Robin Lopez’s first 6 buckets of this game are hook shots (not the kind he threw against Serge Ibaka; the basketball kind). He added one more in the second half for a grand total of 7, all of them against Deandre Ayton or Dragan Bender. I don’t know if they were trying to teach the Suns/Ayton a lesson about post defense or if they were just going to the guy they knew could get them a bucket, but that first half was a total post-move clinic by Lopez. Perhaps, when I get around to compiling the Ayton highlights from this game, I will see that he dominated Lopez just as hard as Lopez dominated him, but for now, my opinion of Ayton is that he is a weak rookie crybaby, and my opinion of Lopez is that he’s a beautiful strong man who won’t let anyone tell him that the art of the low post is dead.
The Bulls coaching staff had been marginalizing Lopez pretty hard at points this season, barely giving him any minutes or even DNPing him, and my only explanation for that is that they knew he was too good and were trying to tank. Any other reason would reveal them to be utterly incompetent, because just like last year, Lopez is a walking bucket. Maybe his game isn’t as flashy as his brother’s, but these last few weeks, Fropez has been way outscoring Blopez, even with only the faintest shimmer of a three-ball.
I almost hope that someone on the Bucks coaching staff watches this video and realizes that Brook can be just as dominant inside. Robin got marginalized for parts of the season, but Brook has been getting marginalized this whole season because no one lets him go in the paint anymore.