Bucks & Bulls
NSL Playoffs Round Two

With one round of the NSL Playoffs in the books, the victors continue to march forward towards the ultimate prize, an NSL Championship. In this Round Two Matchup of Eastern Conference Teams, the Milwaukee Bucks will host the Chicago Bulls. Milwaukee proved themselves as playoff worthy, ousting the spritely Trae Young and the Orlando Magic from the playoffs. The series swung back and forth for the first four games, but the Bucks showed their true mettle, stabilising their best rotation and strategy to close the series in six. SGA, Evan Mobley and Miles Bridges lead a young, talented Bucks team to their first playoff wins as an NSL franchise, including a series win.

The Chicago Bulls shocked the basketball world by pummelling the Luka-less Charlotte Hornets over the first three games of the first round series, closing the deal in five games and moving on. Merencio is no stranger to the high stakes of playoffs basketball, and the strategy and experience helped push his team across the threshold and closer to the Finals. John Wall played his first action of the entire season and showed no signs of rust. The Bucks will have home court advantage, with the first two games of the season being hosted in Milwaukee. The action will swing to Chicago for games three and four, and if applicable, the remaining three games will alternate cities, starting in Milwaukee for game five.?

Projected Lineups

Milwaukee Bucks:??

PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?

SG: Miles Bridges?

SF: Precious Achiuwa?

PF: Evan Mobley?

C: DeAndre Jordan??

Rotation: Thaddeus Young, Cedi Osman, Hamidou Diallo, Duncan Robinson, Damian Jones???

Chicago Bulls:??

PG: John Wall?

SG: Kendrick Nunn?

SF: Anthony Davis?

PF: Marquis Chriss?

C: Boban Marjonovic??

Rotation: Nicholas Claxton, Trey Burke, Ed Davis, Cam Thomas?

Tale of the Tape?

?

Looking at both teams, you are reminded that one of these teams made moves to build up for the playoffs and the other team made moves to remove risks and add future value to their team.

Milwaukee, under new management, shed their current program and reputation as a perpetual tanker and made moves to build a winning culture and ultimately, win a playoffs series. They possess elite young talent and quality depth at every position, due to great drafting (and high draft picks) in past seasons and new management making decisions to convert future assets into players who could help the team win as many games as possible while not compromising their current young talent.



Chicago, on the other hand, has had a very different trajectory in 2022. The Bulls are renowned for always wanting to compete, contend every single season and value winning as the highest priority (a man after my own heart). However, significant injuries to their three best players, consistently throughout the season, meant their ability to be a great team was restricted to a team that had to fight and claw their way to a 38 win season and earn a playoff berth via the play in tournament. Due to this, some of their better veterans on short term contracts, namely Hassan Whiteside, were shipped off for (a great return of) future assets. While this was the smart play, it has now capped their current talent and experience. Mind you, they just beat the top seed of the East and did it without Bradley Beal.


Won and Lost

The Milwaukee Bucks will come in as a favourite, obviously, being a higher seed and having an arguably more talented roster. These are the moments where young talents like SGA and Evan Mobley are catapulted into the �star� tier of player. Milwaukee has had a settled roster all season and didn�t endure many troughs along the way. This is good news, because these players know how to interact and react in a complementary and effective manner. The rotations and hierarchy are set.

However, in direct contrast, the Bulls, have struggled to even have consecutive weeks where they aren�t missing key personnel. Despite the gleam well and truly disappearing from their regular season, are 4 and 1 in the playoffs and just sent the top seeded Hornets packing in game 5 (when they had a full lineup). These Bulls have tapped into something inspirational, showing their mettle and will ferociously and consistently.



The Bulls still have the best, most talented player of the series in Anthony Davis. He has had some respect hastily shaved off his name and reputation due to his inability to stay healthy. However, he is still arguably the best two way big man the NSL has. And that means something. A lot, in fact. Mobley is a revered young big, but he has barely any experience in playing against elite bigs. The Bucks can throw Mobley and Precious Achiuwa and Thaddeus Young at Davis, but he is going to be able to play his game and should comfortably beat these players on offense, not to mention heavily impact them on the defensive end.