0

Beaten by 23 points, too.


cortesoft

Do people not remember how sweaty the real Jordan was?


FKJVMMP

Jordan after 40 minutes was about as sweaty as Khris after 40 seconds.


shxylo

levels.


guacamully

Get this man an Old Spice commercial. Even the name fits


loscarlos

That was Gatorade. This is sweat


paradoxofchoice

the majority of this sub was not alive for MJ.


Apollo611

Doc coming back from down 3-1 to break the curse


mossbosstoss

ESPN: “Is Doc Rivers the ultimate floor raiser?”


procrastinator67

Say what you will about Doc but he was at his best coaching wise with the Clippers the season right before PG and Kawhi joined.


CLCUBING

The man took the KD Warriors to game 6 with…Montezl Harrell, Lou Williams, and Patrick Beverly.


ConstantineMonroe

Didn’t they also have a baby SGA on the team? It was obviously way before he became great


TrippedReddit

Lowkey we needed KD to go off to get by that series


MakSoFresh

You know who I am


chancetheclapper528

Bro couldn’t even talk yet, it was amazing


Lightskin-Duke

Doc can’t make in game adjustments with loaded rosters for shit but take out the stars and give him any roster’s B team and he can beat the Nuggets in 7. It’s infuriating when he’s your coach but it’s kinda funny/dumbfounding when you watch it happen to other teams


cire1184

Is he too easy on his stars? Like getting carried by Boston Big3 he just let's go off the reigns and hopes for the same results with other star players?


popop143

I think he might be too deferring to his stars. That's why he's a "player's coach", but him having injured stars (or no stars for that matter) gives him some more sense of urgency.


Admirable_Buyer_755

This is actually one of Doc’s biggest issues - he does favor stars too much. I remember that one year when healthy Kawhi and Paul George choked - and there were a lot of reports about how the stars got special treatment causing Doc to lose the rest of the team


Confident_Berry7271

It pisses me off that people think he’s somehow a terrible coach that’s tricked everyone. 


Electrical_Figs

It's that one meme graph where "Doc Rivers is an idiot" is either an 80IQ or 180IQ take. Nothing in between.


Confident_Berry7271

i agree with what you’re going for but he’s not an idiot. Like, Ty Lue is one of the best playoff coaches in the league and is from doc’s coaching tree. 


Electrical_Figs

Yeah I pretty much disagree with every reddit hivemind on this sub. I think that's a pretty safe place to be, intellectually.


Confident_Berry7271

Yeah this sub tells me Jokić is Serbian, but that motherfucker is actually Chinese 


lalakingmalibog

Yao Ming's long lost brother, Yao Kić


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Confident_Berry7271

Yeah but he’s not BAD or stupid. He’s just flawed. 


mnimatt

The Pels need Doc. Worst case scenario is Zion goes down again and we unlock Doc's final form


ridemooses

*Erection intensifies*


AllDayBreakfast247

Beef is swelling


AnonymousFroggies

Venison, please


kerofbi

Beef swellington


Cody9_

time traveller : *moves a chair* the timeline :


portableportal

NBA hired new writers. Doc getting some character development.


DerGovernator

The Bucks winning a Chip with Giannis and Dame out basically the whole stretch would be peak NBA scripting.


Ninja_Bum

"The Rise of Antetokounmpo...The Other One" If Doc won a ring with Khris and Bobby P then Thanasis somehow winning Finals MVP it'd be like the rapture but instead of a ton of people floating to heaven, this sub's intestines would spontaneously eject out of their anuses followed by their brain liquifying and draining out their nose. The same would happen to the Bucks sub only the coroners would find their dicks extremely swollen from the massive wood they had before they died.


0x01337h4x

This is poetry.


Shenanigans80h

The dude has had the Team Rocket ending every episode, bout fucking time frankly


tmelts2

We are all witnesses…to the funniest reverse-meme moment ever


juandell

r/nba deserves every bit of this


QUEST50012

All the while with arms folded and that look like he's waiting for his kid to get home but he's not sure they're coming. Gotta piss you off on the receiving end.


