Mike Budenholzer remains firm on his stance of playing Giannis Antetokounmpo less than 37 minutes, Giannis feels differently.
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Milwaukee Bucks head coach, Mike Budenholzer has been adamant on not playing his superstar player, upwards of 37 minutes, let alone 40 minutes, in this series.
In the 20+ Playoff games Budenholzer has coached Giannis in, Giannis has only played 40+ minutes once, in a non-OT game.
Also read: “Would love to play 48 minutes”: Giannis Antetokounmpo sends message to Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer
Why isn’t Coach Bud playing Giannis heavy minutes?
When asked about why he isn’t allowing the 2019 MVP to play heavy minutes, Coach Bud responded saying, “That would be pushing the ceiling.” However, it is unclear what the ceiling even is as Giannis has not suffered a major injury in recent memory.
Mike Budenholzer saying Giannis playing 35-36 minutes is “pushing the ceiling” pic.twitter.com/ok0zPRexR2
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) September 5, 2020
Giannis, when asked about his peculiar minutes restriction, he said that he wants to play upwards of 40 minutes in a game and that the ankle he injured in Game 3, “feels great.”
Giannis “Yeah I could play more minutes” pic.twitter.com/0dMgCMneqM
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) September 5, 2020
Giannis wasn’t even the Buck how played the most amount of minutes as Brook Lopez led all Bucks in minutes played, in Game 3.
Minutes tonight
Brook Lopez …………………. 37
Khris Middleton ……………. 36
Goran Dragic ……………….. 35
Bam Adebayo ………………. 35
Jimmy Butler ……………….. 34
Giannis Antetokounmpo .. 34— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) September 5, 2020
Giannis injured his ankle in the first quarter in Game 3 on a foul by Goran Dragic, so perhaps that may have been the reason as to why he played less minutes today, but it does not explain why he was on a minutes restriction in Games 1 and 2.
Should Budenholzer play Giannis more minutes?
Budenholzer should absolutely play Giannis more minutes. The Greek Freak has openly stated on multiple occasions that he wants to.
In an astounding stat, Jamal Murray played just 2 minutes less than Giannis, in the Denver Nuggets’s Game 1 against the Los Angeles Clippers, even though it was a blowout win for the Clippers.
Jamal Murray played 33 minutes in 3 quarters yesterday in a blowout loss two days after a Game 7.
Giannis played only 2 more minutes than Murray tonight in a do-or-die game. pic.twitter.com/UELHdxZn8R
— StatMuse (@statmuse) September 5, 2020
With the Bucks being down 3-0, Budenholzer has no other choice other than to roll the dice and play Giannis more minutes, and live with the outcome.
No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the Playoffs.
