Grayson Allen Will Be an X-Factor in the Bucks-Celtics Series
Giannis is obviously the star of the Bucks but Grayson Allen will play a key role in a potential Milwaukee series win
Grayson Allen, a former star guard out of Duke and drafted by Utah
Grayson Allen was the 21st pick of the first round in the 2018 NBA Draft out of Duke University. His Duke team won a championship back in 2015 and he became a star from 2016 to 2018 for the team as he continued to climb the draft board. Ultimately, the Utah Jazz initially drafted his services.
He only lasted one season in Utah, though, as he could only manage to play in 38 games, starting two. He finished his rookie season with 5.6 points per game in 10.9 minutes per game. The following two seasons after being sent to Memphis to play for the Grizzlies, his play improved each year as he finished with 10.6 points per game in his third season in the NBA at the age of 25.
Fourth and best season so far, his playing style works for his current team
In his fourth season, at the age of 26, he ended up on the defending championship, Milwaukee Bucks. His numbers in his fourth season were 11.1 points per game and 3.4 rebounds per game in 27.3 minutes per game and on 44.8% field goal efficiency, a career-high 40.9% from long-distance, and 86.5% from the free-throw stripe. He came on as he’s improved his long-distance shooting but has always been a solid option from deep.
This, of course, balances and works well with Milwaukee’s star player, who lives in the paint on both sides of the ball and is a unique talent that we have never seen in Giannis Antetokounmpo. I once watched that guy take three steps from the three-point arc and dunk it from pretty deep. Grayson Allen’s distance shooting and defense have both improved.
He’s even better on defense than he was earlier in his career
Grayson Allen isn’t exactly known for his defense as he’s quicker vertically than he is from side to side. It’s fairly easy for many players to juke him out to get an open shot. I think that combined with his extra effort gives him the reputation of a dirty player that he deservedly gets. It all started with tripping incidents back at Duke.
In fact, here’s a bonus, a compilation of tripping incidents throughout his career. As long as he can play a clean game on defense and not get too many silly fouls, he can help Milwaukee out against a tough Boston team. I would say that his defense has definitely improved from his Duke days or even his Jazz and Grizzlies days.
Boston’s defense will try to counter his threat but Grayson Allen can counter with effort
He also earned 0.7 steals per game this season and had 0.3 blocks per game as he only committed 1.5 fouls per game. Boston’s defensive efficiency is the best in the league and he’ll certainly have his hands full guarding the backcourt and the wing.
As Boston showed in the last series despite losing Game 1 in Boston to Milwaukee in blowout fashion, they have many different ways of attacking their opponent. His defensive plus/minus this season was only -0.2. Even though this isn’t good defense, it’s average enough to make a difference. He’s certainly not Boston’s Marcus Smart when it comes to playing defense.
Offensive explosion off the bench in the postseason, as of late
In Game 4 against the Chicago Bulls in the playoffs, he had his best game so far in the postseason, scoring a career playoff-high 27 points to help Milwaukee win Game 4 off the bench, complimenting starters Jrue Holiday’s 26 and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 32 points. He also had a game-high plus/minus of +23. This was all in less than 29 minutes of gameplay.
In fact, he scored 62 points, 20.7 points per game, in the last three close-out games against the Bulls. He picked up where he left off and scored 11 points in Game 1 against Boston after not scoring in Game 1 and scoring in single digits in Game 2. He’s certainly a spark plug off of the bench for Milwaukee. If he could have more games like the last three against the Bulls, the Celtics may not even have a chance at this point.
Using his shooting to counter Boston’s attack and Grayson Allen as a spoiler in the series
Even though If he could have a game or two like this against Boston, it gives them an extra weapon to counter Boston’s balanced offense and fierce defense and give them a shot to actually win this series. I still think that this series is going to be a close one. I could see this one going either way in 6 or 7 games.
I’m not calling the winner in this series yet. I’m just going to be watching the play of one former Duke star guard in this series to figure out which way the series will actually go. As I said, everyone else is going to be fairly predictable to see how they’ll help their respective teams, but if Grayson Allen can continue to improve his game and find more ways to help his team every chance he gets, then he’ll certainly be the extra help Milwaukee will need to go to the Eastern Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons.
