National Basketball Association

Milwaukee Bucks: Have The Bucks Got A Remedy For Small Ball Again This Year?

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Since the Golden State Warriors made small ball mainstream back in 2014, the entire league has been trying to imitate the trend. Could the Milwaukee Bucks be building an answer to small ball?

Arguably the most memorable Milwaukee Bucks game in recent history is when the 24-0 Golden State Warriors came into the Bradley Center on December 12, 2015 and got handed their first loss of the season.

The Bucks used their trademark length to swarm the Warriors on defense, preventing them from scoring in bunches like they usually did. The Warriors tried to get into their own trademark offense, but were barraged by the Bucks on the defensive end.

Most NBA analysts attributed this loss to the Warriors having played an overtime game against the Celtics the night before. However, when the Bucks went to Oracle Arena for the rematch, the Bucks were in a great position to win that game as well. For this game, there was no excuse for the Warriors; the Bucks had simply figured out how to counter their offense better than most .

The trademark of the Warriors “Death Lineup” is that Draymond Green would play the 5, which is, or at least was, very unconventional. The way that the Bucks countered this was by going to Greg Monroe in the post.

Green has largely been successful playing the center position because the league is moving away from the back-to-the-basket big men. That has meant that he hasn’t had to guard the league’s biggest men as often as a player in his situation would have in the past.

With Greg Monroe playing, the Bucks were able to out-rebound the Warriors and get more opportunities to make shots. In the first game against the Warriors, Greg Monroe had 28 points and 11 rebounds, and in the second game, he had 10 points and 13 rebounds.

When dissecting small ball, another important aspect of it is having guards who can shoot quickly. Arguably the two best shooters of this generation are Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Michael Carter-Williams and Khris Middleton had the task of guarding these two in both games against the Warriors last season. The thing about MCW and Khris is that they are guards who have a lot of length. This made it difficult for any team to get shots up, including the Warriors.

Even though Michael-Carter Williams has since been traded to the Bulls, the Bucks still have very good defensive guards in Matthew Dellavedova and Tony Snell. Even better, Snellavedova (I mean, what else can we call them?) can shoot threes at a consistent rate.

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

As in many aspects for the Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo is the glue when handling small ball teams. Going small is predicated on multiple guys being able to take the ball up the floor and push it in transition, which allows them to be successful.

However, the Greek Freak is able to guard every position on the floor, which makes it very difficult for teams that go small. This is due to Giannis being everywhere on defense, which doesn’t allow shooting guards and point forwards to get to the basket as easy in transition.

It turns out, maybe unsurprisingly, the way to beat a team that goes small is often to go big. With a bruiser in the middle, defensive guards, and a freak of nature on your side, small ball isn’t as scary.

While the rest of the NBA looks to imitate what made the Warriors the league’s best team, the Milwaukee Bucks are devising a plan that sees them go in the opposite direction.

Whether it works in the bigger picture, or even manages to challenge the Warriors again this year, remains to be seen, but regardless Milwaukee’s strategies of dealing with small ball remain worth monitoring as the season progresses.