The Bucks went for their fifth straight win as they took on the Mavericks in Dallas.
The Bucks starters were:
Eric Bledsoe
Tony Snell
Khris Middleton
Giannis Antetokounmpo
John Henson
The Mavericks starters were:
Dennis Smith Jr.
Wesley Matthews
Harrison Barnes
Maximilian Kleber
Dirk Nowitzki
Eric Bledsoe kicked things off for the Bucks with a big alley-oop to John Henson, but the game opened pretty evenly as it was tied at 5 early on. By midway through the opening quarter, though, the Bucks had built out a small 13-10 lead. Yogi Ferrell tied it up immediately after that with a 3, and before long the Mavs had a lead of their own at 17-16. The Mavs took advantage of this early lead, kept making shots, and build it out to a 28-20 advantage near the end of the first quarter. Khris Middleton responded to cut the deficit to 6, but the Mavs kept pushing and increased their lead to 33-24 by the end of the first (and it was only that close because of a DeAndre Liggins buzzer-beater). Khris Middleton led all scorers with 9 points, and he was followed by Wesley Matthews with 8 and Dwight Powell with 7.
Dirk Nowitzki extended the lead with a 3 to start the second for the Mavs, but Eric Bledsoe responded by bringing the Bucks back to within 10 with a layup. It didn’t get much better for the Bucks by midway through the second quarter, though, as the Mavs found themselves up 45-32 after a Dennis Smith Jr. 3. The Mavs stayed more than 10 points ahead for the next few minutes, until the Bucks pulled within 9 with about 3 minutes left. A J.J. Barea 3 after that put the Mavs lead back to double-figures, and another Barea 3 right after that put their lead back at 15, at 54-39. It was just that kind of half for the Bucks as they went into the locker room down 56-44 at halftime. Khris Middleton led all scorers with 13 points, followed by 11 apiece from Harrison Barnes and Giannis (who also had 11 rebounds for an early double-double). The Mavs outshot the Bucks 48% to 43% from the field, 47% to 18% from distance, and 100% to 50% from the charity stripe as Dallas thoroughly outplayed Milwaukee in the first 24 minutes.
Harrison Barnes got fouled and sunk both free throws to start things off for the Mavs in the third quarter, and they did well to hold on to their double-digit lead early in the second half. The Bucks played just a bit better in the earlygoing than the Mavs, though, and a Khris Middleton reverse layup under the basket brought the Bucks to within single figures with about eight and a half minutes to go. Barea hit yet another 3 in response, though, and the Mavs were still up 72-57 midway through the third quarter (and it was only that close because of a Giannis 3 right around the 6 minute mark). To round out the quarter, the Bucks couldn’t really chip away at the Dallas lead, and the Mavs actually increased their lead to go into the final quarter up 82-61. Giannis led all scorers with 21, Wesley Matthews followed him with 20, and Khris Middleton put in 15.
Dwight Powell got fouled and made one of his free throws to open up the fourth quarter for the Mavs, and Dallas held on tight to their 20-point lead early in the final quarter. By the midway point of the final quarter, the Mavs had all but sealed up a win with a 96-72 lead over a Bucks team that just did not have an answer for Dallas’s three-point shooting. The rest of the quarter was basically the same story of the whole night, and the Mavs walked away with a 111-79 blowout win, their third of the season. Giannis led all scorers with 24, followed by 23 from Khris Middleton and 22 from Wesley Matthews. The Mavs outshot the Bucks 48% to 38% from the field, 50% to 25% from three-point range (which is really the story of the night), and 84% to 55% from the free-throw line. The Mavs also outrebounded the Bucks 49-38, so this was a pretty thorough whupping for the Bucks.
Three big things
Ball Movement and Assists – At halftime, a big reason the Mavs were up is that they had 17 assists to Milwaukee’s 5. This discrepancy didn’t get much better by the end of the game, as the Mavs finished with 27 assists and the Bucks finished with 13. While the Bucks were mediocre on a lot of fronts tonight, their offense was anemic almost the entire game, and that was a big reason they lost. The Bucks are at their best when they’re whipping it around for wide open shots, and their offense will have a tough time if they’re not getting a good number of assists, as tonight showed.
Wesley Matthews and J.J. Barea – Wisconsin-born-and-bred Matthews and Puerto Rico-born Barea will cause Bucks fans to have nightmares tonight, as they combined for 42 Dallas points. Matthews finished with 22 points on 8-14 shooting, including 6-8 (!) from beyond the arc, as well as 2 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals. Barea finished with 20 points on 5-10 from the floor (and 4-7 from distance), as well as 3 rebounds and 7 assists. These two killed the Bucks all night, particularly from the three-point line, and the Bucks will need to either figure out a way to stop opponents’ three-point shooting or find an offensive answer when getting waterboarded with shots from behind the arc.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton – While the Bucks were fairly pathetic offensively all night, Giannis and Khris Middleton took care of business as the only Milwaukee players in double figures. Giannis finished with 24 points (but on a less-than-ideal 7-20 shooting night), 17 (!) rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. Middleton finished with 23 points on an efficient 9-12 from the field and 3-5 from distance. Anytime these two are combining for nearly 50, you can’t ask for much more from them, so this one falls on the other Bucks offensively. Still, Giannis has continued his great offensive start to the season. going for 20 in every game except one, when he only scored 14. Middleton has also continued his recent solid offensive form, which is great for the Bucks.
plus/minus hero
Jason Terry/Rashad Vaughn/D.J. Wilson/Joel Bolomboy – These are more technical honors than anything else, as they all scored a +0 plus/minus mark in three minutes of action. Still, the next closest was John Henson at -4, and rules are rules. Terry did get a nice little welcome from the Dallas crowd when he checked in, and he made his only shot attempt to finish with 2 points. Terry and Vaughn also both recorded blocks in three minutes on the court, and that deserves celebrating. Still, we can hope that the next plus/minus hero(s) is (are) not named simply by default.
Well, that didn’t work out too well. Next up for the Bucks is a tough test against the Wizards in Milwaukee on Monday. Tune in then to see the Bucks try to start a new winning streak!