Tag: irish in the NBA

Watch: Pat Connaughton makes clutch 3 late in Game 4 of NBA Finals

Notre Dame will be proud of this shot forever.

The NBA Finals have become a best-of-3 series after the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns, 109-103, in Game 4. One reason the game turned out the way it did was a big shot from Pat Connaughton, Notre Dame’s lone active NBA product. With the Bucks trailing, 95-94, late in the fourth quarter, Giannis Antetokounmpo quickly bounced a no-look pass to Connaughton behind the 3-point line in the right corner. Connaughton unloaded, and, well, look what happened:

No, it didn’t give the Bucks the lead for good. In fact, this particular lead that Connaughton provided didn’t even last one possession. However, it was part of a larger sequence that kept the Bucks energized, and they ultimately had enough momentum to finish the job. Oh, and Giannis had one of the sickest blocks you’ll ever see:

In 32 minutes, Connaughton led all bench players with 11 points, including a trio of 3s, and came within a rebound of a double-double. Those nine boards are his high for this year’s playoffs.

Watch: Monty Williams motivates Deandre Ayton during fourth quarter

Watch the Suns’ coach and former Irish player motivate one of his key players.

Notre Dame product Monty Williams has coached the Phoenix Suns to two wins away from their first NBA championship. His leadership was on display during the Suns’ 118-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. One example came during a fourth-quarter timeout in which he talked with center Deandre Ayton about guarding Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. He then immediately transitioned into a motivational speaker for a player whose effort absolutely was needed to get his team to the finish line:

Ayton seemed to take Williams’ advice to “dominate with force” to heart. During the game’s final 7:40, Ayton had three rebounds, two steals and one block. No player on either team had higher numbers in any of those categories in that span. It wrapped up a night in which Ayton had a double-double of 10 points and 11 boards to go with a game-high three steals.

If you have any doubt about Williams’ ability to get the best out of his players during crunch time, look no further than this example.

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Watch: Monty Williams gives eulogy at wife’s funeral in 2016

You owe it to yourself to watch this inspirational speech.

Before Notre Dame product Monty Williams coached the Phoenix Suns to within reach of their first NBA championship, tragedy struck.

In 2016, during his lone season as associate head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder, his wife, Ingrid, was killed in a car accident. In such a situation, it would be difficult to fathom someone not getting emotional while eulogizing their significant other. However, if Williams was ready to break down as he spoke at his wife’s funeral, he had no intention of showing it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXIz14VuQik

The fact that Williams delivered such a message of hope, encouragement and forgiveness at his darkest hour is nothing short of amazing.

Irish fans will appreciate the anecdote from his time in college, during which his playing career nearly ended prematurely because of a heart condition that miraculously disappeared. Everyone who watches this should appreciate the inspiration he provides. If you watch only one YouTube video today, make it this one.

Monty Williams vs. Pat Connaughton: Notre Dame stats comparison

How did the Irish’s connections for this year’s NBA Finals do when they were in South Bend?

We don’t know whether the Phoenix Suns or Milwaukee Bucks will win this year’s NBA Finals. What we do know is that one of two former Notre Dame captains will be hoisting the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy when it’s over. Mike Brey is over the moon about the battle between Suns coach Monty Williams and Bucks guard Pat Connaughton:

Before learning whether Williams’ brain or Connaughton’s brawn will help determine the outcome of this series, let’s go back to their respective times in South Bend. Williams played there from 1989 to 1994, while Connaughton was around from 2011 to 2015. Here’s how their Irish careers compare from a numbers standpoint:

Statistically, Williams was the better player in most areas against better competition. He also played one less season for Notre Dame, sitting out two others during his tenure because of a heart condition. Meanwhile, Connaughton was a key cog on a 2015 Irish team that came agonizingly close to the Final Four.

You’ve got two Notre Dame alumni with two different skill sets and two different types of collegiate careers playing in two different eras. Now, they come together on basketball’s biggest stage. May the man with the better team win.

Pat Connaughton NBA Tracker: Eastern Conference Finals

Notre Dame will be represented on the court in this year’s NBA Finals.

Pat Connaughton, Notre Dame’s lone active NBA product, officially is part of a special group. His Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Atlanta Hawks in six games for the franchise’s first NBA Finals berth since 1974. He has played a major role on that journey, too, with his 21.5 minutes a game the most for any Bucks bench player in the playoffs. While he’s far from the first player that comes to mind when people think of the Bucks, he has been very reliable as part of Mike Budenholzer’s second unit.

As the Bucks and Hawks split the first four games of the Eastern Conference Finals, Connaughton mostly shined in the Bucks’ two wins over that span. In Game 2, he was a perfect 3 for 3 from the 3-point line, giving him nine points. When the series shifted from Milwaukee to Atlanta for Game 3, he grabbed a playoff career-high four offensive rebounds in an eight-board effort. However, when Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered a hyperextended knee in Game 4 and ended up missing the rest of the series, many wondered whether the Bucks would get enough contributions elsewhere to get past the Hawks.

Connaughton turned out to be one of the reasons the Bucks had enough to finish the job. He turned in his second nine-point performance in a Game 5 victory. The Bucks eliminated the Hawks by winning Game 6, which saw Connaughton score 13 points, grab eight rebounds and pick up two steals. It was his most complete game in this year’s playoffs.

For the series, Connaughton averaged 7.2 points and 4.3 rebounds a game while shooting 15 of 30 (50.0 percent) from the field. In this year’s postseason, he is averaging 6.1 points and 3.9 rebounds on 45.6 percent shooting. He will hope to improve on that when the Bucks meet fellow Notre Dame graduate Monty Williams’ Phoenix Suns in the finals. More importantly, he hopes whatever he gives will be enough to give the Bucks their first NBA championship since 1971.

