The Bucks could use a signature win
As the first half of the season comes quickly to a close in the next week, the Milwaukee Bucks haven’t quite figured themselves out yet.
Maybe Sunday’s matinee against the Los Angeles Clippers can provide a cleaner mirror as the last month and a half has been a bit streaky.
The Bucks followed a 2-4 stretch with five straight wins, then lost five straight and have since peeled off four consecutive wins.
They are one of three teams with a winning record in the Eastern Conference and sit one game behind Brooklyn and two behind Philadelphia in the loss column, but it’s fair to say they don’t have a “signature” victory.
And what has been good can be too easily qualified.
They’re 4-5 against teams with a winning record, but the five losses have been to Brooklyn, Utah (twice), the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix.
In the Eastern Conference, the Bucks are 8-0 in the Central Division but 4-7 against teams in the Atlantic. They’re 16-7 if the game is decided by at least 10 points but 1-3 if it is had been decided by
a possession.
Would you say their best win of the season was Feb. 8 in Denver, the day they learned Jrue Holiday was entering the health and safety protocol? Against Portland on Feb. 1?
To date, the pickings have slim in that regard.
Beating the Clippers, the secondbest team in the Western Conference entering Friday (23-11), at home, after two days off, would qualify as that flagship win.
And, it would be a nice marker to place in a first half that has seen its share of ups and downs as the Bucks (20-13) have experimented with defensive schemes and lineup combinations.
“It’s a work in progress,” head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “There’s times when it feels like we’re making steps in the right direction. I think we’ve been better the last three or four games.
“We’re still growing, evolving. Feels like we’ve got a long ways to go but defensively and offensively, I think we’re doing more things, playing different ways and hopefully we’re just moving in the right direction.”
There’s a lot to like about this team, especially some of its rankings on offense:
● No. 1 in scoring
● No. 2 in rating, effective field goal percentage, field goal percentage
● No. 4 in true shooting percentage, three-point shooting, pace
The defense, however, has been streakier.
Some things they do well, like protecting the paint (fourth), limiting fastbreak (second) and second-chance points (eighth) as well as preventing scores off their turnovers (sixth).
Yet they give up 112.5 points per game, which is 20th in the league. That is due in large part to teams shooting 44.6% from mid-range (26th), 42.7% on corner threes (25th) and 37% on above the break threes (21st).
And on a regular basis the Bucks give up what the league calls “wide open” three-pointers – some 20 per game – which is third worst in basketball. Teams are making 42% of those.
“We’re trying new things we haven’t done in the past,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “Defensively we’re switching.
“We’re playing zone out of timeouts. We’ve gone big. Sometimes we’re going smaller. It’s good. We’re the team that adjusts. It’s good to have that habit, that when things don’t go the way you want (them) to go, adjust. Find a different way. If that doesn’t work, then find another way. Because I feel like in the previous seasons that we played, we had our own way and it worked and then at the end when it did not work we didn’t have a Plan B, Plan C, Plan D. I think it’s good that we’re trying stuff out.
“Obviously it’s not going to look great, sometimes it’s going to be ugly. But at the end of the day we’re learning. We’re being uncomfortable in order for us to be comfortable. We’re going to create good habits and hopefully when it matters the most, we’re good to go.”
Those are all truths in the moment. The Bucks can lose on Sunday and it won’t matter much when it comes to late May and the start of the playoffs. How they play the Clippers from start to finish is more important, especially in late February.
But there will come a time when the results against the best teams in the league aren’t just oneoffs, or lessons, but rather trends and indicators. As the first half of the season comes to a close, it definitely wouldn’t be a bad thing if the Bucks could get to the break saying they applied the lessons from Boston, Brooklyn, Utah, Phoenix and the Lakers game and came out with a win.