Nickel: Damian Lillard explains what pace means, and why Doc Rivers is pushing for it

When coach Doc Rivers says he wants the Milwaukee Bucks to play with pace, and the Bucks scout team this week pushed the pace so hard in practice they didn’t even inbounds the ball after a made basket, this is what that means, and that looks like.

Big wins

For two examples of how the Bucks played with the kind of pace they want, consider the April 9 victory over the Boston Celtics and the March 23 victory over Oklahoma City.

The Bucks started out playing dominant defense, and that fed into their offense in the win against the first-place Celtics.

And after a tight first half, the Bucks pulled away in the third quarter against Oklahoma City with 14 key plays to start the third quarter – all either steals, blocks or rebounds – to pull ahead to a 13 point lead, which they never relinquished.

"We played fast, but we played intentional as well," said Rivers. "When we did get in the half court, we didn't stop moving. We didn't get stuck. "

It's not a track meet

Lillard said Boston was a good example of pace even in the half court offense.

“Side to side, how we attacked the rim, how we cut and how we ran into screens, everything was done with pace,” said Lillard.

Makes vs. misses

But here's the difference: The Bucks can play a little differently if the opponent misses a basket. If Milwaukee snares the defensive rebound, it can turn upcourt faster to start its offensive attack.

The Bucks struggle though when the opponent makes a basket. Then they have to take a second or two to retrieve the ball, step off court and inbounds the ball and start their attack.

But how does Milwaukee's defense aid in this?

In the Bucks vs Boston came, Milwaukee started shooting in the high 70 percentile range in the first quarter; the Celtics were shooting less than 20%. That really played in Milwaukee's favor, as it could play constantly at its pace.

"The No. 1 thing is just making them miss,” Lillard told the Journal Sentinel. “We not having to take the ball out the net, take it out. Slows the game down. We was getting it off the rim, was getting deflections, getting steals and we was getting it and we was going. We didn't play against a set defense the whole time.”

This is a pattern for the Bucks

Rivers must have studied the Bucks' past seasons of play, because on Friday he noticed trends that went back before he got to Milwaukee in January.

"It was great before I got here last year – in 'misses,'" said Rivers. "We've never had a problem with that especially when Giannis was on the floor. Now, when Giannis was off the floor, I thought we struggled over the years in pacing. Our problem comes on 'makes' and it's always been that. We have to be just as efficient on 'makes' that we are on 'misses' for us to have a clear vision of what we're trying to do, and do it with pace and consistency – I think that's the key for us."

More: Nickel: Bucks and Pacers status? It's complicated

That's why Bucks defense affects pace

“When we get stops and getting out, that's when we really see the weapons that we have,” said Lillard. “You see Giannis out in transition; you see Khris Middleton play-making in transition. You see the defense coming in and Brook Lopez is spacing the floor, and they can't stop Giannis and get out to Brook and then Khris has it on one side, Giannis in the pick and roll and they loading up. And then its quick pass to me and I get my first shot as a clean look at three.

“And then it's all balanced because of our pace and how we're playing; the next time I come off pick and roll and nobody's there, I get another three.

“It started with us just getting stops and rebounding the ball and being able to push it out and just led to higher quality offense" against Boston, said Lillard.

Problems arise when...

Lillard said it doesn’t matter much if the Bucks are playing ahead, or coming from behind, after two or three quarters. Instead, its all about this ideal pace.

"I think our problem in some games where we kind of let teams back into the game, or we lose leads, is not playing the same,” said Lillard. “It doesn't mean that we play in a hurry, take quick shots and play sped-up.

“It's our pacing and doing the things that we do - how we run the floor for each other.

“Sprinting in to screens, rolling hard (committed to rolling away from a pick), pulling behind, giving guys outlets.

“When we stop playing that way and we stop moving the ball and doing those things, for each other, I think that's when things go south for us.".

What that means for the Pacers

So when Rivers says the Bucks will win a wrestling match but not a track meet, that’s different than talking about pace. And that will be a key against the Pacers.

"Some teams are just fast, fast, fast, fast, fast.,” said Lillard. “And sometimes when you play those teams you're going to have opportunity to get back in the game because they're going to keep playing the same way. They're going to take quick threes and they're going to play in transition and that means it's going to be more possessions in the game.

“If you stop them on those possessions - you're going to get more opportunities to try to close that lead. So for us, it's not just being in the track meet, it is just playing with good pace. Being hard to guard, like with our cuts and how we how we execute the pace we execute with. Like our intention when we do those things. There's an urgency that is just harder to deal with. And that doesn't mean it's going to be just like a million miles per hour. It's just doing everything with purpose and doing it hard and fast for each other."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Damian Lillard explains what a good pace means for Bucks