The loss snaps a 12-game regular season win streak for Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Bucks went into idle for the second half of this game, allowing the Detroit Pistons to get their first win in 13 regular season tries against Milwaukee, and 17 if you include the Playoffs, with a final score of 115-106. Yes, it was mostly a horrendous differential in 3-point shooting, with Detroit hitting 18-43 and the Bucks a truly terrible 11-46. But still, the Bucks defense certainly didn’t seem up to par, and they couldn’t get anything going in transition. A tough loss to be sure, but maybe a motivator? Let’s hope so as they prepare for a tougher stretch of their schedule ahead, starting with Toronto on Wednesday.
Milwaukee faced a stiff start from the Detroit Pistons, who played them tough from jump to allow merely a 30-28 lead after the first period. The Bucks found themselves down partway through the second, but a late push helped bring them to a 64-61 advantage by halftime despite just 6-23 shooting from deep. That cold streak didn’t deter in the third quarter, with the Pistons thrusting themselves ahead 87-85 entering the final period. Saddiq Bey scored a new career-high in this performance for the Pistons, pouring in 34 on 8-13 from deep to bury this Milwaukee team.
Stat That Stood Out
Given the size differential, I remain a little confused as to why the Bucks insisted on attempting 46% of their shots from deep. Yes, many of them were open looks that on most nights translate to wins, but the paint was wide open for them all evening as they shot 24-31 from there per Cleaning The Glass. I’ve said several times that part of last years playoff run that was so impressive was that they didn’t just rely on the three on nights it wasn’t falling and head home cursing the math gods. They found ways to manufacture points inside too. This felt like a game to me they missed Brook Lopez, and finishing just +8 in points in the paint against a team with no quality big men is frustrating.
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