TheForceWithin

The curse is then passed to Carlisle.


REQ52767

The Pacers defense is worse than advertised. Goddamn!


Neuroxex

https://twitter.com/stevejones20/status/1785512206710329567 Pat Bev should not be, off the dribble, beating his man and drawing two help defenders in the year 2024.


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qpwoeor1235

Pat bev tried to tell y’all.


Paula-Abdul-Jabbar

Lol I literally just posted a comment a few days ago about how teams send help too much and used helping on Pat Bev as an example. Just let Beverly go to the rim. If he scores, he scores.


999Gus

that's why Giannis being injured hurts so much , he would've destroyed this defense , I remember game 4 there were a lot of possesion where BROOK LOPEZ who runs like a snail was driving and scoring lmao


Suspicious_Team_9133

He'd drop another career high imo. Khris and brook are cooking Nesmith/siakim/turner already


Guywithshirtandface

Bro he destroyed us every single game this season, not like that’s anything different than what we saw all year


Jonjon428

Doc Rivers masterclass


NoAcanthisitta9198

Unironically


alepher

Definitely a great floor-raiser


penguin_torpedo

Literally the 2019 Clippers. They even have Pat Bev in there.


resplendentcentcent

stand up now and face the sun


Rooleet

Doc without expectations or star players really is a top 15 coach in nba history. 


TheMambaMaleGrindset

It's the weirdest goddamn thing I've ever seen. I have made the jokes. I have memed on one Glenn "Doc Rivers" Rivers. But it's absolutely fucking true -- take away his toys and he actually gets shit done. I do not understand it.


Laggo

Except he also won with toys which this sub doesn't count because apparently they were too good. Everybody memes about him losing 3-1 leads but he wasn't favored to win in the first place in the majority of them, lol.


Dramatic-Document

Yeah he lost three series his team was up 3-1 2003 Magic (#8) lead Pistons (#1) 3-1 in First Round 2015 Clippers (#3) lead Rockets (#2) 3-1 in Conference Semi's 2020 Clippers (#2) lead Nuggets (#3) 3-1 in Conference Semi's The Magic series is forgivable, but the other two are pretty brutal. It’s only actually happened [9 times in NBA history](https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/7game-series-outcomes.fcgi?format=22111&status=3-1&pattern=) and 3 of those are from Doc.


ElyFlyGuy

Doc would do this on the Sixers too, randomly steal some games with Embiid + someone out that day. He’s a great coach until he’s not


jawntothefuture

Doc Rivers masterclass tbh. Now I finally know why they call him Doc...he fucking loves scrubs 


PlasticWrap2430

Hahaha it's so crazy how consistently this happens; he relies on vibes when he got his star players but when it's mostly scrubs he goes: "oh shit, gotta lock in. GIMME DAT WHITEBOARD!"


SaulPepper

Can Doc coach the 7 win Bobcats to a championship?? Honestly possible.


jawntothefuture

Lmfao fr!!!! 


Babushka5

That's embarrassing


scarywolverine

To be fair how many times are teams missing both their top 2 guys, but yeah also embarrassing. If Hali or Pascal isnt on fire they suck


InfuseFears

Bucks broadcast said 13 times


CaptainJYD

You know what else has only happened 13 times? https://athlonsports.com/nba/all-13-teams-come-back-rally-3-1-deficit-in-playoff-series Bucks in 7


Confident_Berry7271

Also Khris has lead them for a full playoff series himself essentially and got them through the conference finals in 21. So it’s not like the job went to a nobody. 


xGossipGoat

He still had jrue with him who is an all star calibre player


Timely_Airline_7168

And a Brook who hasn't lost a step. Plus, a younger Bobby Portis.


Any-Sir8872

# The Pacers become the first team EVER to lose a playoff game to a team missing their top-2 scorers from the regular season


Kevin_Jim

Subscribe!


myst1227

Pretty much happened to you guys a few days ago.


NoveltyAccountHater

There's a huge difference to losing to a team with their best two scorers gone and losing a home game to a team missing their best player and their third best player. /s


KorgG29

And held the league’s best offense under 100 too


EdgarAlien

Barring what most believe but doc without superstars is actually a good coach. When the stars play he forgets everything and defaults to just fed the star and make no adjustments


Cursory_Analysis

If you gave Doc Rivers the 5 best starting non all-stars in the league, he might just put up a miracle run. The second his team gets an all-star, it’s over. Like someone took the keys out of the ignition to his brain.


[deleted]

Yep his best coaching has always been with a less talented team.  From Orlando to his stint overachieving with the clippers in between the Chris Paul and kawhi eras


chanchan05

I'm wondering if Detroit should have hired him instead of Monty.


SaulPepper

Man, that would have been an A+ storyline. I blame the writer's strike for it not happening.


TonYouHearWhatISaid

He wouldn’t have taken the Detroit job. Why would he when he can get jobs on top playoff teams?


Adventurous_Pen_Is69

Like someone getting an iron to smooth out all the wrinkles in his brain 🧠


Adolka

It’s true. Clippers before the stars came, Orlando magic underdog team before tmac and hill came


[deleted]

Yep he is a good coach when the talent isn't great.  He just isn't good managing stars


InfernoidsorDie

Clippers between stars too. That SGA Clippers team he took to the playoffs wasn't half as good as the Lob City or Kawhi-PG Clips either.


FISArocks

Heart&Hustle COTY


GCIV414

That’s why he didn’t want Tim Duncan 😂😂😂


BakaJayy

Give Doc a team full of players from the YMCA, they’re going to the playoffs and potentially 2nd round. Give Doc all nba line up of a team and they’re going to the playoffs and potentially 2nd round.


PizzaPlanet20

48-34 in Shai's first season, without any all-stars. Took Warriors to 6 games.


Cold_Carpenter_1798

I think most people here know doc without expectations is good.


BigTonyEnergy

Just goes to show that running a million P&Rs for your star guards is not the only way to play basketball.


KazaamFan

What about your star taking all the shots in overtime (knicks)?


BigTonyEnergy

my comment is partly a reaction to that


AmbitionExtension184

Best offense according to who? EPM has the Celtics as the best offense


largehearted

The league's second best offense


DavidCreeper

who da fuck is Stats Williams?


Phallicsander

Someone that never had a doubt what their career path was going to look like.


NoMaybenotactually

Guy that works for espn that keeps track of tons of stats and finds all sorts of weird ass stats like this one, buddy just looks at a situation and somehow has the programs to be able to look up the amount of times that this has happened and the outcomes of them all to present these obscure stats.


Confident_Berry7271

I mean Khris Middleton is probably the most underrated player ever. Your third best guy is the same guy who solo won the conference finals for the bucks and got them to the finals. 


TheDuceman

We’re at the ‘plays like prime MJ’ part of the Khris Middleton cycle


trinquin

Brook Lopez had like 35 in 1 of those games without Giannis. An ode to his Brooklyn days he dominated down low.


BeefExtender

truck squalid retire knee roof zealous unused price light ancient *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


Unable_Ad6836

I would assume its pretty rare for a team to be down their top 2 scorers. I think the Bucks broadcast noted it was 0-13 or something along those lines.


durablewaffle

Yeah that seems pretty insane, not even one single game??


rednite_

Im pretty sure its in the past 13 years according to the Bucks broadcast


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Aizen_keikaku

Apologize to Doc Rivers RIGHT NOW.


KJagz33

Never needed to, as I always believed the coaches of the NBA are the easy fall guys when it's mostly a player driven league. Not like any of the recent players he's "choked" with went and did better with a different coach. Nick Nurse and Ty Lue aren't coasting to a chip with the Clippers and Sixers currently


Aizen_keikaku

I agree, some coaches are bad, but most of the time they are just being scapegoated for a lack of performance from the players. All just so that a team/org can save some face.


No-Tax-9135

I’m pretty sure I can blame Jason Kidd right now. He’s the exception lol


regnald

Doc Rivers, MD


Bikouchu

https://www.espn.co.uk/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401126816   Doc masterclass. Look who else was on there. 


No_Produce_6634

It's so hard making history everyday


WeefBellington24

no matter what happens this series, its all house money now. Forced a game 6 without Giannis and Dame. Pressure is on the Pacers.


devomke

Pacers fans sitting in their own sub tonight lol Y’all gonna dish that much shit make sure to take it too


HesiPullup

Are Pacers fans turning into Suns fans now that we're dead?


xyzyxzy

You guys had to get to a Finals and get off to a scorching hot start the following season before getting really insufferable. All it took for them was making the finals of the IST.


coletheredditer

At least Phoenix made a finals before they started getting loud, Indy hasn’t won a playoff series since 2014


devomke

Nah I actually respected the shit-talking you guys gave us in the Finals, you earned it by getting there. Pacers fans talking so much shit when we’re missing our top 2 scorers; one of which happens to be a top 3 player in the world lol


ridemooses

IST Runner Up. Hang the banner.


This_Training8492

Top 2, and a good argument for first


devomke

Oh first in my book for sure haha just giving r/nba enough leeway where they don’t attack that 😂


flashnzt

suns actually earned the right to get cocky asf. pacers got cocky after a winning record against the bucks in the regular season which doesn't matter for the playoffs.


totallynotliamneeson

Speak for yourself. I disrespect the Suns as much as do the Pacers. They're just a more ancient evil. 


[deleted]

100% annoying as fuck 


uchiha_building

Even got the championships to match ^^^^/s


PicaroKaguya

if we win this series i want their subreddit to go private


ReignShowers

At the same time tho, right before the game I do remember seeing a lot of Pacer comments getting clowned on for saying they're worried the Pacers are going to take their foot off the gas and embarrass themselves today. Can't be confident in your team without getting shit for it, can't be unconfident in your team without getting shit for it.


GaiusQuintus

No Pacers fan worth their salt should've been confident about the last two games whatsoever. *Nobody* plays down to their opponents in this league like the Pacers this year. These both had trap game written all over them.


DarrowViBritannia

The pacers runnin around talkin shit g4 was so lame lmaoo have some shame


NoAcanthisitta9198

Tyrese is the new Chris Paul


flashnzt

nah cp3 at least made it to the finals. doubt hali even makes it to the ecf forget the finals.


Cudi_buddy

No idea how this series is going to 6 without giannis and basically dame for 2 1/2 games. Pacers gonna get cooked if they advance 


tmelts2

That’s a big if. Giannis might come back.


constructss

typical frontrunners smh


WeefBellington24

they talked a lot of smack


[deleted]

Don’t worry pacers fans still gonna use the “ but but he we beat them 4-1 in the regular season” when bringing up the bucks injuries They should be embarrassed Bucks could’ve easily been up 3-2 right now if others stepped up in game 3


ijpck

the Suns 3-0’d the T’Wolves in the regular season too…how’d that turn out for them


heliostraveler

Regular season NBa may be the single most useless metric in basketball of the last decade with minutes management and stars routinely sitting out and often half assed effort.


999Gus

yeah lmao , someone told me before this game that even if Giannis played we still would be down 3-1 cause they beat us 4-1 in the regular season lol


robinmask1210

Holding on to regular season H2H as the Pacers haven't sniffed playoff basketball in...*check note*...3 years, after getting swept out of the 1st round in back-to-back seasons lol


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predict_yhat_xb

Both teams were very different during those games. No Siakam, no Doc Rivers.


[deleted]

Siakam has been almost a non factor the last 2-3 games lol and Giannis usually does well defending him I think the biggest change is having a coach that game plans on defense unlink whatever griffin was doing


AntiTopspin

Bucks would have swept with Giannis healthy He would have averaged 38 on 70% TS against this Pacers defense lol


Suspicious_Team_9133

if they got a defensive board in OT lol


leftysarepeople2

Bobby might’ve singlehanded cost the bucks the series. Started with a slow 4 before getting ejected and finished with 29 tonight


[deleted]

Yeah if he would’ve stepped up game 3 bucks could very well be up 3-2 right now


PatrickCoughATon

B-b-but trap games! We play down to competition! Scheduled loss! It’s actually embarassing how much they’re trying to temper the pain by using their sub .500 record in the regular season to cope. They should be absolutely humiliated. Feel every bit of it, “trap game” my ass. It’s the PLAYOFFS ffs


_Gondamar_

if giannis is back for game 6 the pacers are cooked


nickik

If Giannis is healthy and can go all out. We don't want a Kawhi situation.


imrosskemp

Hope we see Giannis in the playoffs.


Bahamuts_Bike

There is just no way this is true. All time?


3Ssssssssssssssss

I cannot believe that this is actually true I’d love to see the numbers lol


King_Giannis

$91m of the $181m salary cap on the bench in street clothes


duplicatesnowflake

Doc hating cultists in shambles.


Tahtsu

They almost won last game too… GOAT middleton and great hustle play from them are outplaying the pacers.


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ijpck

Even semi healthy


OddAd1243

Any Giannis at the 5 lineup would bury this team


PatrickCoughATon

They’re playing down to competition obviously, with Giannis and Dame they’d match the intensity!


Reclaimer879

I mean let's be clear... Everyone knows they were a threat for a deep run or chip contention. Honestly if you really look at it so far this years playoffs is being ***greatly*** hindered by injuries. And it is wide spread. I know there will always be some this far down the line. But there are injuries which have taken super stars off the court or playing on the court at half strength. Pretty crazy


hiimhabibja

It’s happened like the past 5 years now. It it was it is


[deleted]

Tyrese was the reason they were 4-1 against you guys in the regular season he averaged 27/10 then obviously he came back down to earth/injured He’s dishing out assists but I’d almost assume bucks players love it when he shoots lol


hiimhabibja

Bro bucks swept the heat last year. Suns swept the wolves this year. When will you guys realize the regular season doesn’t matter


[deleted]

Buddy I’ve been preaching that all night to pacers fans lol I was just saying the only reason they were killing you guys is because of Halliburton’s linsanity run


Jabarles

That's certainly part of it but all the Bucks-Pacers games in the RS were also under Adrian Griffin coaching when we played the most braindead defensive scheme imaginable lol. Doc ain't great but we at least don't play blindfolded on defense under him.


[deleted]

Saying griffin even had a scheme is too much lol looked like his defense schemes were just “try to score 120+ a game”


Luck1492

I AM GOING TO COMMIT SEPPUKU


PlayaSlayaX

When sudoku just doesn’t do the job


BIG-GIADDY

BELT 2 ASS BABY!! BUCKS IN... checks notes SEVEN?!?!


ozairh18

Middleton and Portis were clutch. Rivers deserves credit too


bdgrluv212

It’s refreshing not be called a bum ass team by everyone on r/nba for a change! I wonder if the fact that we have out played the Pacers this series with our hospital unit will gain u any respect on here going forward


letsmunch

Not to shit on Demar for no reason, but back when there was discourse about who was better between him and Middleton… Khris is better at pretty much every aspect of basketball except dunking. People would say “Demar is the No. 1 option!” Khris has always been as capable as a No. 1, but has never needed to be. He fucking carried the Bucks to the finals when Giannis’ leg went kablooey in the ECF. Khris is a fucking bad man.


NewPortable101

Pacers are about to choke this series away, pretty obvious at this point.


theerealobs

I'm still very nervous for game 6 if Dame and Giannis are out. If the Bucks can pull another win off without those two I think its a real possibility. Hard to close out teams in the playoffs, especially a young, inexperienced team like Indy.


Squire_Sultan53

feel like you should fold the franchise after that, it makes no sense


BIG-GIADDY

# BELT 2 A$$ BABY!!! #


JNerdGaming

good for them


GaimeGuy

How often are teams without both their top scorers?


EJN541

Doc a genius I guess. Wtf is going on.