Can’t Stop The Run
Preseason is preseason and all of that, but there has been one glaring weakness to emerge from Milwaukee’s exhibition games that will also evoke memories of what went wrong last year.
The Bucks’ problem throughout their preseason schedule hasn’t been finding a way to play good basketball or getting out in front, rather their biggest struggle has come in hanging on to the sizeable leads they’ve built up.
Milwaukee’s opponents haven’t gradually worked their way back into games either, instead the Bucks have put together some truly remarkable collapses.
In the last three games the Bucks have allowed runs of 41-6, 37-7 and now 37-8. What do you think they talk about in huddles? Basketball?
— Frank Madden (@fmaddenNBA) October 18, 2016
There’s no one constant to pinpoint as a cause, as the Bucks have given away games due to lopsided runs with their key starters on the floor and with their reserves in tandem.
One of the quirks of preseason can be the way in which coaches embrace adversity as a learning tool for their players, and as such, perhaps that acts as an explanation for Jason Kidd’s apparent reluctance to break up such runs with timeouts in somewhat meaningless games.
Saying that, considering tardy timeouts were an issue for Milwaukee last season, this will remain something worth monitoring when the season begins if the Bucks continue to leak big runs.