This makes two games out of the last three where Nikola Mirotic has scored 28 points without getting to the line. I could go with the “typical soft Euro” angle here, or the “refs hate Euros” angle, or the “Bulls fans who are forced to travel to Milwaukee to see an affordable basketball game are to be sympathized with, not hated” angle. There are lots of angles here. A whole triangle’s worth, or even more.
I guess the deal with Mirotic is that he goes as his outside shot goes. If he’s hitting, he doesn’t feel the need to take it inside very much. If he’s not hitting, he’s gonna keep shooting until he starts hitting or Hoiberg remembers how much he hates him and takes him out. He can do stuff at the rim, but why do that when you can score one more point for a shot that’s only a little harder to make?
Mirotic used to pumpfake the heck out of defenders at the three point line, but I haven’t seen that as much this year, it feels like. Used to be he could get a good amount of free throws from those fakes, maybe the refs stopped buying it? That ties in well with the “refs hate Euros” angle. However much the refs and Hoiberg hate him, he scored 28 tonight against the Bucks, which makes me hate him now as well.