2. Patrick Williams Didn’t Show up on Offense
One of the keys to the game was Chicago’s role players hitting open shots. The Bucks stuck with their game plan of blitzing DeRozan and LaVine on their drives. When that happened, both did a solid job of kicking the ball out to open shooters.
White and Caruso had no problem pulling the trigger, with White’s connections fueling the Bulls’ comeback. Williams, on the other hand, kept passing up the shot.
Patrick Williams, who passed up an open 3 on last possession, has yet to take a shot in 12 minutes.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 17, 2022
In doing so, Milwaukee didn’t have to play him honest. They were able to continue to double on the star guards and dig on Vucevic post-ups, with Jrue Holiday disrupting several of the stars’ isolations with help defense.
Williams doesn’t have to do his best Kawhi Leonard impersonation. He just has to be aggressive. His defense was a key part of the team’s comeback and helped them stay in the game despite their stars struggling. But his passiveness was a key part of the team getting into that early 15-point hole as well as the inability to score at crucial moments in the fourth quarter.