Milwaukee vs Dallas: Mavericks Offense Lights Up Bucks Again

The super short preseason continued for the Milwaukee Bucks as they played the Dallas Mavericks, just like they did this past Saturday night. There were a lot of similarities in terms of how the game went with the Bucks again falling short losing 112-129.

Milwaukee seemed to be a little bit more crisp defensively forcing some Dallas misses and turnovers in the first quarter even though Milwaukee was also struggling on offense. Once both teams were able to find their rhythm, their respective offenses looked sharper as Jrue Holiday had a better night with 11 points to go with six assists and Giannis Antetokounmpo had another typical Giannis night with 24 points and 14 rebounds and some eye catching blocks. Meanwhile, Khris Middleton looked aggressive early again with 13 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists; and Dallas was hitting threes again which gave them a 32-28 lead in the first quarter.

The second quarter was looking to be another back and forth style game, but Milwaukee then went on a 12-0 run thanks to a combination of swarming defense, threes falling and Milwaukee getting points in the paint which allowed them to go into halftime with a 69-59 lead. That lead would be short lived as Dallas quickly went on a run of their own in the 3rd quarter and didn’t look back expanding the lead when Milwaukee went with an all bench lineup. Despite some short burst from Milwaukee, Dallas always seemed to have a three they were ready to drain. Even Willie Cauley-Stein who had a total of four three pointers made in his career had drained two Monday night. Milwaukee will close out the preseason this Friday night against old friend Eric Bledsoe and the New Orleans Pelicans.

Bonus Bucks bits

• DJ Wilson continues to have an impressive preseason. He had a stretch in the second quarter where he hit a three dished out some assists and was generally doing stuff.
• Defense was sharper but Dallas is a team that you will not continue doing the zone drop scheme against; Bud wasn’t pleased overall.

• Giannis’ free throw change didn’t pay dividends tonight as he went 1/7 from the line.
• Bucks offense with the players we expect to get plenty of playing time looked really good in the second quarter.
• Milwaukee’s bench lineup struggled in the third quarter when they entered showing it will take some time for them to gel.
• Donte was back to doing stuff in a positive way, a good thing to see after his struggles Saturday.
• Jordan Nwora came in late in the fourth quarter when the game was done, but he didn’t look out of place for the second game in a row. He might be find himself some playing time if this continues.
• Pat Connaughton’s contract continues to look bad.
• This was a pretty cool sequence of events.

• What would you do if you had a giant arena to yourself?