The Milwaukee Bucks ended their West Coast trip with a 2-2 split, losing 108-104 to the (zombie) Denver Nuggets. It was a massive missed opportunity by the Bucks, with the Nuggets missing both Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, along with a bevy of role players. Denver now leads the season series 1-0. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast, Bucks In Six Minutes, below.
Player Grades
Giannis Antetokounmpo
33 minutes, 31 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers, 10/17 FG, 10/14 FT, +16
Giannis led the pack once again last night. I thought he mixed up being aggressive to score himself and set others up really well. Additionally, GA’s free-throw shooting returned to the level it had been at since returning. The only blemish is that he let himself down on defence. There were multiple times when he went for steals recklessly and put his teammates in a bad spot; it’s a habit he must put an end to.
Grade: B+
Kevin Porter Jr.
38 minutes, 10 points, 7 assists, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 4 turnovers, 4/17 FG, 1/6 3P, -3
KPJ’s box score makes his game look much better than it truly was. Giving him the rock to play iso-ball is simply not sustainable. On the other hand, I get that there really aren’t many guys on the roster, other than Giannis, who can self-create at all; this squad majorly lacks off-the-dribble juice. Even so, that doesn’t mean loading up his responsibilities is the way to go.
Grade: C
Ryan Rollins
35 minutes, 2 points, 4 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1/9 FG, 0/5 3P, +9
Ryan has to shoot better and has been cold over the past few games, but as we’ve discussed previously, he’s not really being featured as much as he should be. Rollins is being used more as a spacer than an initiator. On some level, I get it, because KPJ can’t space as well as Ryan can. However, that feels like a KPJ problem to me, and that you’re robbing RR of the on-ball opportunities he’s earned to placate a flawed player. Still, Rollins has to be more productive.
Grade: C
Myles Turner
24 minutes, 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5/8 FG, 3/4 3P, -5
After a blistering start, Myles faded into the background too much for my liking; I loved the way he hunted his shot in the opening minutes, though. He also got cooked on defence throughout the game, unfortunately. Granted, this is all contextualised by his being sick.
Grade: C+
AJ Green
36 minutes, 14 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 5/8 FG, 4/7 3P, +11
Just another solid game from AJ, who seems to be in an awesome rhythm right now. Green’s game continues to round out as he builds his passing repertoire. He did commit a silly foul on Peyton Watson in the final minutes, though, getting into Watson’s body for no reason as he shot.
Grade: A-
Kyle Kuzma
26 minutes, 11 points, 6 rebounds, 5/13 FG, -14
On the Kuzma rollercoaster, this was one of his stinkers. Missing around the rim and lacking composure on penetration a lot of the time.
Grade: C-
Bobby Portis
16 minutes, 14 points, 2 rebounds, 6/9 FG, 2/2 3P, -3
Bobby continues to shoot the crap out of it, but as you can tell from his minutes, he was giving it all up on the other end. Story of Bobby’s career, really. Sidenote: I’d be looking to “sell high” on Portis ASAP.
Grade: C+
Gary Trent Jr.
14 minutes, 0 points, 2 assists, 0/2 FG, -21
What do you even say at this point? The NBA is moving more and more away from one-way specialists, and it feels like GT is a part of that.
Grade: C-
Gary Harris
15 minutes, 6 points, 2/2 FG, 2/2 3P, -10
Another solid game from Harris, who, again, made timely threes to keep the Bucks close.
Grade: B
Doc Rivers
Well, the end-of-game offence was doo-doo, as it has been since Doc became the coach. He keeps putting the ball in the wrong players’ hands, so that’s not great. Allowing Tim Hardaway Jr. to get off for 25 points without Jokic there to feed him feels criminal. Yeah, there’s not a lot of good to come out of this one.
Grade: D
DNP-CD: Cole Anthony, Andre Jackson Jr, Jericho Sims, Amir Coffey, Thanasis Antetokounmpo
Inactive: Taurean Prince, Alex Antetokounmpo, Pete Nance
Bonus Bucks Bits
- Per Doc, Myles Turner was sick but trying to play through it. That would explain why he didn’t start the second half.
- The issue of Giannis not getting the ball at the end of games persisted in this one. They got lucky against the Lakers with Luka Doncic committing a dumb foul on KPJ, but it was the same issue. And just to be clear, I am not talking about Giannis dribbling the ball at half court, which I think is suboptimal as well. I want Giannis to catch the ball inside the three-point arc and make a good decision. He has to touch it, though.
- Speaking of the last shot, Ryan was open in the corner, but KPJ passed it to his ankles, making the shot nearly impossible to make.
- Milwaukee didn’t seem to take this Denver outfit seriously without so many of their main guys; the Bucks, of all teams, simply don’t have the margin for error to do that.
Up Next
The Bucks are back at home tomorrow to play the Minnesota Timberwolves in their Cream City uniforms. Catch the game at 7:00 p.m. on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.
