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Bucks vs. Nets: Can’t figure them out

January 3, 2025 by Brew Hoop

NBA: Brooklyn Nets at Milwaukee Bucks
Michael McLoone-Imagn Images

Digging deep holes and climbing out is a recent theme, but Milwaukee fell just short on Thursday

The Bucks finish the season series with the Nets 1-3 on the heels of a 113-110 loss on Thursday night, nearly snatching away a victory by cutting a 24-point deficit to just one with 37.1 seconds left. Giannis led Milwaukee with 27 on 12/24 shooting but struggled to 3/10 at the line. Damian Lillard had 23 on a tough shooting night, going 6/20 from the floor. Brooklyn’s Cams—Johnson (27 points, 6/12 from deep) and Thomas (24 points)—remain thorns in Milwaukee’s side. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.

What Did We Learn?

Unforced errors doom the Bucks, particularly live-ball turnovers. Yes, this would be true of most teams, and Milwaukee has the eighth-best turnover rate in the league. But their opponents average 18 PPG off turnovers, the 14th-worst figure in the league. Beneath them you’ll find only five teams above .500: the Magic, Wolves, Clippers, Hawks, and Grizzlies.

The ravine in which Milwaukee mired themselves on Thursday was one mainly created of their own doing. Of their 14 total turnovers, nine were of the live-ball variety: six from wayward passes—mainly entry passes—while three were the result of loose handles. In most games, this would lead to many fast break points, but Brooklyn’s 18 last night weren’t actually too costly.

What damaged the Bucks’ offense on a night they shot poorly (43.2% from the field, 30.8% behind the arc) was guys losing their dribble as they neared the rim or passes intercepted by the defense. That all combined to a miserable 83.0 offensive rating in the halfcourt. For perspective, the league average is 97.2, and Milwaukee’s season-long figure is 99.4, eighth in the league.

Head coach Doc Rivers blamed this halfcourt trouble on poor performance out of timeouts and a general lack of execution for a very wide swath of the game:

We just didn’t execute… this game’s one of those games. I’m gonna say seven times out of timeouts, we didn’t actually keep the play. You know, it’s funny, there was so much hope. The first play in the game we drew up; it was a beautiful play. Got Dame a wide-open three. Didn’t make it, but I’m thinking this could be a high execution night. That was the last time until the three that we drew up [for Dame] and the layup we drew up for Giannis.

Three Surprises

Giannis’ lackluster defense

While Giannis had a couple of impressive blocks, including one in a key moment, I thought that most of the game, he looked pretty disengaged defensively. Multiple times, he was caught ball-watching, even allowing the offense to get behind him once or twice on baseline cuts. It felt like he was expending nearly all—let’s say 95%—of his effort on the other end. More than 5% on D might have helped. Oh, and making free throws.

Pat Connaughton and MarJon Beauchamp playing meaningful minutes

When Doc inserted Connaughton with 9:39 remaining down 16, the calculus seemed to the old throwing-pasta-at-a-wall-and-seeing-what-sticks. Doc confirmed as much in the postgame press conference, basically saying that since no one else was doing anything, he might as well try. Subbing Beauchamp for Middleton with 6:45 left down 21 felt like a white flag. And while their combined production was two points, an assist, a steal, and a block (by Connaughton on a three-point attempt), that lineup alongside Giannis, Lillard, and Portis got them back into the game with the improbable 20-0 run. Doc also mentioned that he thought he was alone in the team facility working yesterday afternoon but then found Connaughton there running wind sprints and saw fit to reward him.

Khris Middleton dunking

This was Khris Middleton’s first dunk of the year. He’s had just four dating back to the start of the 2022–23 season:

Khris throws it down! pic.twitter.com/lsw4NTGAOA

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) January 3, 2025

Bonus Bucks Bits

  • Brooklyn was on the second night of a back-to-back after getting blown out by the lowly Toronto Raptors last night. Until fatigue caught up with them as the Bucks made their 20-0 run from the 6:55 mark in the fourth, it sure didn’t look like they were on a B2B.
  • Giannis broke Zion Williamson’s record streak of consecutive games with 20+ points on 50% shooting, eclipsing that mark for the 26th straight contest.
  • Brook Lopez exited the game after five third-quarter minutes and did not return. Just like in the Pacers game, Doc went with Bobby Portis and Giannis as his only bigs down the stretch—it nearly paid off again.
  • Despite the massive 27-8 disparity in points off turnovers, the Bucks were actually the better team in transition last night, with a 22-16 fast-break advantage. But defensively, this was a bit of a regression: Cleaning The Glass had Brooklyn in the 73rd percentile in points added in transition and 86th in points added off steals.
  • In the first half, Milwaukee was hemorrhaging points inside, as Brooklyn had 32 points in the paint. But they came out on top in that department, 46-44.
  • Andre Jackson Jr.’s ejection before half looked like it could hurt the Bucks, but Cam Thomas and D’Angelo Russell combined to shoot just 3/15 in the second half. Doc had this to say about the flagrant-two that got him run:

Doc says he spoke to Jackson at half briefly after his ejection. “You learn as a coach… too emotional. You leave it alone till the next day. Probably the same way when you have an argument at home. Go to sleep, wake up the next day, and you probably won’t say the same things.”

— Van Fayaz (@vanfayaz.bsky.social) 2025-01-03T04:05:47.132Z

  • Giannis credited the final play that Doc drew up to get Lillard a three from the wing to legendary EuroLeague coach Željko Obradović, who spent 13 seasons with Greek side Panathinkaikos. The play is actually named after Obradović’s next coaching stop, though: Fenerbahçe. “It always gives a guy [an] open look. So we’ve run it multiple times. I think out of the three times, four times we’ve run it, we’ve scored maybe two, three times.”

Up Next

The Bucks welcome Damian Lillard’s former employer to town on Saturday night: the Portland Trail Blazers. You can catch the game at 7 PM Central on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin or stream it on our Playback and YouTube channels.


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