The Milwaukee Bucks lost to the Chicago Bulls 109-94 on Sunday afternoon. However, the Bucks ended up winning the season series 3-1.
Thon Maker: C+
Thon got off to a good start in the first quarter. He had a nice offensive rebound and finished strong at the rim for an and-one. Per usual, he was quickly subbed out in the first quarter and did not return for the rest of the half. I was surprised by this as I thought Maker had earned some more playing time based on his first quarter minutes. Kidd has to be more flexible with his lineups and not pre-meditate them beforehand. Maker missed a three in the third quarter and finished only 1-3 from the floor. He left the game with 9:19 remaining in the third quarter and didn’t return until garbage time.
Giannis Antetokounmpo: C-
You know Giannis has reached superstar status when he can drop 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists and still have it considered a sub-par game. Giannis came right out of the gate attacking like a madman with ten points after the first quarter. Giannis followed up his great first quarter with a disappearing act in the second. He became very passive and only finished with one point in the second. Defensively Giannis was a mess. He consistently got lost on defense when guarding Nikola Mirotic. Mirotic had multiple three’s when Giannis would get caught floating on defense. A couple of times Giannis was nowhere near Mirotic as he ended up with 28 points in the game. Giannis also got sloppy with the ball a few times and ended up with three turnovers, which accounted for a third of the Bucks turnovers as a team.
Khris Middleton: D+
Middleton had another off-night shooting the ball. He finished 6 of 17 for 14 points. He had a couple of nice shots in the first quarter, including an extremely tough fadeaway from the baseline. Middleton went ice cold in the second quarter, however, as did a lot of the Bucks. He came out firing in the third quarter trying to keep up with the hot-shooting Bulls, scoring the first two baskets after halftime. Middleton was able to use his length and athletic ability to get into the passing lanes. He finished the game with four steals against the Bulls.
Tony Snell: C-
Snell missed a couple of open three-point attempts that we have become accustomed to seeing him make this season. On one specific three-point attempt in the first Snell forced the shot with a defender in his face. The Bucks had two players open inside if Snell would have passed up the shot attempt. He played some decent defense on Butler in the first as well. Butler finished the game with 20 points but a majority of them came in the first quarter where he dropped nine. Butler made a few tough jumpers over the outstretched arms of Snell. A good offense always beats good defense.
Malcolm Brogdon: D+
Boy, oh boy did Brogdon struggle to score inside. Brogdon finished the game with 14 points but he missed three makeable layup attempts. Brogdon did combat those missed layups with a tough lefty reverse layup in the second quarter. He also had a good pass to a cutting Antetokonumpo in the third quarter. Brogdon struggled to stay in front of Rondo on a consistent basis tonight, something that has rarely happened to the rookie. It was also surprising to see Brogdon in at the end of the game with the “scrubs.”
Matthew Dellavedova: C
Dellavedova, like Brogdon, struggled to stay in front of Rondo today. Rondo was able to get to the paint almost at will and create open shots for his teammates. Delly did a good job in the first quarter of keeping the ball moving which resulted in the Bucks scoring some easy buckets. In the third quarter, Delly was trailing on a fast break and had a good look at a three. Unfortunately, he couldn’t knock it down. It would have been a huge momentum booster for the Bucks as they were trying to creep back into it.
Spencer Hawes: D
Hawes has really cooled off since his stellar play a few weeks ago. Hawes finished this game with zero points, one assist, and one rebound in 12 minutes of play. He consistently looked lost on the defensive side of the ball and provided no real presence despite standing 7’1″.
Greg Monroe: C+
Monroe provided the Bucks with a boost off the bench in the first quarter as he ended up scoring 8 points on 4-6 shooting. He also had a couple of tough offensive rebounds that led to buckets. Monroe would go on to finish the game with 16 points. Robin Lopez torched Monroe on the defensive end as he refused to step out of the paint to guard Lopez. Lopez hit a few jumpers from 12-18 feet because Monroe was sinking so badly. Monroe also had an awful pass that was stolen by Jimmy Butler for a breakaway slam in the fourth quarter.
Jason Terry: C+
Terry didn’t play as bad as the rest of his teammates. On a day when the Bucks lacked energy after the first quarter, Terry tried to lead by example. He was hustling all over the place and trying to will the Bucks back into the game. He finished the game making two of his three attempts from downtown and had eight points.
Mirza Teletovic: C
After Mirotic’s hot shooting Mirza brought some much needed defensive effort. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off as Mirotic hit a couple of tough three’s with Mirza right in his face. Mirza then got caught over-helping the ball in the second half as it was quickly swung to Mirotic in the corner for a three. Mirza did hit a very difficult step-back three-pointer in the third quarter.
Rashad Vaughn: Incomplete
Vaughn only played the last two minutes of the game.
Terrence Jones: Incomplete
Jones only played the last two minutes of the game.
Overall this was a disappointing game for the Milwaukee Bucks and their fans. The Bucks had been playing great basketball coming into today but fell short. They started the game continuing that hot streak and built a double-digit lead. That lead quickly dissipated as the Bulls caught fire. The Bulls finished the game shooting 54 percent from the field but that came down significantly in the fourth quarter. The hot shooting appeared to take the air out of the Bucks as they became lackadaisical from the second quarter on. Sometimes you just run into a hot shooting team. Time for the Bucks to move on to Tuesday night’s game at Charlotte.
