USA TODAY International Edition
Bucks may need to ask more from bench against Bulls
MILWAUKEE – It’s hard to envision the Milwaukee Bucks playing into mid- June … check that, mid- May … without more contribution from the bench.
While the Bucks were the thirdhighest scoring team in the NBA in the regular season thanks mostly to the Big Three – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday – and while Milwaukee’s depth was given a big boost by the return of center Brook Lopez five weeks ago, the lack of bench help became impossible to ignore in the fourth quarter of Game 2 of a first- round playoff matchup against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday at Fiserv Forum.
With Middleton leaving the floor with a strained knee ligament and backup center Bobby Portis already out with a bloody eye, Milwaukee’s remaining starters still rallied to cut Chicago’s lead to three with a minute left, but the bench contributed next to nothing and the Bucks fell to the Bulls 114- 110, tying the series at 1- 1.
This is not typical for a Mike Budenholzer- coached team that has, in the three previous years, offered several reliable bench options. Players to turn to for a spark – a three, a steal, drawing a charge, a hustle play. But the Bench Mob and its sequel is long gone.
On a team with defensive and other issues, this seems like a big red flag.
The Bucks miss the 2019 and 2020 version of guard George Hill, who could devastate a defense with a big 3- pointer or stall the other team’s momentum with a sneaky steal, while lending his poise and leadership like a starter.
You can certainly win playoff games with a limited bench. But Milwaukee could use some help, the way Sterling Brown, Kyle Korver, Marvin Williams, Ersan Ilyasova and Pat Connaughton built off- the- bench reinforcements.
In Game 2, Milwaukee’s bench contribution from Connaughton, Grayson Allen, Jevon Carter and Bobby Portis
added up to: 2 for 13 shooting, 3 free throws, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 8 points in roughly 58 minutes.
The Bulls’ bench wasn’t much better, but Chicago, as the sixth seed, didn’t come into the playoffs with the same expectations upon it as the Bucks.
Milwaukee general manager Jon Horst needed to restock the bench with the best supportive cast this season, more than ever, knowing all the unusual circumstances the NBA champs would be facing. It’s important to remember: from December 2020 to the present day, the Bucks have played 15 months of a competitive, demanding, busy schedule with roughly only a two- month break. There was even less downtime for the Olympians, Middleton and Holiday.
A bench doesn’t need to be everything; but it needs to give something.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was in the hallway of Fiserv Forum late Wednesday night but then went back for treatment, it seems, because he had explained that he had been cramping up. There’s no mystery how much he gives to the game, and, how much it takes.
Can the remaining Bucks starters carry the load if Middleton is out for a long time, or could Giannis somehow use his leadership skills to lure more out of the bench?
“They’re NBA players, they’re basketball players. At the end of the day, I think they can feel the situation; they can read the situation,” Antetokounmpo said. “Knowing that Khris is down, like, Jrue is going to try to be Jrue. And Brook is going to try to be Brook. ...
“But at the end of the day, I think they realize that some people have got to step up. And I think we have a very, very great bench and smart guys that know what their role is and they know they’ve got to do.
“It’s not up to me to, you know, try to force them to play good, or whatever the case might be. I’m just going to do what I do. Just go out there and play free and have fun. ...
“I trust my teammates. They know what the deal is. They know what they’ve got to do. Khris is down, they know.”
After the win, Chicago coach Billy Donovan and three top players were all asked about their improvements as a team, which lost all four times to the Bucks in the regular season. For the most part they all agreed – they refocused and overcame their own adversity to play better on defense and knew they had to withstand a comeback from the Bucks after leading at the half.
“You know, we talked about, just not coming out in the second half lackadaisical,” said Chicago forward DeMar DeRozan. “Understanding they ( were) going to make a push, going to come on and be aggressive on both ends. We ( were) ready for it.”
Forcing Milwaukee into 36 turnovers in the first two playoff games, on Milwaukee’s home court, after a week of preparation, is no coincidence.
“It’s accepting the challenge. They’re world champions,” Bulls guard Alex Caruso said. “They’ve got a multiple- time MVP. Jrue Holiday is an under- appreciated guard in this league, really. Khris Middleton is a multiple- time All- Star now. There’s a reason they won a title. They got a good team, so for us it’s about trying to match the physicality and try and bring the young guys, our first- time playoff guys, into it.
“I thought they did a good job these first two games, matching the physicality. Not looking for calls. Not worrying about stuff.”
The Bucks, meanwhile, were looking for calls and waiting for jumbotron replays. Antetokounmpo said after Game 2 that his team needed to find the joy again in playing. It was hard to interpret exactly what he meant. Have fun even as they await official word on Middleton? Have fun and ignore whatever pressure they feel to repeat? Find joy as they push past levels of wear and fatigue they’ve never experienced before? Or make the most of whatever season is left?
One thing is certain. The Bucks used to have a bench that made them so good they were basically drought resistant, being the highest scoring team in the NBA since the start of the 2018- 19 season. But in the last two games, they’ve struggled on offense and lacked a bench spark, and they missed Portis and Middleton late, for sure. They’re vulnerable to the point where the Bulls take this series back to Chicago this weekend with some confidence.
“You never like to see guys get hurt, especially Khris. You know I got a good relationship with him, being Aggies,” said Caruso, who like Middleton played for Texas A& M. “We’re going to have to see. I’m sure Jrue and Giannis will get a little more action, maybe a little more usage. But their role guys are going to step up, so we just got to be ready for some guys to be aggressive that maybe weren’t as aggressive the first two games.”