Milwaukee vs. Washington: Bucks Stumble In the Nation’s Capital

The Milwaukee Bucks’ quest for their 30th win of the season will have to wait until Sunday. The Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Bucks lost 113-106 to the 18-25 Washington Wizards at the Capital One Arena on Friday night. Here are three observations from Milwaukee’s tough loss in Washington.

The Bucks did not seem too interested in guarding the three-point line last night.

The Wizards, who make 11 threes per game promptly hit 18-of-33 (54.5%) three-pointers versus the Bucks on Friday and a high percentage of those were wide-open looks. The Bucks were burned by Trevor Ariza who hit 6-of-12 threes and would camp in the corner completely unguarded...almost like the Bucks forgot he was on the floor. Remember Jeff Green? Yep, he hit 4-of-7 shots from downtown yesterday. He’s a career 33 percent three-point shooter. Milwaukee’s defensive rotation was slow against the Wizards and they paid the price. But then again, I doubt Washington will hit 18 threes in a game anytime soon. Now’s a good time to bring up the fact that the Milwaukee Bucks give up the most 3PA in the NBA.

The Wizards’ backcourt feasted on the Bucks.

Bradley Beal scored 32 points on 11-of-21 shooting and he was slicing and dicing the Bucks throughout the game. He also chipped in 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals in the dominant performance. The Wizards also got a big boost from Tomas Satoransky who finished with a triple-double (18 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists) in 35 minutes. He made 7-of-10 shots and the Bucks simply had no answers for these two defensively. For the Bucks, Eric Bledsoe did finish with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists but he was mostly a negative last night. He “made” 7-of-21 shots and a lot of those misses were bunnies. Starting guard Malcolm Brogdon was rock solid, however, finishing with 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists but did commit some bad turnovers down the stretch. He finished a game-high plus-11. He was one of the only bright spots for the Bucks in their loss last night.

The Bucks bench was putrid on Friday night, and that’s putting it nicely.

Minus Sterling Brown who finished with 10 points (4-of-7 FG) and 7 rebounds in 27 minutes, the other Bucks off the bench were invisible. D.J Wilson (5 points), Thon Maker (2 points), Tony Snell (6 points), and George Hill (goose egg) combined for just 13 points. In a game where the Bucks were missing Giannis Antetokounmpo, the bench’s poor play only dug their hole a bit deeper. Just how bad were they you ask? Look for yourself. Gross.

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Bonus Bucks

• Khris Middleton had a rough first half but rounded out his performance with a solid third quarter. He led the Bucks in scoring with 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting while also adding 8rebounds and 3 assists to his ledger. His three-point stroke was off (3-of-9 shooting) and he forced a few midrange jumpers over Otto Porter Jr. as well. IT was a roller coaster game for Khris, but without his contributions on the offensive end, the Bucks probably would’ve lost by at least 20. This pretty much summed up last nights game for the Bucks.

• Shout out to Brook Lopez who continued to defend the paint for the Bucks. He blocked 5 shots and scored 13 points (3-of-6 from three) in 31 minutes. He was one of few Bucks who could get something going offensively from the perimeter. He’s been fantastic for the Bucks on both ends of the floor this year.
• Ersan was “Ersan” last night. He finished with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and hauled in 5 rebounds while also drawing a few charges. He leads the NBA with 19 of them. If there was an MVP for that category, he would be the unanimous MVP.
• The Bucks had 26 assists which is alright...but had 15 turnovers which is AWFUL. Not much else to say about that.
• Milwaukee made 44.9 percent of their shots and only 32.5 percent of their threes.