NFL
By: Melo Williams
The Milwaukee Bucks are currently sitting at 3-2 after beating the New York Knicks in the first game of the In-Season Tournament Friday night at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
For the first five games of the season, Milwaukee has looked either good or bad. There hasn’t been any in-between but that’s expected early on.
With a new coach in first-year head coach Adrian Griffin means a new system, new players, and the loss of assistant coach Terry Stotts, it’s going to be an adjustment period for the Bucks.
It’s super early in the season and there’s no chance of wanting to hit a panic button, however with the smallest of small sample size one week into the 2023-2024 season, it appears that the Milwaukee Bucks struggles with three things:
1. Defending scoring point guards or teams with a scoring backcourt
2. How teams are defending
3. Defense and rebounding
Defending Scoring Backcourts:
Opening night against the Philadelphia 76ers, Tyrese Maxey scored 31 points and it took some Dame Time magic to get the one-point victory for the Bucks. Game two, Trae Young and DeJounte Murray scored 35 points combined for Atlanta to beat Milwaukee.
Bucks beat the Heat in game three with Tyler Herro putting up 35, Dennis Schroder led Toronto to a win over Milwaukee scoring 24 points and Jalen Brunson scored 45 points shooting 17-30 from the field in a loss to the Bucks.
With the absence of Jrue Holiday or an on-ball defender like Holiday, teams have been attacking Milwaukee’s backcourt defensively in the first five games of the season.
With Jrue, Milwaukee was able to pressure point guards bringing the ball up the court preventing them from easily going into their offensive sets. Now they walk into the sets comfortably, with no pressure.
Malik Beasley whose known for his defense and has started all five games, he’s no Jrue Holiday. Neither is Damian Lillard and teams have been exposing the defensive liabilities the Bucks have with their backcourt.
Teams have been forcing Lillard to play defense and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon.
Defending the Bucks:
Looking at Milwaukee’s roster it identifies as a team that shoots a lot of jump shots and threes and has the dribble drive penetration by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. There’s very little motion and movement in the offense.
With that said, the Bucks have faced a lot of man-zone defenses in the first five games and I feel with the players on the roster the trend will continue.
Milwaukee has two great shooters with range in Khris Middleton and Lillard, with Malik Beasley and Pat Connaughton being capable of knocking down the three as well.
With no real floor general point guard and teams successfully playing man-zone defense, Milwaukee will need Dame Dolla to maybe cut back on looking for his shot so much create plays for others around him, and look to average around 7-8 assists per game to open up the floor offense for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Another area of concern that can be from a lack of a floor general point guard and the defenses is the Bucks assist to turnover ratio. Milwaukee has a 1:4 assist-to-turnover ratio. Bucks must cut back on the turnovers.
Defense and Rebounding:
Comparing the wins and losses, two of the three wins took Dame Time’s performances at home against the Philadelphia 76ers and the New York Knicks.
The two losses were blowouts, 127-110 to the Atlanta Hawks and 130-111 to the Toronto Raptors.
Versus Atlanta at the Fiserv, Giannis Antetokounmpo had a 26-point 11 rebound double-double, shot 9-14 from the field. Damian Lillard was held to six points, four rebounds, and five assists. Both played 29 minutes. Khris Middleton didn’t suit up.
Milwaukee never led in the game. Had 23 turnovers, was outrebounded, and Atlanta also had more assists.
In the loss to Toronto, the Raptors were flat-out hot. It’s hard to beat a team when they shoot 56% from the field knocking down 51 of the 91 shots taken and dish out 35 assists to your 19. Like in the loss to Atlanta, Milwaukee never led in the loss to the Raptors.
Toronto outrebounded Milwaukee 50 to 39. The Raptors also feasted in the paint 66 points to 40. Pure dominance where every game is almost won on any level of basketball winning the rebounding and points scored in the paint battle and are substantially different.
In 28 minutes, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 16 points, 4 rebounds, and shot 5-11 from the field. In 31 minutes Damian Lillard scored 15 points dished out 4 assists, and shot 4-9 from the field and 1-4 from the three.
Conclusion:
In due time, head coach Adrian Griffin will have the Buck’s defense and rebounding issues figured out. Milwaukee was one of the best defensive teams last season and I expect that to remain the same under Coach Griffin.
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