2019 NBA Playoffs: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Detroit Pistons preview
Key Matchup: Giannis Antetokounmpo vs. Blake Griffin
While there are certainly other matchups to watch in this series, the most obvious one is also the most important. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Blake Griffin were the two best power forwards in the league this year and they will square off in the first round of the playoffs — provided, of course, that Griffin is healthy enough to play.
Down the stretch, he’s missed multiple games nursing a knee injury, including a must-win season finale against the New York Knicks. The injury is clearly limiting him even when he does play, as evidenced by being little more than a decoy against the Memphis Grizzlies Tuesday night. Yet if he plays, his varied and modern offensive game could unlock something for the Pistons.
Antetokounmpo would almost certainly match up with Griffin, one of the few instances where he marks the opponent’s best offensive threat. Head coach Mike Budenholzer prefers to deploy his best defender on the weakest opponent, allowing him the leash to collapse weak-side and cause overall havoc. Yet Brook Lopez is clearly a better matchup on Andre Drummond, and Khris Middleton cannot mark Griffin. This will be Antetokounmpo’s assignment in their base alignment.
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Griffin has become a solid and willing outside scorer, taking 7.0 shots from beyond the arc and hitting 36.2 percent of them. Many big men can hit a shot off-the-catch when they set their feet, but no one can hit 3-pointers off the dribble like Griffin can. Antetokounmpo will be stretched, and perhaps more importantly pulled away from the paint.
Flip things around, however, and Griffin will likely do much worse trying to guard Antetokounmpo. The “Greek Freak” has been unstoppable around the rim, and opposing defenses are forced to allow him to go one-on-one or leave a knockdown shooter open. The Bucks will likely pick up points in transition against the Pistons as well, with Antetokounmpo being one of the most gifted transition players in the league.
If Griffin is fully healthy and gets hot from outside, he could swing a game or two in this series; that may not be good enough for anything but avoiding a sweep, but a Detroit franchise with no playoff wins in a decade will take even a single postseason victory. Antetokounmpo is likely to steamroll the Pistons’ roster, including Griffin, as very few teams in the league have any clue how to stop him.