Game In Review: Milwaukee Bucks @ Denver Nuggets – November 11th

Starting Lineups

Milwaukee Bucks: Tyler Ennis, Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Johnny O’Bryant, Greg Monroe

Denver Nuggets: Emmanuel Mudiay, Gary Harris, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, J.J. Hickson

The Milwaukee Bucks have been a yo-yo team so far this season. Even in their victories, Milwaukee has been anything but consistent. That didn’t change on Wednesday night, when the Bucks managed to squander a 64 point first half to ultimately lose in a nail-biter to the Denver Nuggets, 103-102

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The Bucks bench started out hot–Greivis Vasquez finally broke his season-long slump, racking up 15 points, nine assists, two rebounds and a steal. Vasquez continued to dish the ball all over, and finally found his touch from the field.

If Bucks fans are looking for silver linings from this one, Vasquez is probably the biggest one. If he’s going to play this well from here on out, that trade during the draft is going to look a lot better. Now if only the team could play some defense…

Giannis Antetokounmpo looked like a more complete player against the Nuggets–he didn’t score much–just 12 points–but he also had seven rebounds, a season-high five assists and two blocks.

Nov 11, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets forward Kostas Papanikolaou (16) drives to the basket against Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton (22) during the first half at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Khris Middleton looked sharp again. He was perfect from beyond the arc, and ended with 13 points, two assists, one rebound and four steals. That production is less than expected from Middleton in 36 minutes, but at least he was efficient.

Greg Monroe was solid yet again for the Bucks. He ended with 18 points, ten rebounds, two assists and a steal. He did it on 7-9 shooting, but the Bucks needed more than solid from their big man on Wednesday.

Johnny O’Bryant looked pretty good against Denver–he was actually the best Buck in terms of plus-minus, at a startling plus 21. JOB ended with 11 points, nine rebounds, three assists and a steal in this one, to go along with his typical zero turnovers.

Tyler Ennis has cemented his spot as the starting point guard when Michael Carter-Williams sits, and he’s gotten better with each of those starts. He didn’t manage an assist tonight, but did rack up seven points on 75 percent shooting.

Ennis is a hard player to write about–he looks really confidant and solid out there, and then his statline ends up being so plain. I think he’s getting better just via the eye test, but it’d be nice to have him show that with statistics too sometime.

Jerryd Bayless has been one of the few saving graces of this team this season. He scored 22 points on just ten shots on Wednesday night, to go along with four assists, two rebounds and two steals. He’s continued to be a verified weapon from long-range–he made all three of his attempts from beyond the arc against Denver.

John Henson looked decent in his 15 minutes tonight–he ended the game with four points, two rebounds, one assist and one block. Captain Hook is still looking limited recovering from injury, but hopefully he can return to form soon.

Nov 11, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Emmanuel Mudiay (0) has his shot blocked by Milwaukee Bucks forward John Henson (31) during the first half at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Rashad Vaughn got some significant minutes early in this one, but for once he didn’t make the most of them. Vaughn missed his only shot in his ten minutes, and the only stat he recorded was a turnover. There’s always next game, rook.

Since this was a close game until the end, Chris Copeland, Miles Plumlee and Damien Inglis all never left the bench. It’s pretty obvious Jason Kidd has his best ten or so men selected for this season–once O.J. Mayo and MCW return, Vaughn and Ennis will probably not see much time either.

The Bucks couldn’t do much good without messing up at the same time. Even in that great first half, Milwaukee’s defense was non-existent on the interior, leading to multiple easy dunks and layups. Perimeter shooters also remained to get good looks against the Bucks.

As usual this season, the Bucks had an abysmal third quarter. Just like the night before, when the Boston Celtics blew out the Bucks at home, Milwaukee lose all momentum and their lead in the third period. Whatever the Bucks are currently doing in the first part of the second half so far this year is not working.

This game was close, but in all honestly the Nuggets are a lesser team than the Bucks. Milwaukee should’ve been able to pull out a win here, despite it being the second night of a back to back in the Denver air.