With the Bucks on a two-game losing streak, coming off their lowest-scoring game of the season and still trying to figure themselves out offensively after their blockbuster trade last week, Michael Carter-Williams made his Milwaukee debut Wednesday night and cured a lot of what's ailed his new team.
It helped, of course, that he was doing it against his old team, the moribund Philadelphia 76ers (12-44), a decimated squad that was even sloppier than usual.
Starting for the Bucks (31-25) in his first appearance since being acquired from the 76ers at the Feb. 19 trade deadline -- he missed the previous three games with a toe injury -- Carter-Williams involved himself early, often and encouragingly in Milwaukee's 104-88 win at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
"It was great to be out there," Carter-Williams said after the game. "I had fun while I was out there. These guys made it easy for me. We found a rhythm and we built off it."
Carter-Williams received the symbolic distinction of being the last of the Bucks' starters to be announced prior to the game, getting a warm cheer from the crowd of 12,763. And once the game started, the second-year point guard treated those fans to a welcome display of unselfish passing and dynamic playmaking, helping the Bucks break out of an offensive rut that saw them score just 71 points Monday against the Chicago Bulls -- the low point in their struggles to find a rhythm after trading away Brandon Knight, their leader in scoring and assists.
Carter-Williams clearly wanted to make an immediate impact in his first game.
On Milwaukee's first possession, Carter-Williams found Ersan Ilyasova for a jumper to put the Bucks up 2-0, a lead they would never lose. Less than two minutes later, the 76ers turned the ball over -- one of 28 giveaways on the night -- and, with no defenders in sight, Giannis Antetokounmpo selflessly passed ahead to Carter-Williams on the break, letting the new Buck dunk in his first two points with a two-handed flush.
On the Bucks' next possession, Carter-Williams initiated an offensive set and found Khris Middleton for a 16-foot jumper, one of three times the young point guard connected with his new backcourt partner -- a noted catch-and-shoot specialist -- off curls and pin-down plays, indicating an early understanding of his teammates' preferences.
The next time down the floor, Carter-Williams, shooting just 38 percent this season, hit a jump shot of his own. And 10 seconds later, the 6-foot-6 defensive menace used his length to force a loose ball, stealing it from Philadelphia's Robert Covington and taking it to the rim for another slam, which put Milwaukee up 12-3 and forced a 76ers timeout.
Philadelphia's 19 first-half turnovers were the most forced by the Bucks in 12 years. The 30 points Milwaukee scored off those turnovers were the most by any NBA team in a half since the 1995-96 season.
"We're playing against a really good defensive team that's extremely long," 76ers coach Brett Brown said after the game. "You get a bunch of new guys crashing into each other and you turn it over. It's extraordinary the amount of turnovers we had in the first half."
In the second quarter, Carter-Williams came in for fellow new-acquisition point guard Tyler Ennis and again made his presence felt right away. Seeing Jerryd Bayless cut to the hoop along the baseline, Carter-Williams threw him an alley-oop pass from behind the 3-point line. Bayless, a 6-3 guard with hops, caught the lob and jammed it down, setting off the crowd. That was the first of four straight baskets on which Carter-Williams assisted.
Milwaukee tied its season high for assists in a half with 19 on 27 made field goals.
Bucks coach Jason Kidd, who knows a bit about good point-guard play, was impressed by Carter-Williams.
"I thought he got off to a good start, getting the guys in the offense, getting some easy baskets for his teammates and for himself," Kidd said. "We all felt that him being on the team, he is a guy that can find open guys and he did that tonight.
"Hopefully we can build on that."
In Carter-Williams' first game coming off an injury and against the NBA's second-worst team, Kidd had said before the game he planned to limit the new player's minutes. In all, Carter-Williams played 18 minutes, finishing with seven points, eight assists, two steals and just one turnover. But his humble statistics Wednesday belied a strong performance. Despite having almost no time to practice in a different system with new teammates, he was impactful on nearly every Bucks possession for which he was on the court.
Milwaukee scored 15 field goals with Carter-Williams on the floor; he either scored or assisted on 11 of those buckets. In the victorious Bucks locker room, surrounded by media, the point guard credited his teammates.
"Like I said, they make it easy for me," Carter-Williams said. "My job is just to run the plays and find them, get in the lanes. It's fun, having a great time."
In the second half, he dished out the passes for both Bucks baskets -- each of them to Middleton, who finished with 19 points -- before leaving with 5:37 left in the third quarter. Carter-Williams didn't play at all in the fourth quarter, as Milwaukee went into the period with a 22-point lead and perhaps didn't want to add insult to injury by further using the 76ers' former best player to defeat them.
"It was fun going against them," Carter-Williams said of facing his former teammates. "It was nice seeing them; I haven't seen them since I left. It was great competing against them."
After another frustrating game, Brown didn't feel as warm and fuzzy about the reunion, sounding a bit nostalgic for his former floor leader.
"I said a few days ago that it was always going to be awkward," he said. "I think that this is the cleansing game, and we'll all move on. We miss him. He had an excellent game for the few minutes he played, relative to what he's used to.
"To come up with eight assists and only one turnover, they get a taste of what they're going to get with Michael Carter-Williams."
After totaling 35 assists in their previous two games against Atlanta and Chicago, and having no player dish out more than five in either loss, the Bucks had much better ball movement and distribution Wednesday night. They racked up 32 assists against Philadelphia, as Antetokounmpo and Jared Dudley each added six to Carter-Williams' eight helpers.
John Henson led Milwaukee with 21 points, adding nine rebounds and three blocks off the bench. After the game, he, too, piled praise on Carter-Williams.
"He's good, man. He's going to be really good for us," Henson said. "He's essentially going to kind of be our leader for us in the future, so it's good to get him out there and get him playing with us."
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