Miami Heat

Milwaukee Bucks: Player Grades From 109-97 Loss To Miami Heat

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 12:33 a.m. ET

Fansided, Adam McGee/FanSided via Behind the Buck Pass

Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The Milwaukee Bucks continue to plummet in the Eastern Conference standings after a fifth straight loss on Saturday night.

	1	2	3	4	T
Heat	25	28	29	27	109
Bucks	22	21	28	26	97

Are we having fun yet?

While the Milwaukee Bucks have seen the quality of their play drop off significantly in the past 10 days or so, we’ve seen a return of a sense of the strange and dramatic that for all too long was a staple of the Milwaukee Bucks experience.

If you just joined the bandwagon after Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Sports Illustrated cover, welcome to your first real taste of Bucks fandom!

Coming into a game where they hoped to break a losing streak that came about like some kind of bolt out of the blue, following on from a team meeting, and a star player being benched for disciplinary reasons after sharing details of said team meeting to the media; it was almost impossible to know what to expect from the Bucks from a basketball perspective.

Unfortunately, the answer proved to be more of the same.

How did the Bucks, Jason Kidd and the Heat grade overall on the night, though? Let’s take a closer look.

Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Starters

Matthew Dellavedova

G, Milwaukee Bucks

A-Back in the starting lineup after returning from injury with a horrid stretch of bench contributions, Dellavedova looked about as good on Saturday as he has during his first few months as a Buck. Not only did the Aussie score and distribute in exceptionally efficient fashion, but he also seized control of the team like some of his teammates have failed to. Delly relished the prospect of directing traffic against the Heat, asserting his influence as a point guard by showing his teammates where to go and then feeding them the ball. This was the kind of dream contribution the Bucks were hoping for when they signed Delly: 15 points on 5-8 from the field, and seven assists to just a single turnover. Let’s hope we can see more of this.

Tony Snell

G, Milwaukee Bucks

CA very steady and reliable shooting performance as Snell was perfect from the field, three-point range and the free throw lane en route to his seven points, but Snell is one of a number of wing defenders who could be tasked with some kind of responsibility for Dion Waiters’ career night. Aside from some questionable defensive possessions, Snell also had some “adventures” dribbling the ball, including a particularly poor turnover.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

G/F, Milwaukee Bucks

BAgain, by his incredibly high standards, this was a slightly sub-par night for Giannis. That may still have resulted in 24 points and 10 rebounds, but Giannis didn’t quite look himself. For the second straight night, the Greek Freak struggled to score efficiently. On top of that, there were a couple of rare instances when he failed to make the extra effort on defense, accompanying the lapse with some slightly dejected body language. I have no doubt the circus of events that have accompanied the Bucks’ last few days have been particularly difficult for Giannis, who would have imagined marking his All-Star berth in a very different way. Still, he’s embraced being the guy up until this point and he’ll need to be the one to turn things around for the Bucks again.

Thon Maker

F/C, Milwaukee Bucks

B+Whatever you make of Kidd’s reasons for benching Jabari, he could easily have started Michael Beasley or Mirza Teletovic in his place. Instead, the gauntlet was thrown down to Thon Maker, and he more than lived up to the challenge. A bundle of energy and effort, that likely played into the fact that the Bucks made their most positive progress with him on the floor (team-high plus-minus of +7). Thon made a nice three-pointer, held his nerve at the free throw line for the most part, and showed some positive defensive instincts too. Considering the circumstances and his lack of experience, he couldn’t have done much better than this.

John Henson

C, Milwaukee Bucks

BThis was never a matchup that you’d expect John Henson to come out on top of, and as such, he had his share of not so great moments. Saying that, for the second night in a row there were more positives than negatives from Henson. The big man grabbed 11 points going 4-7 from the field and added a more than respectable nine rebounds for good measure. He’s far from perfect, but considering how anonymous he was for most of the past two weeks, it’s only fair to recognize improved performances like this one.Next: Bench

Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Bench

Jabari Parker

F, Milwaukee Bucks

B-Certainly didn’t hide once he came into the game, even if he was unable to go into full on prove a point mode. Jabari isn’t used to coming into a game cold int the second quarter, so to try and make that adjustment and then hardly sit for the remainder of the game (he played 32 minutes total) certainly would have thrown him out of rhythm. Regardless, Parker did what he could. A stat line of 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists is nothing to be ashamed of, and the fact that he continues to dish to teammates is certainly encouraging.

Greg Monroe

C, Milwaukee Bucks

CStruggled early and certainly didn’t rebound as well as he can, but Monroe at least found a way to improve his coring a little as the game went on. Going 3-7 from the field for nine points is far from Moose’s best, but it’s a step forward compared to his previous no-shows.

Malcolm Brogdon

G, Milwaukee Bucks

DBrogdon desperately struggled on his return to the bench, making only 1-10 field goals and managing only two assists. He’s had very few off nights this season, so the Bucks will just have to assume that was the case on this occasion. It becomes a case of wait and see to see how he looks when the bench returns to a more conventional Jabari Parker-less look on Monday.

Michael Beasley

F, Milwaukee Bucks

CMuch like against Orlando, Beasley’s role was relatively limited as in spite of any respectable offensive contribution, his time on the floor coincided with the team starting to bleed points. That certainly isn’t all on Beas’ defense, but some of the responsibility lies at his door.

Rashad Vaughn

G, Milwaukee Bucks

DIt’s disappointing that after an impressive outing in Orlando, Vaughn failed to make anything of the minutes he was given at Jason Terry’s expense. Vaughn only has a steal and a missed field goal to show in terms of concrete box score contributions for his 11 minutes, but he’s probably lucky the box score can’t show some of his defensive lapses. It will be interesting to see if the opportunities continue for him.Next: Jason Kidd

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Head Coach

Jason Kidd

Coach, Milwaukee Bucks

Kidd made the right call in going back to Dellavedova as the starter, although it would have eased his headaches considerably if Brogdon had performed even at an average level from the bench.

As for dishing out DNPs to others, Plumlee certainly deserved to be rewarded for his best showing in months on the previous night against Orlando, while Mirza Teletovic can never really be expected to regain any kind of rhythm and confidence without some form of trust or consistent role.

The Thon Maker experiment worked well, but it could have backfired horribly on a player the organization has been very vocal about taking things slow with.

Overall, it was a night of weirdness that just created far more questions than answers. Kidd needs to compose himself and his team as the Bucks’ upcoming schedule could make for some uncomfortable realities.

Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Opposition

Miami Heat

Southeast, 14-30

The Heat did what they needed to take advantage of that problem on Milwaukee’s part, and were good value for their win.

With another loss, the Bucks fell back to 20-23 for the season. As they hope to break out of the slide they’ll face a daunting matchup with the Houston Rockets on Monday.