After the Bucks beat the Heat in the first round, I asked Pat Connaughton about being able to deal with past failures and come back and compete again for a championship. Here’s what he said about trying to play loose under the brightest lights and greatest pressures of the postseason:
“I think that’s where experience, from what I’ve seen, comes into play more than anything. At the end of the day, think about the old adage, I can make 100 out of 100 free throws sitting in an empty gym. The second there’s 17,000 fans in front of you, and you know you’re down by one, and you know it’s the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, all of that is what makes it harder to shoot the same free throw that you shoot. So I think going through that and seeing it. Being in Portland, we were down 2-0 to the Clippers in the first round. CP3 and Blake (Griffin) got hurt, and we came back and won 4-2. Next year, we lost to Golden State in the first round, when Steph (Curry) came back. The year after that, Jrue Holiday swept us with the Pelicans. But it was more about trying to make sure, hey, I need to be mentally locked on what my job is. I can’t be focused on the surrounding things that go into what this game and what this series means.
“I’ve got to make sure I can go to bed at night being like, hey, I was aggressive. I shot my shot the way I wanted to shoot my shot. My shots weren’t affected by the crowd. They weren’t affected by understanding time, score, situation. I think that’s where experience comes in.”
In the biggest game of his life so far, on the road, in front of a sellout crowd in Phoenix, Connaughton is 4-of-6 on 3s and has scored 14 points for the Bucks – who are up 100-90 after three quarters, 12 minutes from a 3-2 lead and a chance to win the Finals on their home court Tuesday in Milwaukee.
(Photo: Joe Camporeale / USA Today)
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July 18, 2021 at 10:52AM
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