[jwplayer rUs8qi9C]

Pat Connaughton NBA Tracker: Eastern Conference Semifinals

How did Notre Dame’s lone current NBA product do in an epic seven-game series win?

For the second time in three years, Pat Connaughton and the Milwaukee Bucks are headed to the NBA Eastern Conference finals. In a hard-fought seven-game series against the second-seeded Brooklyn Nets, Connaughton tied with Bryn Forbes as the Bucks’ leading bench scorer for the series at 4.6 points a game. His 3.6 rebounds a game were the most in the series for out of the three bench players who played in all seven contests.

Connaughton’s high mark against the Nets came in the Bucks’ Game 5 loss. He scored 10 points on 57.1 percent shooting from the field and grabbed six rebounds. He came close to matching that in Game 7 with nine points and four boards. Perhaps his biggest impact came in a Game 4 win, during which he scored eight points and collected a playoff career-high four steals, a number he also achieved as his career regular-season best Feb. 12 against the Utah Jazz.

Connaughton shot 40.7 percent from the field for the series and 28.6 percent from 3-point range. Those numbers could have been a bit higher, but he went scoreless twice during the series. That included a Game 6 showing in which he missed all five of his shots, all of which came from beyond the arc. While it’s become clear at this point that he is nothing more than a supporting player for the Bucks, he undoubtedly will want to avoid games like that again as the playoffs continue.

Pat Connaughton NBA Tracker: Eastern Conference quarterfinals

See how Notre Dame’s lone NBA representative did during the first round of the playoffs.

Pat Connaughton and the Milwaukee Bucks won a close Game 1 against the Miami Heat in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Bucks had little trouble the rest of the series, breezing to a four-game sweep of the defending Eastern Conference champions. The series not only gave the Bucks some rest ahead of their second-round series, but it potentially opened an opportunity for Connaughton for the rest of the playoffs, albeit at a cost. More on that in a moment.

Connaughton was the Buck who played the least in Game 1’s overtime win. In 10 minutes, he made one field goal, grabbed four rebounds and committed his only turnover of the series. Game 2 was Connaughton’s best of the series, scoring 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. He added three more 3-pointers in Game 3, and Game 4 gave him one field goal and five rebounds in his first start in 42 career playoff games.

Connaughton averaged 7.0 points and 3.8 assists a game on 45.5 percent shooting from the field. It’s possible he’ll be starting more because the Bucks have lost starting shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo for the rest of the playoffs after injuring a tendon in his foot in Game 3. Whether coach Mike Budenholzer wants Connaughton to be DiVincenzo’s replacement starter for the rest of the playoffs or not, Connaughton will need to be more consistent at a position that demands a lot of scoring. Having to start doing this come playoff time won’t be easy, but it has to be done for the Bucks to get further than the conference semifinals.

Pat Connaughton NBA Tracker: April 26-May 2

Pretty blah week for Pat.

It was a very forgettable week for Pat Connaughton – perhaps his most forgettable of the season. He began it April 27 by failing to score in the Milwaukee Bucks’ win over the Charlotte Hornets, missing a pair of 3-point attempts. It was the fourth time he has been held out of the scoring column this season and first time since Feb. 10. He somewhat salvaged his game with two rebounds, one steal and one block.

Connaughton ended his scoring drought April 29 against the Houston Rockets, but it came on 1-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. His most complete game of the week was a six-point, six rebound game April 30 against the Chicago Bulls. The Bucks returned home May 2 against the Brooklyn Nets, during which Connaughton made one more 3-pointer and recorded three steals. It all added up to averages of 3.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals while shooting 4 of 15 (26.7 percent) from the field (0 for 2 on regular 2-point baskets).

Pat Connaughton NBA Tracker: April 19-25

Pat just missed out on his first double-double of the season.

Pat Connaughton had a week where he seemingly got better in every game until he was the least productive he’s been in a while. On April 19, he came agonizingly close to a double-double in the Milwaukee Bucks’ one-point loss to the Phoenix Suns. He scored nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range and grabbed nine rebounds. He still has not achieved a double-double since Game 2 of the Bucks’ 2020 first-round playoff series.

The Bucks played back-to-back home games against the Philadelphia 76ers, and Connaughton was productive with respective lines of 10 and five and 11 and six. He’ll want to forget his April 25 performance at the Atlanta Hawks. That’s because he scored only five points and was kept out of the rebounding column for the first time this season and first time since playing only 31 seconds in Game 3 of last year’s conference semifinals. It all added up to 8.8 points and 5.0 rebounds a game on 56.5 percent shooting from the field over the past week.

Pat Connaughton NBA Tracker: April 12-18

Pat put up some nice scoring performances during the past week.

Pat Connaughton decided this past week would be a good one for him to get his scoring chops on. When his Milwaukee Bucks visited the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 14, he scored 14 points, his most since a 20-point outing March 22, on 5-of-10 shooting, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range. He equaled that scoring output the next night against the Atlanta Hawks while also grabbing seven rebounds.

In an April 17 home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Connaughton scored only seven points while going 1 of 7 from beyond the arc. His .143 3-point shooting percentage was his lowest this season for games in which he made at least one 3-pointer. However, he mixed things up a bit by making a shot just inside the free-throw line, a place he hasn’t attempted too many shots from this season.

For the week, Connaughton had a nice scoring average of 11.7 and a decent rebounding average of 5.0. He shot 41.9 percent from the floor for the week and was 9 of 26 on 3-pointers.