Tag: Mike Budenholzer

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.

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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: March 15-21

Pat Connaughton started got off to an unremarkable start to the past week but slowly got better.

Pat Connaughton started got off to an unremarkable start to the past week but slowly got better. He was held to a single field goal March 15 against the Washington Wizards. Despite barely registering in that night’s box score, Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer had enough confidence in Connaughton to play him a season-high 34 minutes March 17 against the Philadelphia 76ers. Connaughton rewarded Budenholzer’s faith by tying his career high with 12 rebounds, recording two steals and scoring six points, two of them coming on his first free throws of the month.

Connaughton reached back into his 3-point arsenal for the Bucks’ March 20 meeting with the San Antonio Spurs, hitting three of his six attempts from there. That led to a final line of 11 points to go with six rebounds. The gradual improvement as the games went on led to 6.3 points and 6.3 rebounds a game for the week. During that time, he shot 53.8 percent from the field.