Atlanta Hawks

Milwaukee Bucks: Grades From 114-110 Loss To Atlanta Hawks

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:22 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Milwaukee Bucks blew a 20-point halftime lead to fall to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday. How do the players grade?

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

	1	2	3	4	T
Bucks	30	34	28	18	110
Hawks	23	21	40	30	114

If there were any lessons learned from Friday’s Milwaukee Bucks collapse, it might have to be that although the Bucks are good enough to win games without everyone being at their best, they’re certainly still not good enough to prevail on nights when key players are playing poorly.

This was a night where merely average performance from a number of Milwaukee’s starters likely would have proven enough to keep the Hawks at bay, but that was too much to ask on this occasion.

Matthew Dellavedova and Tony Snell struggled, while after an incredible run of recent play, Giannis Antetokounmpo had his worst game for the Bucks this season. It might even have been his worst since the All-Star break last year.

With that, a big night from Jabari Parker and a stellar effort from the bench still didn’t prove enough as the Bucks coughed up a big advantage in the second half.

Atlanta certainly deserve credit for a resilient fight back, but ultimately it’s hard to view this game as anything other than one which the Bucks just gave away.

How did the individuals grade in this Bucks loss, though? Let’s take a closer look.

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Starters

Matthew Dellavedova

G, Milwaukee Bucks

D+This wasn’t a good showing from Delly. Not only did his 11 points come on an inefficient 4-12 from the field, or were his three assists counteracted by three turnovers, but most importantly of all he had no answer for Atlanta’s Dennis Schröder. As Schröder compiled a career-high to single-handedly keep the Hawks alive, Delly had no answer or the German’s quickness, and was uncharacteristically slow in getting out on Schröder’s four three-point makes. Even an average game from Delly likely would have helped to prevent a Hawks comeback.

Tony Snell

G, Milwaukee Bucks

C-Considering the Hawks have been struggling to get any real contributions out of their wings and Kent Bazemore missed this game through injury, Tony Snell should have had a bigger impact on this game. Instead, Snell struggled with his shooting, making only 1-5 from the field, and was unable to back that up with any real quality defensive play.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

G/F, Milwaukee Bucks

DIn the first poor Giannis performance in a long time, we were reminded that he’s not quite perfect yet. In fact, the flaws that Giannis does still have were magnified dramatically on this occasion. Foul trouble continues to haunt the Greek Freak, and as of yet we’re seeing no real evidence of Giannis learning to be a little more careful after a couple of early calls go against him. As an extension of that, on the rare occasions that things don’t go his way, Antetokounmpo’s answer seems to be to force things. That was reflected by his six turnovers to only one assist in this one, as the long armed and savvy Thabo Sefolosha, once famous for being a LeBron stopper put on a clinic at defending the Greek Freak. Giannis topped off a poor night with a play that officially passed control over to Atlanta, and one of the worst decisions he’s made in recent memory. With only a couple of minutes remaining and the score finely poised, a pull-up three in transition was Giannis’ attempt at being the hero. Maybe the biggest lesson he’s yet to learn is that when it’s not your night, you have to let someone else go.

Jabari Parker

F, Milwaukee Bucks

B+The troubling trends about Jabari remained present in this game, as he hung his head on defense as things got tough and struggled to carry his scoring through the entirety of the game. Saying that, if it wasn’t for Parker’s excellent work through the first three quarters, the Bucks would never have had a 20-point lead to begin with. His 27 points came on a relatively efficient 11-24 from the field, he knocked down three triples and even grabbed three steals on the night. Parker is going through one of his more consistent bursts of scoring, the trick will now be to find a way to get him to bring that in the fourth quarter too. On this occasion, he should at least have had the ball in his hands more with things in the balance.

John Henson

C, Milwaukee Bucks

BA solid, if quiet night for Henson. As Dwight Howard struggled to get anything going in the first half, Henson at least deserves credit for stopping Atlanta from going to one of their primary scoring options while his team built up a lead. Hook finished with six points, six rebounds and four assists (!!!), having made of 3-6 from the field. With more consistent opportunity, Henson is certainly proving he can mesh better with the starters than many previously believed.Next: Bench

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Bench

Greg Monroe

C, Milwaukee Bucks

B+Monroe continued to show some really nice work for the Bucks off the bench. Facing up with the formidable Atlanta frontcourt of Howard and Millsap, Monroe fought hard for rebounds and scoring opportunities, and for the most part it paid off. Moose finished with 14 points, including a couple of highlight worthy post-moves to get the better of Millsap. On top of that, he grabbed six rebounds and led the team in scoring with five assists. It’s probably not a good sign when Monroe and Henson combine for more assists than Giannis, Delly and Brogdon, though.

Malcolm Brogdon

G, Milwaukee Bucks

BAgainst the NBA team from his home state, Malcolm Brogdon remained as impressive as ever. Regardless of his college experience, rookies very rarely look as refined and polished as Brogdon has done through the first quarter of the season. It’s hard to complain about a rookie who can come in when your team is struggling and grab 12 points on 5-10 shooting, four assists, two rebounds and two steals. Brogdon played 28 minutes, but is he deserving of even more at this point going forward?

Michael Beasley

F, Milwaukee Bucks

B+You’re probably noticing a trend here, but it certainly wasn’t the bench’s fault that the Bucks blew a big lead. Beasley had an excellent game, and if he hadn’t fouled out halfway through the fourth, perhaps the Bucks could have seen it out. Beas finished up with 14 points on 6-7 shooting, six rebounds and three blocks. The common theme with Monday’s blown lead against San Antonio and this one comes in Milwaukee’s inability to hang on late once Beasley has left the game. Who’d have predicted that at the time he was traded?

Jason Terry

SG, Milwaukee Bucks

BAgainst one of his former teams, Terry put in one of his very best performances of the season. We’ve been getting accustomed to Terry’s minutes producing little of value in the box score, but on this occasion he held up his end of the bargain. JET finished up with nine points as he made three of his five attempts in the game, all from behind the arc. For good measure, the veteran also added in four rebounds and two assists.Next: Jason Kidd

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Head Coach

Jason Kidd

Coach, Milwaukee Bucks

Kidd can be criticized for his team’s over-aggressive approach to defending Schröder in the second half, though. With the German often fast enough to beat the trap, the Bucks’ strategy to stop him was rarely effectual in that regard, and often led to greater space for the Hawks to move the ball: something they struggled to do in the first half. Aside from defending Schröder, a poorly thought out shot and a turnover late on saw Giannis throw the game away for the Bucks. It wasn’t his night and rather than putting him in a spot where he felt he needed to save his team, Kidd should have ensured that the ball got to Jabari, who had scored at will previously. I feel some sympathy for the coach on this occasion as his players mostly put him in the bad spots, but he still could have done more to help his team pull through.

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Opposition

Atlanta Hawks

Southeast, 12-12

The Bucks now sit at 11-9, and will face the Atlanta Hawks in the final game of their home stand on Friday.