You really think Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton can keep up with Kyrie and KD when it comes to scoring? Jrue Holiday only scored over 20 points a game in his entire career one time. He isn't an elite shot creator. He's average. Khris Middleton never scored over 20 points in his career. They are guys that have been the 2nd best player on playoff teams and they never got buckets. Jrue only got 17 a game this year. Nobody is double teaming those guys in any scenario.
Jayson Tatum, Kemba and Jaylen Brown got more points a game than the Bucks three. If Giannis had Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, he might be able to get a ring this year. Jaylen Brown is a 25 a game scorer now. Jayson Tatum might average 30 next year and you saw what he did to the Nets, he won a game by his damn self.
Giannis gets 30, Jrue gets 17 and Khris get 20 piece in the regular season and they haven't been able to do it all post season because defenses don't have to guard Giannis. Giannis can't post up, he can't shoot and he can't pass. So anything he gets is hard unless it's a transition bucket or a offensive putback. Which means everybody else on his team has to create their own shot, something they aren't elite at. They are used to having Giannis guarded by 3 guys, now Giannis is left alone.
Bucks won on defense. KD and Kyrie shot bad. Theey had a lead in the 1st half that evaporated when KD and Kyrie finally realized they were in a playoff game. If Brucie didn't play dumb ass hell in the 4th, the Nets would've stolen a game. The Bucks barely won and they had to play really hard because they didn't wanna get embarrassed.
If Harden was playing, the Bucks would be getting blown out every game because the Bucks can't score enough points efficiently enough to keep up with the shotmaking of three professional scorers. You have professional scorers, and you got gets that chip in. Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday are guys that chip in. They need somebody beside them that get 30 and they add their easy 19 points and get props for going against average defenders. Kyrie, KD and Harden are professional scorers. They are gonna get their 25 a game minimum versus anybody. Triple teams, double teams, zones, box in one, they are gonna get 25 points at least.
James Harden would be playing if the Nets didn't have KD and Kyrie. The Nets are saying, we can beat you without our best playmaker because ya'll ain't all that good. If the Bucks win another game, James Harden is gonna play and the Bucks are gonna get blown out by 20 every game.