For the first time this season, the Milwaukee Bucks have won two consecutive games. With a 4-8 record, winning two straight is far from an occurrence worthy of celebration. However, it is still the first bit of positive momentum the Bucks have been able to muster since their season-opening victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
So, before they put their winning streak on the line against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday, let’s take a closer look at the micro and macro trends that have affected the Bucks over the last week.
Let’s play Ones.
One play: AJ Green setting a screen
Before Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Pistons, AJ Green had played 170 minutes across 10 games this season and had not attempted a single 2-point field goal. In his first 10 appearances this season, Green had attempted 52 3-pointers, but not taken a single shot inside the 3-point line. That changed on Wednesday when Green attempted a layup on the Bucks’ fifth offensive possession of the game, but Green’s role is clear: get up as many 3s as possible.
Through 11 games, Green has attempted 10.6 3s per 36 minutes, which puts him 12th in the NBA in 3-point rate among players who have played at least 100 minutes. Among that same group of the NBA’s 19 most prolific 3-point shooters, Green is shooting the highest percentage at 50 percent.
To keep Green firing away from deep and work toward Bucks coach Doc Rivers’ stated goal of shooting more 3s, the Bucks will need to run sets that can create those looks, such as this play against the Raptors on Tuesday:
Green missed this shot, but the process that created a wide-open look for Green is more important than the result. This is a relatively simple set that the Bucks can use with any of their 3-point shooters, but it’s especially useful with the broad-shouldered Green.
The Bucks regularly use cross-screening actions, such as the one above, to get Giannis Antetokounmpo to the left block for post-ups. If Green is willing and able to set good screens, this set will cause real problems for opponents because the chain reaction of his screen will create situations that are difficult for any defense to guard.
- Fail to get through Green’s screen? Antetokounmpo gets great post position and likely an easy bucket.
- Help off of Green too long to help your defender stop Antetokounmpo? Green gets a wide-open 3 because of a big screen by Brook Lopez.
- Switch the action with the big man to take away the 3 for Green? Lopez can seal and get great position against a smaller player.
At this moment, the Bucks don’t have a talented passer on the wing to truly run the point for this play and take full advantage of all the options, but this play will be even deadlier whenever Khris Middleton returns to action.
This season has not gone how Gary Trent Jr. wanted it to go when he signed with the Bucks as a free agent this offseason. His hope was playing a strong supporting role for one of the best teams in the NBA, but at this point, the Bucks find themselves near the bottom of the standings in the Eastern Conference, and Trent has struggled to find his footing in Milwaukee.
There have been myriad injuries — a hyperextended left elbow in the preseason and a right calf strain and back spasms during the regular season — that could have contributed to Trent’s early struggles. His career shooting percentage from the field is 42 percent and 38.3 percent from 3, but through 10 games with the Bucks, Trent has made only 31 percent overall and 26.7 percent from behind the 3-point line. His inability to consistently make shots has even led to Trent passing up open looks and taking fewer shots.
On Wednesday against the Pistons, Trent played 11 minutes in the first half and didn’t attempt a shot. In the second half and overtime, he put up 11 points in 23 minutes, including a 3-for-3 third quarter that helped the Bucks flip the script on the Pistons.
Trent’s third quarter scoring started with an offensive rebound from Pat Connaughton that eventually found Trent on an extra pass from Andre Jackson Jr.
After Trent hit another triple 90 seconds later, Antetokounmpo went out of his way to try to keep Trent involved by working his way to an empty side dribble handoff. The 25-year-old shooting guard rewarded that trust with a nice read in the two-man game and a floater to keep the Bucks’ comeback rolling.
By the time the Bucks needed offense in an Antetokounmpo-less lineup to start the fourth quarter, Trent had built up the confidence to make a play for himself and attack a switch against a big man in isolation.
Trent’s 11 points were his first double-digit scoring effort since Oct. 28, the fourth game of the season against the Boston Celtics. And it was also the first game that Trent made three 3-pointers this season. After hitting two 3-pointers in each of the Bucks’ first four games, Trent knocked down just one of the 18 attempts he took across his next five appearances.
“Gary can shoot, and I kept saying it’s going to come at some point,” Rivers said. “We had a little play exchange before the game, and I turned to him and said will you just shoot the damn ball as a joke, and he said, ‘I’m ready.’
“It was a joke, but everybody started laughing, and then he came out and shot the ball tonight. He needed to see the ball go in, period. And then, once he saw the ball going in, the ball kept going in for him, and that’s good for him.”
Rivers made it clear, however, that Trent’s shot falling on Wednesday wasn’t just a coincidence. Trent had been putting in the work behind the scenes.
“Players hang in there, man,” Rivers said. “Last night, after the (Raptors) game, Gary drove from here, right across the street (to the practice facility), and went into the gym and took a thousand shots. And I’m not exaggerating, a thousand shots.
“And then, he comes in here and makes it. People don’t see the work. Just because you don’t see the results, guys are putting in the work. It’s a great sign for Gary, and I’m happy for him.”
Just like there is no way of knowing if Antetokounmpo’s monster performance in the Bucks’ comeback effort against the Pistons will swing the momentum of the Bucks’ early season struggles in a positive direction, Trent’s strong second half doesn’t mean he has turned things around.
But the Bucks will surely be hoping this is the start of Trent’s emergence because they could really use his scoring punch.
One trend: Deflections leading to turnovers
The Bucks have not been a good defensive team thus far this season.
As of Friday morning, they are 20th in defensive rating per Cleaning the Glass. All season, the Bucks have struggled to consistently compete on the defensive end. They’ve suffered lapses getting back in transition and grabbing defensive rebounds, but their last two games have been much better.
One of the major reasons behind that improvement has been an increase in deflections. In the season’s first 10 games, the Bucks averaged 14.9 deflections per game. Obviously, the competition has not been as good, and their personnel has been different in the last two games, but the Bucks tallied 48 deflections in the last two games. That included 30 deflections that led to 22 turnovers against the Raptors on Tuesday.
“I just thought we were engaged, we were active. I think that was it,” Rivers said of Tuesday’s defensive performance against the Raptors. “Obviously, Delon (Wright) had a lot to do with a lot of those. But so did Dre, I thought he got his hands on a bunch. I thought Giannis got some deflections.
“One thing we try to get is deflections because any deflected pass throws a team off rhythm offensively, and that was high for us as well last night. We have to do it consistently. Tonight’s new, another aggressive opponent, s0 we have to do it again.”
On Wednesday, that number dropped to 18 deflections, but even that number beat their per-game average through the first 10 games.
As Rivers noted, one of Wright’s greatest strengths has always been his ability to cause some chaos defensively. When Damian Lillard returns to the lineup and Wright’s role shrinks, the Bucks will likely see their level of pressure decrease, but there is no reason for the rest of the roster to stop giving the same effort on defense.
Deflections, such as this one by Taurean Prince, can always be a part of the Bucks’ defensive game plan if they’re giving the proper effort and executing on the defensive end:
The Bucks likely don’t have the personnel in their best lineups to be an elite defense, but they do have enough length and athleticism to pester teams at a higher level than they did in the season’s first 10 games.
(Photo of AJ Green: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)
