Milwaukee vs. Detroit: Bucks Leave the Motor City Victorious, 110-101

For the third time this season, the Milwaukee Bucks knocked off the Detroit Pistons, this time in Detroit. They’d leave town with a 110-101 victory over their divisional foes.

After a clumsy start to the game by both teams, the threes started to fall — and three of them belonged to Brook Lopez. That’d be the leading factor in Milwaukee quickly mounting a double-digit lead, which they’d carry into the second quarter. The Bucks would be 7-of-11 on threes in the first quarter and maintained a 27-13 advantage after one.

The Bucks would continue to pour it on in the second quarter, mainly from beyond the arc. They’d be constantly flirting with 20 point advantages and Detroit never really made it seem too competitive. Bobby Portis would provide yet another spark off the bench. Detroit would take advantage of a brief Milwaukee drought and close on an 18-6 run to finish out the half, making it 58-47 in favor of the Bucks at the half.

After a hot shooting performance in the first half, Milwaukee went cold to begin the third. They’d miss the first 3-pointers they’d attempt in the second half, allowing Detroit to cut things to single digits. Milwaukee would go on a big run to open things back up, but the Pistons kept battling and made it just a 14 point deficit going into the final quarter of play.

The Bucks would use some strong play from Jrue Holiday down the stretch to help pad their lead in this one and help earn a victory. When it was all said and done, Milwaukee left Little Caesars arena with a 110-101 win.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way for the Bucks, finishing his evening with 22 points. His 10 rebounds and 10 assists would pave the way for a triple-double as well. Jrue Holiday would pour in 21 points of his own.

After his strong performance against the Bucks in Milwaukee, Jerami Grant had another respectable outing, putting in 22 points, which matched Antetokounmpo for a game high. Svi Mykhailiuk came off the pine with 18 points.

What Did We Learn?

We learned the worth of Jrue Holiday. Man, oh man. I think this is the most he’s stood out to me during his brief tenure with the Bucks. I want to talk about him more below, so for this, let’s talk about his defense. He was constantly relied on when guarding Blake Griffin, and he passed each and every time. The ability to have that sort of confidence to guard a player like Griffin is unbelievable, and Holiday did just what was expected of him. It was fantastic seeing him make timely contributions for the Bucks that ultimately ended up being one of the main reasons the team was victorious last night.

Three Observations

Jrue Holiday, have a game!

This was an incredible outing by Jrue Holiday. He’s so good. Whenever the Bucks needed a contribution from him, he was there to step up. Whether it be on offense or defense, Holiday provided a spark. He’d conclude his evening with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including several 3-pointers that seemed to always come when Milwaukee needed it. In the fourth, he would embark on a 6-0 run that would put the nail in the coffin for the Pistons, and send Milwaukee home victorious. It’s so great seeing his contributions to this team and it gets even better when you think that the team hasn’t even been playing together a full month. It should be fun to see how he continues to develop with the squad.

Sometimes, the Bucks can sputter.

If there’s one complaint to have, it’s that the Bucks will sometimes go stretches of games lacking a source of energy. It’s almost as if they sleep walk during certain periods. That happened a few times last night and while Detroit never fully took advantage, they did cut things to single digits and forced the Bucks to play starters throughout the fourth. I’m not too worried, but the only cause for concern is that these kind of flaws will be exposed by the cream of the crop teams in the league. We’ll see how the Bucks adjust when their schedule toughens up moving ahead.

It was another strong night for members of the bench.

I feel like I’m always mentioning Bobby Portis in my pieces, and for good reason. It was another respectable outing for him, as he tallied 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He also pulled down five boards. Pat Connaughton continues his hot streak as well following his return of injury, posting up nine of his own points. Last, Bryn Forbes hit not one, not two, but several 3-pointers en route to 13 points on the evening. It may not be the most glamorous bench mob, but they are scoring points when the Bucks need them to and that goes a long way.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• Svi Mykhailiuk may be the most fun name to say in the NBA. Talk about some fun alliteration. He’s also a fun basketball player to watch, as he ignited some sparks for the Pistons and finished his night with 18 points.
• In regards to the starters being out there longer than some would’ve liked to see:

• I mentioned Pat Connaughton up above in one of the three observations. He hit several threes on the evening, bringing his season total to 16-of-29. Calculate that and you get a 55.2 percentage. A tip of the cap to Planet Pat on his new and improved 3-point shooting.
• There’s nothing like a thunderous dunk from Giannis, followed by a mean mug. We got both of those last night:

• Last, I leave you all with this: