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It was a familiar refrain for disappointed Milwaukee Bucks fans tonight, who were without Donte DiVincenzo once again as he works his way back from a right groin strain.
All of this is true. I saw him participate in 5 on 5 on Saturday at practice. He looked totally fine to my medically-untrained eye. Bucks are being cautious because there's literally nothing to be gained putting him on the court if he's less than 100%. https://t.co/Jp9EyQF2Um
— Matt Velazquez (@Matt_Velazquez) July 10, 2018
Behind some clutch pull-up jumpers from Sterling Brown, Milwaukee raced out to an early lead but finished the first quarter down 18-17. At halftime, the Bucks managed to reclaim the lead narrowly, edging out the Nuggets 45-44 behind Brown’s 16 points. Despite Brown’s best efforts in Summer League to date, with 27 points, Milwaukee still couldn’t take down the Nuggets in a 90-83 loss. D.J. Wilson added 18 of his own with Christian Wood tallying 16 on an efficient 11 shots.
Bonus Bucks Bits
I’ll say this, I saw the first moderate bit of a post game from D.J. Wilson tonight when he faked a guy out on the block and whirled around for a reverse layup.
@Lanky_Smoove gets Game 3 started!! pic.twitter.com/OnpMsHHp9I
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) July 10, 2018
Christian Wood had a decent two-way sequence in the first when he bodied up Kennedy Meeks off the dribble and fell away slightly for a difficult toss-in from just beyond the block. On the other end, he got caught in no man’s land at the free throw line and switched out on DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell and managed to contain and contest at the perimeter. His switchability, and how much Bud is considering employing that scheme, is a huge part of his potential attractiveness as a Bucks backup big.
Sterling Brown looked to be making up for his poor performance down the stretch against Dallas in the first quarter tonight. He tenaciously snagged a rebounding and was eyeing guys up and knocking pull-up jumpers down right in their face.
Sterling Step !! pic.twitter.com/IPRCUqbveB
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) July 10, 2018
How about D.J. Wilson actually finishing through contact off a pass from Sterling Brown as Wilson rolled to the basket. That, combined with him using his verticality to actually alter a shot, gave me two novel parts of his game through his career thus far.
Amidst a piss-poor third quarter, this was a nice breath of exciting air.
Throw it UP, and @Chriswood_5 will throw it DOWN!! pic.twitter.com/CCY3X49yqg
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) July 10, 2018
Props to Brown, who kept up the energy all night and willed Milwaukee back into this game whenever they fell behind. Whether it was literally pummeling his way to the rim for finishes, banging guys out of the way for rebounds and taking shots into his own hand, Brown showed the type of take-over attitude I’m sure coaches were thrilled to see from a second year player.