Milwaukee Bucks Weekly Wednesday Wrap-up

It’s a week of thankfulness in the United States with Turkey Day coming on Thursday, which is why I’m going to abstain from diving too deeply into the Milwaukee Bucks this wrap-up. On hiatus will be my weekly wondering, which likely would’ve centered on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s declining efficiency from inside the arc thus far. Instead of going in on him, I’m going to remain thankful we have a superstar at the level where averaging 30, 12 and five is still somehow worthy of some further nitpicking. So there will be less to read for all you fine folks today; use the extra room for your stomachs on Thursday and you can thank me later for not occupying quite so much of your work day. Let’s wrap-up.

The Week That Was

• Milwaukee 113, Cleveland 98 (Bucks Overpower the Cavaliers)
• Milwaukee 102, Philadelphia 110 (Road Blues Strike Bucks)
• Milwaukee 119, Portland 111 (Bucks Fly Past Trailblazers)

A week is starting to feel like an eternity for a team that’s gone through as much injury flux as the Bucks. The win against the Cavaliers, and Brook Lopez’s dynamite performance, could’ve happened last year for all the shenanigans that have happened since. Still, a decisive win over a division rival that thought it had announced itself as a prime contender in the early going? And without Jrue Holiday? That’s sweet. And then there was Philadelphia. Honestly, I don’t need to say any more. Pulling out a win against Portland, a tilt which featured prime Giannis re-emerging and the crispest ball movement of the season was a sight for sore eyes. Thanks for sending the wrap-up out on a high note fellas.

Weekly Wondering

I cede the floor this week to the cranberry sauce king himself, Kyle Carr, who went deep on the biggest takeaways from Milwaukee’s first month of the season.

Plays of the Week

A sweet smattering of plays stuffed this past week, and that Portland game in particular has outsized representation below. Here were the plays that stood out to me.

Nwora did that?

I’ve been as critical of Jordan Nwora as anyone, and while it’s been encouraging to see him come through in a game or two, the overall body of work still stands as disappointing this season. But the Cleveland game was perhaps the best game he’s ever played in a Bucks uni, and this play was an apt example. It starts with his usual somewhat insufferable overdribbling, but instead of settling for a pull-up jumper over Donovan Mitchell, he maintains control, gets deep enough under the rim and sees Evan Mobley so he kicks it to Carter in the corner.

Instead of standing pat though, he recognized Jevon is in a bind and the defense is helter-skelter. He takes advantage of the chaos with his defender, Mitchell, resting comfortably under the rim expecting a shot. Nobody rotates out and he occupies the corner pocket Carter crept out of, resulting in a swift open triple.

One-Touch Pass Parade

MarJon gets this one started nicely by using a pump fake to his advantage and whirling in a one-armed pass to Giannis. He keeps the defenders guessing by looking Holiday’s way in the corner but rifling it to Hill instead, who keeps the ball pinging around to Jrue for an open look in the end. Great spacing, stellar passing off two defenders committing to start the sequence.

Bounce Pass Brigade

The unselfishness of Holiday here nearly dooms him when Grayson Allen tosses an errant pass back to Jrue on the perimeter. But by that point, he uses the off-balanced nature of the pass to his advantage, shimmying one way, then back the other to get a step on his defender. Eubanks hesitates for just a second thinking he may have to help corral Holiday from driving, and Brook takes full advantage by plodding directly through the lane rather than taking up his usual trailing three spot atop the arc.

Upending expectations results in a wide open slamma jamma for the big guy off a one-handed bounce pass dime from Jrue.

Brook the Contortionist

This leads to a Carter three on the other end, but the steal is really the highlight. I mean, Grant gets around Portis and Brook is already committed to go up for the block with his right hand. In mid-air, Grant adjusts to try and throw the wraparound pass to Nurkic for an easy dunk. Just one problem: Brook can adjust too. Somehow, someway, he extends his left arm and manages to grab the pass practically out of Grant’s hand. He has been outrageous this season near the rim.

Pat’s Back!

This one won’t stand out for being all that special, but it’s comforting to see the Giannis-Pat DHO into a deep three back in Milwaukee’s arsenal. The Tony Snell play lives on! Here’s a nice wrinkle that can work into their offensive rotation though. We’ve seen Giannis using DHO’s with Grayson quite a bit in the early going to try and muster an inch of movement into their offense, so here there’s just a whiff of that to start the play that captures the faintest attention of Portland. I think they could commit to that with more vigor in games moving forward, but shifting from the fake DHO to Grayson and leveraging an immediate real sequence with Pat is a sprinkling of something new for this offense-starved team.

That’ll do it for another wrap-up. I’m thankful to all of you for reading Brew Hoop!