Keep the faith.
Khris Middleton still has it.
The thought was the lifeboat in the aftermath of Game 3’s devastating loss to the Indiana Pacers. The ship of the season may be going down, but the Bucks—and Middleton—would survive to fight another day.
The ending of the game showcases the highs of the Khash Money experience. The Tough Shot Express carried passengers throughout the night, as Khris dug deep into his toolkit to create looks on his way to a playoff-high 42 points. Most notably, he sank epitomely clutch threes to tie the game in regular time and overtime with mere seconds on the clock.
Middleton can ball; we know this. What’s more, beyond singled-handedly taking over the ending of Game 3, he has continued to excel as a distributor (a more-than-fair price for a turnover here and there). But questions persist.
He played 88 games the last two regular seasons combined. His lack of playing time might have kept him fresh for the playoffs: indeed, he hasn’t missed a playoff game since *shudders* Boston. But the regular season, albeit meaningless, isn’t meaningless; for example, he lost the chance to develop chemistry with new additions like Dame, whom he wasn’t on the same wavelength with in the highlights above. Here’s hoping the offseason surgeries help have him back to playing at least three-quarters of the regular season, even if he’s still on the road to full health.
On the court is one thing; playing at pace is another. As Father Time marches onward, margins for success shrink as split seconds are added to decisions and reactions. This is arguably more pronounced on the defensive side of the ball, when the other team is dictating the tempo. The Bucks’ defensive structure (read: Giannis and / or Brook) can cover for Khris not being a great defender, but he needs to have the conditioning to be able to stay near his man and rotate onto open shooters.
At the end of the day, I choose optimism. If Khris can still nearly keep up his end of the playoff bargain—as the second fiddle, you have to win one playoff game per series—without Giannis, I have no doubt that he can continue to fulfill his quota with a healthy Giannis.
Asking the tough questions:
And then some:
Polls close at 8 AM (Central) tomorrow!