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Well, it wasn't as ugly as the last meeting, right?
Brandon Jennings and the Pistons got the best of Jennings' old team in his return to Milwaukee tonight, besting the Bucks 105-98. The themes of these losses are starting to blend together at this point to be honest, so let's just run through some surprising players and statistical anomalies, and boy were there a lot of them.
WEIRD PLAYER RESULTS
Ekpe Udoh had three points, four rebounds, and four fouls tonight. Usual Ekpe stat line, right? Wrong. Udoh swatted away a career high six shots tonight. It was kind of ridiculous to see how successful he was in getting in the way of many layup or putback attempts tonight, considering how dominant Detroit's frontcourt was throughout the night. He made John Henson's three blocks look pedestrian. It was super, super weird.
Luke Ridnour somehow had ten points and eight assists in 28:24 tonight. Ridnour played for most of the middle stretch of the game, which was surprising given Knight's stronger play of late. Also, I honestly don't recall Ridnour doing that much when he was on the court. There may have been a few fastbreak assists that I didn't register at the time, but not enough for a 10/8 line. Again, weird.
Ersan Ilyasova had 22 points and ten rebounds tonight. This isn't so much a weird line for him, but the 22 points came on 19 shots from all different places on the floor. Usually Ersan excels in spot-up scenarios (mostly behind the arc), but tonight he was coming out of pick-and-rolls instead of pick-and-pops a few more times than usual. He also was aggressive off the dribble, taking the ball to the basket when the usual Ersan would have kicked the ball out to another guy. It was good to see Ersan asserting himself into the offense though, especially considering he wasn't on the court with the team's best shot creators most of the time.
Khris Middleton went 3-4 from three, boosting his percentage from beyond the line to 48.8% on the season, JUST LIKE EVERYONE PREDICTED. The debate can rage on on whether he's a valuable rotation guy or starter going forward, but the numbers (right now) do not lie. Khris Middleton is the best outside threat that the Bucks have, plain and simple.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had three blocks to go with six points and four rebounds, but that's not even his best stat. Giannis played the third-most minutes of any player tonight, falling two minutes of short of Ridnour's team-high. Giannis (Gumby? What are we calling him now?) was pulled about midway through the 4th for whatever reason, otherwise he would have been the most used Buck tonight. Among the highlights: a catch-and-shoot 20-footer off a screen, an athletic transition finish, and an emphatic swat of Greg Monroe down low. So, at least there was that.
NUMBERS
Three Pistons had double-doubles tonight. Brandon Jennings had 17 points and 11 assists, Greg Monroe had 18 points and 17 rebounds, and Andre Drummond 24 points and 19 rebounds. When you get that type of production out of your best players (Josh Smith also had 17 points), your chances of pulling out an ugly game are going to be much higher.
Also, Kyle Singler had 15 points. 15? Seriously? Him? How?
40%. Neither team managed to break 40 percent shooting on the night, which helps explain why Detroit wasn't able to pull away even further when they really controlled most of the second half.
The Pistons went to the charity stripe just a little bit more than the Bucks did tonight, taking 42 attempts to the Bucks 22. That's an...interesting disparity.
The Bucks fall to 0-3 in games in which I arrive to the arena before the visiting team. This is all my fault. I am sorry.
MEDIC!
Both Udoh and Zaza Pachulia suffered injuries tonight. Ekpe turned his ankle in the second half, and Pachulia sprained his foot and took off to the locker room after only playing six minutes. The severity of the injuries are yet to be known, but the Bucks have dealt with this injury madness already, so this should just be business as usual. John Henson (12 pts, 5/14 fg, 9 rebs, 3 blk, 3 to) and Ersan will presumably play 200 minutes on Friday.
COMING UP
The Bucks travel to DC to face the Wizards on Friday before flying back home to square off against the equally struggling but WAY MORE EXPENSIVE AND THEREFORE A BILLION TIMES MORE HILARIOUS Brooklyn Nets.
