Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways From Win Over Portland Trail Blazers
The Milwaukee Bucks got back on track with a nice win over the Portland Trail Blazers. What did we learn in four more quarters of Bucks basketball?
Dec 7, 2016; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) drives for the basket between Portland Trail Blazers guard Allen Crabbe (23) and guard Damian Lillard (0) during the fourth quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Milwaukee won 115-107. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
The Milwaukee Bucks are actually good. It’s hard for Bucks fans to accept the team not being terrible after so many years of just that, but Milwaukee is on a roll lately.
Even the team’s close loss to the San Antonio Spurs was one wide-open three away from being a huge win for the Bucks. Milwaukee’s latest game against the Portland Trail Blazers needs no such if–the Bucks rolled late here to notch another early season win.
Jabari Parker (more on him soon) was the team’s leader in scoring this time around, although Giannis Antetokounmpo predictably found ways to shine as well. The team’s bench preformed well too, although Mirza Teletovic happened to catch a DNP-Coach’s Decision.
The Trail Blazers managed to make a lot of threes against Milwaukee, but the Bucks made enough of their own, plus a ton of two-pointers. The Bucks made 51.9 percent of their field goals, meaning the team just wasn’t missing many shots against Portland.
To further explain how Milwaukee grabbed another W on Wednesday, we’ll go through some takeaways from the game. These are a lot more fun when the Bucks win!
Dec 7, 2016; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Jabari Parker (12) drives for the basket during the third quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Jabari Goes Off
Jabari Ali Parker had himself a game against the Trail Blazers. Jabari is reminding any doubters why he was picked second overall in 2014–this dude can ball. Sometimes Jabari looks simply unguardable, and Wednesday night was one of those times.
Parker’s three-point shot may still be a work in progress, but even without a high three-point percentage Jabari has no trouble scoring. He made one-of-five threes against the Blazers, but still managed 27 points.
Jabari put up three rebounds and an assist too, but he was there to score against Portland and that’s what he did. Seeing Jabari dunk all over fools never gets old.
Milwaukee’s young stars are getting to the point where other teams just have no answer. There’s no way to shut down these dudes anymore–they may have off nights here or there, but Jabari and Giannis are showing the entire NBA that Milwaukee is no longer content with lottery picks and a “maybe next year” mentality.
Dec 7, 2016; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) looks to pass the ball under pressure from Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless (4) during the second quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Triple-Doubles Keep Flowing
Giannis Antetokounmpo is also pretty good, to massively understate things. Giannis didn’t pick up a ton of the scoring load on Wednesday, maybe because Jabari was running all over the Blazers.
Giannis’ shots just weren’t falling for much of the game, but he still got up to 15 points. A big part of the Greek Freak’s scoring total was points from the charity stripe. Giannis got to the line 10 times and walked away with seven points from his free throws.
He also totaled 12 rebounds and 11 assists, giving Giannis his second triple-double of the year and his seventh career trip-dub. The only Buck to record more is the man himself, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Giannis is now just one away from reaching Kareem’s total of eight triple-doubles with Milwaukee.
The stat-stuffing Greek Freak was not done there though, as he also recorded two steals and four blocks. Giannis flirts with 5×5 games more than Jim flirts with Pam–someday those two are going to get together.
Nov 29, 2016; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd talks with forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) during the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Whoops
So maybe it wasn’t all good news for Giannis in the game against Portland. There have been murmurs for a while from opposing teams about the Greek Freak taking too long to shoot his free throws.
On Wednesday, Giannis finally got penalized for doing such. He took longer than 10 seconds, and a free throw violation was called. That automatically forfeits the free throw attempt, plus if it is the last free throw the player is shooting it gives the other team possession.
This will have to be something Giannis works on from now on. Now that it’s been called once, referees might be more likely to call it going forward. The solution here is simple: Giannis just needs to hurry up at the line.
He did do this though, so Giannis has that going for him, which is nice:
Dec 7, 2016; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks center Greg Monroe (15) drives for the basket as Portland Trail Blazers center Mason Plumlee (24) defends during the first quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Bench Bigs
First off in the Bench Bigs section, it should be noted once more that Mirza Teletovic didn’t play, which was weird. Mirza has done what he was brought in to do this season, but there could be any number of reasons as to why he didn’t log a single minute against the Trail Blazers.
The other two bench big men are Michael Beasley and Greg Monroe. Both of those two did play, and they played well. Monroe logged 15 points, four rebounds, one assist and three steal in 23 minutes of play.
Monroe’s defense had been good all season, but the Moose was struggling on the other end earlier on. That changed on Wednesday–it took Monroe just seven shots to rack up his 15 points.
Beasley also took just seven shots, but because he got to the line less than Monroe he finished with 12 points. Beas grabbed eight rebounds and a steal too–his rebounding has been important to the Bucks this season.
These two are crucial to Milwaukee’s success. Keeping the score where it is–or even improving it for the Bucks–falls to the second unit. If Beasley and Monroe can bring big performances like this every night, it will help Milwaukee be consistent.
The bench bigs are the ones who put this game away for Milwaukee. The Bucks actually got outscored by 3 when Giannis was on the floor. They were plus 11 in Moose’s minutes, and plus 14 in Beasley’s. Talk about a bench boost!
The Bucks will look to build on their strong season on Friday night, when the team takes on the Atlanta Hawks in Milwaukee.
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