Behind the Bucks Pass
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Summer League Bucks Advance Past Rockets

By Adam McGee

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As the Las Vegas Summer League reached it’s tournament rounds, the Milwaukee Bucks stepped their game up to heights that we hadn’t seen in their previous three outings.

With an early 3pm Central (1pm local) start, perhaps the Bucks could have been forgiven for starting a little slow faced off with the Houston Rockets. That couldn’t have been further from the case though.

Milwaukee had 27 first quarter points, which was no mean feat considering quarters at Summer League are only ten minutes long. They kept knocking down shots from then on too.

The Bucks made 54.5 percent of their field goal attempts, while even more strikingly they also made 60 percent of their three-point attempts.

Turnovers remain the biggest problem for this young group and although they’re almost expected due to lack of familiarity between players and the general sloppiness of play, 25 of them, like Milwaukee had in this one, just still feels like far too many.

The Bucks had a great share of scoring with three of their players passing the 20 point mark. Sean Kilpatrick was as reliable as ever with 26 points, Kevin Jones had a big time 20 points to go with his nine rebounds, while first round pick Rashad Vaughn had his best showing yet with 23 points.

The Bucks will be action again today at 3pm Central in Cox Pavilion as they look to get past the Phoenix Suns in order to reach the quarter finals.

In the meantime, let’s take a look at the player grades from this win over the Rockets.

Grades

C. Gutierrez had six points, nine assists and seven rebounds which sounds like the sort of output that should have him on track for a much better grade, but nine turnovers can’t be ignored. A player of his experience really needs to be exercising more control over Summer League games.. G. Milwaukee Bucks. JORGE GUTIERREZ

B+. Having showcased some great passing touch throughout some of the earlier games, this one was all about his scoring. Vaughn went 7-17 from the field, 3-6 from deep, and looked ready to make a shot every time the Rockets closed the gap.. G. Milwaukee Bucks. RASHAD VAUGHN

Milwaukee Bucks. KEVIN JONES. A-. The veteran relative to his teammates here, Jones put in an excellent showing in this one. 20 points, nine rebounds provided the type of leadership some of his young teammates may have required, and even if his play doesn’t result in him getting picked up in the NBA, it should assure a nice pay day for him internationally.. F

D. Thankfully there was a great win to distract us from Inglis’ game. After a strong showing in the game against Cleveland, the Frenchman had zero points, one rebound and three turnovers in only ten minutes of play in this one. He took a knock on the foot that didn’t look to bother him, but there’s no point in taking risks.. F. Milwaukee Bucks. DAMIEN INGLIS

Milwaukee Bucks. MICHAEL ERIC. B. Eric may have only had three points on this occasion, but he was as active as ever in other departments. Eric had seven rebounds and six blocks, many of which were truly emphatic. Has been doing a good job of holding down the middle.. C

A+. Kilpatrick really seems to be assuring that he’ll be playing on an NBA roster next season, as the sort of numbers he’s putting up are impossible to ignore. 26 points on 9-12 shooting, 4-7 from behind the arc. Let’s hope he keeps going and fuels the Bucks to the trophy.. G. Milwaukee Bucks. SEAN KILPATRICK

G. Milwaukee Bucks. JEROME RANDLE. B+. Just like Gutierrez, Randle had nine assists, yet he managed to do so in only 19 minutes of play and with only two turnovers to counteract them. Nine points on 4-7 shooting can’t be complained about either. If the Bucks didn’t already have some form of commitment to Gutierrez there’s a chance that Randle would be starting against Phoenix.

C. Milwaukee Bucks. VIACHESLAV KRAVTSOV. D. Another solid outing from Slava. Eight points, five boards and two blocks in 15 minutes was a solid outing. Drew some gasps from the crowd with a couple of big time dunks.

C+. After a very impressive first two games, seems to have effectively shot himself out of the rotation with his selfish and inaccurate showing against the Cavaliers. Two points, four boards and two assists in seven minutes was some impressive work though.. F. Milwaukee Bucks. CAMERON CLARK

INC. Scott continues to be the nominal inclusion in these Summer League games. A turnover was his only notable contribution in six minutes of play.. G. Milwaukee Bucks. DURAND SCOTT

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