LA Clippers

Bucks piling up blocks, steals in March

Published Mar. 21, 2018 4:53 p.m. ET

The Los Angeles Clippers know how to score.

Doc Rivers' squad, which visits BMO Harris Bradley Center on Wednesday, averages an eighth-best 109.5 points per game. They've won 20 games since January 1 when allowing 100-plus points, second in the NBA.

Fortunately, the Milwaukee Bucks know how to make stops.

The Bucks are averaging a combined 16.4 blocks and steals per game in March, first in the league over that span. They haven't averaged that many defensive stops in a single calendar month since February 1993.

Team	Stops/Gm
Milwaukee	16.44
Oklahoma City	15.60
Utah	14.90
Golden State	14.78
New Orleans	14.60

Four members of the Bucks are averaging more than a steal per game this month. Eric Bledsoe leads the team with 2.22 steals per game in March, followed by Giannis Antetokounmpo (1.89), Khris Middleton (1.44) and Jason Terry (1.0). Tony Snell is averaging 0.88 and Thon Maker is averaging 0.86 in just 9.7 minutes per game.

Antetokounmpo and John Henson are averaging more than a block per game in March. The Greek Freak leads the way with 1.78, followed by Henson (1.56), Tyler Zeller (0.80), Bledsoe (0.78), Brandon Jennings (0.75) and Jason Terry (0.67).

Perimeter defense has been especially key. The Bucks have held the opposition to a .327 3-point field goal percentage in their 37 wins this season, and .415 in 33 losses. Once again, the numbers are on Milwaukee's side: The Clippers have a team 3-point field-goal percentage of just 35.1, fifth-worst in the NBA.

Milwaukee will also look for another big performance out of Antetokounmpo and Middleton, who each topped 20 points in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's the 30th time they've done in this season, more than all but one other duo in the league.

They're the first Bucks tandem to score 20-plus in 30 or more games since Terry Cummings and Sidney Moncrief during the 1984-85 season.

Players	Team	20+ Games
Russell Westbrook/Paul George	Thunder	33
Giannis Antetokounmpo/Khris Middleton	Bucks	30
Kevin Durant/Steph Curry	Warriors	30
Damian Lillard/CJ McCollum	Trail Blazers	30
Jrue Holiday/Anthony Davis	Pelicans	25

More notes:

-- Jabari Parker has been one of the league's top bench scorers since his return. He has 10 games of 10-plus points and .500-plus shooting since his return, second only to Montrezl Harrell over that span.

-- The Clippers fell 123-109 to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday. They're just 3-9 in the second game of back-to-backs this season.

-- After being held under 100 points in four of five games, the Bucks have scored at least 117 points in five consecutive games.

-- Giannis Antetokounmpo has topped 33 points in three straight games, while Khris Middleton has topped 20 points five straight games.

Statistics courtesy of STATS