Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from Game 7 vs. Celtics

3. Ball movement a deciding factor – again

Once again, the Milwaukee Bucks were on the low side of an assist count. The Celtics were a plus-seven in this category, 28-21 on the night. This was a main takeaway from previous losses as well. When the ball is not moving, the offense is stagnant and so much easier to defend.

On the flip side, when the Celtics have their crisp ball movement, they are a hard team to stop. The two team’s starting point guards are a perfect microcosm of this issue. Terry Rozier was able to score 26 points — three more than Eric Bledsoe’s 23 points.

However, Rozier also gave out nine assists to go with these points, which made him a much more dangerous player on the night. Bledsoe only handed out two assists for the entire game.

However, it got worse for the Bucks. Matthew Dellavedova, who seems to take great pleasure in setting up other players, did not hand out a single assist on the night. Not only is this not good for the individual, it is disastrous for the team.

The Celtics were putting full-court pressure on Dellavedova every time he bought the ball up the court. The impact of this was the Bucks were relatively deep into their shot clock when they were in position to shoot. This led to poorly advised shots as shot-clock pressure was in effect.