MILWAUKEE — Following their loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, the Milwaukee Bucks said all the right things. Even with a six-game losing streak, they expressed confidence about where the team could end up at the end of the season. In the days between the loss and their next game, players discussed what they thought had improved upon in recent games and assured reporters that no one was panicking in their locker room.
But following their 123-100 victory over the Utah Jazz, Bucks guard Damian Lillard did not shy away from discussing just how much he believed the team needed to win on Thursday night.
“I think we needed it bad,” Lillard said. “Desperately.”
Words would only have been able to stretch so far after another loss, especially if one would have come against the Jazz, who, like the Bucks, had a 1-6 record entering Thursday’s game. The Bucks needed a positive result to take with them into the weekend as they play the Knicks in New York on Friday night and then return to Milwaukee for a Sunday matinee game against the Boston Celtics.
“It was important for us to not only get off of that six-game losing streak and feel something good, winning the game, but going into this next stretch of games, I think it was important for us to get back in the win column,” Lillard continued. “And not just win a game, but do a lot of things that we can have some carryover with. If we do a lot of the things that we did tonight against any team — with the pace we did, the energy that we did it with — I think we’ll have success.”
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Lillard was spectacular with 34 points (on 12-of-22 shooting), seven assists and four rebounds. And as he has been all season long, Giannis Antetokounmpo was right there with his running mate and tallied 31 points and 16 rebounds after missing Monday’s game in Cleveland with a right adductor strain. The Bucks’ superstar duo shouldered a heavy load once again and continued their strong start to the season. While the final score would indicate an easy win, the Jazz forced the Bucks to work for it, echoing something Rivers said on Wednesday.
“You can’t show up and think you’re just going to win; you have to go earn wins,” Rivers said. “A win, and I’ve said this for years, one win in the NBA is hard. Winning in the NBA is not an easy thing. These are pros.”
The Jazz proved that in the first half.
Heading into Thursday’s game, the Jazz were tied with the Orlando Magic for the league’s worst 3-point percentage at 30.3 percent. That didn’t much matter in Milwaukee as Utah took advantage of the blown defensive coverages by the Bucks and knocked down 14 of their 26 3-point attempts (53.8 percent) in the first half to take a 61-57 lead into halftime. Following the game, Rivers told reporters that he showed his team five different bad switches that occurred and led to 3-pointers for the Jazz. Here’s one:
If the Bucks were going to pull out their first win in more than two weeks, they were going to need to earn it. That’s what they did in the second half.
The Bucks outscored the Jazz 31-16 in the third quarter and a big part of that was the Bucks’ ability to shut off the Jazz’s 3-point attack. Utah’s first second-half 3-pointer came with 27.9 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Jordan Clarkson pulled up in transition for a triple that brought the Bucks’ lead down to 10. The Bucks changed up a few assignments in the second half and simply executed better, slowing down Utah’s 3-point barrage.
That defensive possession wasn’t perfect, but it was no surprise to see Andre Jackson Jr.’s effort be a big part of what finished out the possession.
On Thursday, Rivers made the decision to change the starting lineup and insert Jackson in place of Gary Trent Jr. While Rivers admitted part of the reason for the change was trying to get Trent going after his recent struggles, the Bucks just needed more energy and athleticism in the starting lineup and he believed Jackson could provide that.
Jackson might not have lit up the box score on Thursday (seven points, three rebounds, four assists and four steals), but his effort was a big reason why the Bucks won. His hustle and desire were on full display from the start.
In the first half, he showed off his non-stop motor by following up a Brook Lopez chasedown block on Patty Mills with a chasedown block of his own on Walker Kessler.
DOUBLE CHASEDOWN BLOCK. pic.twitter.com/UoaiFFMLXC
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) November 8, 2024
And in the second half, he created an easy bucket for Antetokounmpo by using his strong hands to force a turnover.
On a night where the Bucks needed desperation to break their losing streak, no one showed more urgency to make a play than Jackson.
“I thought he had a great game,” Lillard said of Jackson’s first start of the season. “Every good team has somebody that you can point to as like a disruptor, energy player that just brings that to a team and I think it was obvious with him out there. His pressure on the ball, the deflections, chasing down loose balls, just a lot of those hustle plays, those energy plays that can bring energy to a team.
“But also those moments where it looks like the other team is about to have something happen for them and his energy and effort and his motor comes into play for us. Like that fast-break where Brook is chasing down Patty Mills and he made him throw up a high, floating layup in transition and the other guy is following it up and Dre come up from behind and blocks it. That’s just the kind of player he is and I think they felt his presence out there tonight.”
In the end, Jackson’s energy put the Bucks in position for Antetokounmpo’s and Lillard’s brilliance to lead the Bucks to a victory.
Through seven games, Antetokounmpo (31.0) and Lillard (28.4) are averaging 59.4 combined points per game. They are both in the NBA’s top 10 in points per game through two weeks and putting up bigger individual numbers than they did last season. While the early performances of many Bucks players have left much to be desired, Milwaukee’s superstar duo has flourished to start the season.
In the second half, their success even included some two-man actions that they did not explore much in their first season, including this perfectly flipped screen by Antetokounmpo to free up Lillard for his final 3 of the night.
“At the end of the day, they’re gonna try to send him to the baseline and I’m not going to just let them off the hook,” Antetokounmpo said. “I feel like sometimes the flip screen, when you set it, it gives him time to navigate it, it gives him time to be aggressive. He can come out of the pick and roll shoot the shot or snake it. I think it gives me a time to roll. It gives us more options and I feel like we’re not letting guys off the hook when we play, me and him.”
When asked about that action after the game, Rivers called it “beautiful basketball” and told reporters that he couldn’t wait to watch the film and show Antetokounmpo and Lillard how naturally they can flow together when just making reads out on the floor rather than needing Rivers to call certain plays to involve one another.
For the Bucks, a glimpse at the greater potential of the two-man game of Antetokounmpo and Lillard was just a cherry on top of a win that they really needed to build some confidence. Antetokounmpo knows that they can’t spend much time celebrating a win over the Jazz because they have two tough games this weekend.
“It feels good. It feels great. We have another one tomorrow,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think we all (need to) try to remember how it feels when you lose, so we kinda don’t wanna go back there.”
(Photo of Damian Lillard: Gary Dineen / NBAE via Getty Images)
