The Milwaukee Bucks posted one of their worst games in a while as they fell to the 2-16 (now 3-16) Washington Wizards on the road. The worst Part is that Washington wasn’t even healthy! They were missing Alex Sarr, Tre Johnson, and Corey Kispert—all key members of their rotation. Yup, it’s dire straits right now. 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
31 minutes, 26 points, 4 assists, 7 rebounds, 10/17 FG, -2
That might have been the worst game I’ve seen Giannis play in a long time. This is a guy who talks a lot about accountability, which, granted, he has shown throughout his career, but that rings very hollow in games like last night, when he gave so little effort that if he were a standard player, he’d have been benched in a millisecond. I mean, he had almost no accountability whatsoever on defence; the best Giannis could offer as guys continually drove past him as if he were a traffic cone was a passive swipe at the ball. Then on offence, Giannis got in the mindset he often gets in when playing “bad teams,” where he abandons the normal sets, dribbles the air out of the ball, and tries trucking through everyone. And not for nothing, but the individual game-within-the-game he got in with Khris Middleton—much like he’s done in the past with guys like Al Horford and Deandre Ayton—is almost childish, frankly. That mindset certainly appeared to lead him to settle for a glamour fadeaway (over Midd) up one with a minute to go and not run back, giving the Wiz a numbers advantage and leading to an open Middleton three. That right there was the ballgame. It’s not about the stats with GA, it’s about playing the game the right way; he didn’t care for doing that last night, and will be graded accordingly.
Myles Turner
26 minutes, 9 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3/10 FG, 3/8 3P, +10
Ugh, I struggled to evaluate Myles’ game because, on the one hand, he is a system player that gets his from other players setting him up, and the coach and players within this system are not exactly optimising him. On the other hand, he really must improve as a defender and rebounder; he is not doing enough in those areas. As far as the shots he’s shooting, I don’t know, they feel like good looks? I’d have loved to see him play more than 26 minutes, though!
Ryan Rollins
29 minutes, 14 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 turnovers, 5/12 FG, 3/7 3P, -7
On the whole, Ryan was fine. It feels like his usage has decreased since KPJ got back, but he’s contributing in other ways. The offence has fallen somewhat in recent times, though.
Kevin Porter Jr.
31 minutes, 30 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 12/15 FG, 5/6 3P, +13
KPJ was the lone shining light in this one. The jumper was working, and he was really the team’s only effective creator. He had a few mishaps on defence, but I liked his contributions on that end for the most part. Porter leaving the game late with back spasms really hurt.
Kyle Kuzma
20 minutes, 3 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 1/4 FG, -9
Kuzma gave them nothing against his former team. I guess it’s good that he wasn’t just chucking out there, but it was a night to forget on the whole.
31 minutes, 13 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 4/6 FG, 4/6 3P, +8
Another solid game from AJ where I had few complaints. He did his job and made shots, while being OK on defence.
Gary Trent Jr.
30 minutes, 14 points, 4/7 FG, 3/5 3P, -12
Gary was solid in this one, providing some much-needed threes in the fourth quarter. He was mostly fine on the other end too.
Bobby Portis
17 minutes, 12 points, 4 rebounds, 5/10 FG, 2/4 3P, -7
Bobby is truly a spectacularly bad defender. Some of the lowlights from this game from him on that end were remarkable. The possession at the end of the third, where Justin Champagnie literally… runs past him… and gets passed the ball for the layup, was the best of the night. The rip-and-slam going baseline from Cam Whitmore—where Bobby got shaken into oblivion because he had no plan to send him one way—came a close second. I don’t even care that he made shots; the defence was that bad.
Jericho Sims
18 minutes, 5 points, 7 rebounds, 2/3 FG, -9
Jericho was mostly fine, given his limited skill set. The way he attacked the boards was helpful.
Doc Rivers
Oh, brother, there is so much to say about Doc. Turner was a +10 in this game, but he only played 26 minutes and watched as Bobby got lit up over and over. Jericho Sims was on the court until the 4:31 mark of the fourth, and then Myles finally got in. How much money are the Bucks paying Turner? Also, Khris was killing the Bucks early because they kept willingly switching Turner onto him—why!? Couldn’t they have dropped Turner and helped off the other guys? I could say so much more, but I’ll end on something I’ve discussed on Deer Diaries: Doc’s inability to call his senior players out when they’re on some BS is pathetic. Is anyone convinced he told Giannis that his effort on D was deplorable? Will he ever have the spine to bench Portis if he’s bleeding points? Something tells me he was fine having a rip at the youngins, though. You know, accountability and all that.
Limited minutes: Cole Anthony
DNP-CD: Amir Coffey, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Andre Jackson Jr.
Inactive: Taurean Prince, Alex Antetokounmpo, Pete Nance, Gary Harris, Mark Sears
Bonus Bucks Bits
KPJ said he thinks he’ll be ready for Wednesday’s game, despite not being able to finish last night’s one with back spasms.
The Bucks shot 18 (!) fewer shots than the Wizards. How? They had 16 turnovers and gave up 15 offensive rebounds (six each to NBA journeymen Marvin Bagley and Justin Champagnie, no less). They also missed eight free throws. Milwaukee lost while shooting about 55% from both the field and the three-point line.
Doc: “We played like we thought we were going to win the game.”
Doc on Giannis’ game: “The five turnovers is probably what he would like back, but other than that, he played pretty well.” Need I say more?
The Bucks are back in action on Wednesday night at home against the Detroit Pistons. Catch the game at 7:00 p.m. Central on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.