Milwaukee vs. San Antonio: Bucks Gashed By Spurs, 126-104

After demolishing the San Antonio Spurs with a barrage of three-pointers on Saturday night, the Bucks got that same treatment in a 126-104 loss to San Antonio.

It appeared as if the Bucks were going to cruise offensively, as their first three made baskets were of the three-point variety and they jumped out to a 9-2 advantage. However, it was all Spurs after that spurt.

Credit to the home team as they made Giannis Antetokounmpo grind for his points by successfully walling off the paint and leaving the perimeter uncontested. While that is a bold strategy, the Bucks could simply not get anything to fall from the outside on top of Giannis not being able to knife through the defense.

I am not into moral victories, but the Bucks have scored 100+ points in 62 consecutive basketball games which is a new NBA record.

Three Observations

Both Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe had games to forget in the ugly loss. After Bledsoe hit his first shot of the night (a three), he practically disappeared and was seldom heard from again. He scored only eight points on 2-of-7 shooting in 26 minutes and was largely outplayed by whoever he was going up against last night. One of his seven shot attempts were in the paint which is not what you want to see if you are a Bucks fan. A little more aggressiveness would have been nice, but it seemed like Bledsoe checked out after the Spurs were able to push their lead to double-digits. As for Khris Middleton, he could not buy a bucket, and that was evident early on. He often found himself wide-open on the perimeter and still clanked 6-of-7 attempts from downtown. He was also awful defensively, falling asleep on multiple rotations that led to baskets for the Spurs. He finished with more shots (16), than points (15).

The Donte DiVincenzo experience was...a rollercoaster to say the least. With San Antonio gaining a big lead early, Donte was one of the reasons why the Bucks still remained in contact on the road. However, it was a game of ups and downs. He would make a three, fall asleep defensively, and then clank a three. He did have a few nice finishes at the rim, though. His 16 points off the bench were a game-high for the Bucks, but he also finished minus-13. With the young guys, you have to take the good with the bad.

Oof, Ersan Ilyasova was a disaster out there. It was a total 180 from when he tormented the Spurs on Saturday night at the Fiserv Forum. Poor Ersan was getting bullied defensively by Rudy Gay and gave the Bucks nothing offensively as well. He played only 15 minutes, and it was evident that whenever he was on the floor, San Antonio was going to exploit that matchup. He finished a game-worst minus-16, but that was probably the least surprising stat of the night.

Bonus Bucks

• Giannis Antetokounmpo just didn’t have “it” last night, but he still gutted out 24 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, and three steals in 34 minutes. All credit to the Spurs, though, as it is very rare to torch a Greg Poppovich coached team twice in two nights. He finished the loss making 10-of-22 shots and missed all five of his shots from deep because San Antonio was forcing him to shoot from spots where he is not as comfortable.
• Wesley Matthews made 4-of-6 three-pointers en route to 12 points in 29 minutes. I thought he played tremendous defense on Spurs forward DeMar DeRozan, but DDR kept converting on tough midrange jumpers. Sometimes, there’s just not much you can do.
• Patty Mills is annoying.
• The Spurs made 19-of-35 three-pointers...crazy!