Bucks vs. Spurs: Giving Them the Boot

Dame, Giannis prevail over Wemby and Spurs

In a battle of superstars, the Milwaukee Bucks took care of business against the San Antonio Spurs, 121-105.

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?

This one had quite the change to kick things off, as Khris Middleton was moved to the bench by Doc Rivers. Here’s what Doc had to say about this during his pregame availability:

Basically, it still seems to be a decision based off Middleton not being 100%. As was mentioned in our newser of this yesterday, he hasn’t been playing poorly by any means. Rather, it seems to be his tendinitis that still needs to be sorted out on a consistent basis. Off the bench, Middleton etched out eight points on 2/7 shooting, including 1/5 from the 3-point land. He also reeled in five rebounds. It’ll be intriguing to see how this shakes out over the next few days.

Three Observations

Victor Wembanyama is just outrageous, but so was Giannis’ defense on him.

I was extremely bummed out to miss Wemby in Milwaukee last season. Thankfully, he was able to play this year and he didn’t disappoint:

He then followed that up with this:

However, Antetokounmpo was all in his face on the defensive end:

All in all, it was a frustrating night for Wemby. He totaled just ten points on the evening, going an ugly 4/10 from the floor. He also connected on just a pair of threes on six attempts. In addition to Giannis, AJ Green also played some lockdown defense on Wemby:

3-point shooting set the tone for the Bucks in this one.

Overall from the perimeter on the night, Milwaukee shot a red hot 45.2% from beyond the arc on 19/42 attempts. They were led by Brook Lopez, who knocked down five on the evening. Damian Lillard, AJ Green, and Gary Trent Jr. each splashed home four apiece. That marks a second consecutive hot shooting night for the Bucks. In his postgame availability, Doc attributed that to the ball movement. He also singled out Brook Lopez’s early threes as shots that truly served as a momentous generator, helping pave the way for others to shoot well. Additionally, Doc mentioned this:

The defense was locked in for a majority of the night.

In his postgame presser, Doc highlighted the team’s physicality for a bulk of the action. He said that’s something that was a point of emphasis and necessary in order to win against this team. The one portion of the game he felt that they let up on was the first six minutes of the third quarter. However, he was pleased with how they rebounded and responded. Again, it really shows on the stat sheet when you see how ineffective Wembanyama was in scoring the basketball. Then, when you peel back things and go beyond the box score, you see how disruptive Andre Jackson Jr. was on Chris Paul and limiting him in getting to his spots. Just a terrific effort from the Bucks defensively in this one.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• We were so close to an AJ Green dunk! He had a prime opportunity on a breakaway, but ultimately, it rolled off his fingertips. Postgame, Doc said that this will be up for debate on its legitimacy.
• Old friend Sandro Mamukelashvili came off the San Antonio bench and chipped in with seven points, including a 3-pointer before the buzzer. I know our old co-editor Adam Paris is happy about that one.
• Keldon Johnson was big for the Spurs off their bench. He totaled 24 points on 7/15 shooting.
• Giannis has now gotten another victim in addition to Jaylen Brown on the fake handshake:

• Fly Dairy Bird, fly…to the 3-point contest?

Up Next

The Bucks are now off until Friday, which is when they’ll fly to Orlando to take on the Magic. It appears that this could be Paolo Banchero’s return to action. You can catch the action at 6 p.m. CDT on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.

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