Milwaukee Bucks Grades, Reactions to 109-95 Loss To Los Angeles Clippers

Dec 9, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Los Angeles Clippers guard J.J. Redick (4) shoots against Milwaukee Bucks guard

(3) during the second quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Reactions: The Bad

• Maybe it’s sour grapes. Maybe it’s a home-team bias. Maybe it’s even a bit of empathy for poor Greg Monroe. But when the season-end list of the year’s top dunks are released, and this one is at the top, you will still find me tweeting that it was an offensive foul. Oh well, at least the dunk didn’t break the Bucks spirit.

• Three point shooting and rebounding. Those two key areas are responsible for more Bucks losses than any other stat combined. They were savagely out-rebounded by the Clippers, 51-40. And brutally out shot from three as the Clippers had twelve makes to the Bucks two. (And one of those makes came from JOB!) When we look back on this season and try to work through what went wrong early we will settle on that the Bucks weren’t good because they couldn’t shoot and couldn’t rebound.

• They also commit way too many ridiculous fouls. There’s the reach in variety than Giannis Antetokounmpo is so fond of committing. Then there’s the aggressive body-ups that Mayo is guilty of. And finally you have the “I got beat, better grab some jersey” MCW special. My point is that the Bucks can’t expect to beat a top tier team when they commit 29 fouls. Those fouls led to a 36-12 free throw disparity (including the hack-a-DeAndre bit). Even without Jordan’s free throw attempts the Bucks were still doubled up in free throw attempts.

• J.J. Redick is the chancellor of my personal most-hated all-NBA team. He’s joined by Brandon Jennings and James Harden. I mean come on–Redick NEVER shot that well while playing in a Bucks uniform. And it only costed the team one Tobias Harris to get him. Redick scored 31 points and pretty much single-handedly zapped the Bucks in the third quarter. If only Middleton could have caught up to one of Redick’s three point attempts and swatted it right back into his smug “I went to Duke” face. Hey, a man can dream right?

Next: Grades: Starters