Continued Cold Shooting
A continuing theme from this three game slippage has been Khris Middleton falling back down to Earth. After coming back strong from his injury, he is now hovering around his career averages in shooting efficiency.
The Bucks have missed rookie Malcolm Brogdon, still sidelined with a back injury, and the steady presence he has been from the three. Middleton has suddenly gone cold, once again failing to put up more points than shots taken.
Both Delly and Tony Snell failed to step up to fill the scoring void with Middleton struggling, both scoring only eight points on as many shots. Greg Monroe, a usually solid offensive option, only put up four shots for four points. Monroe was near unplayable, as the team was outscored by 22 points in the 18 minutes he saw the floor.
This team has looked out of sorts recently, especially Middleton. Even though Giannis had another good performance, no other player is creating enough offense as of late. That wasn’t going to be good enough to topple a team desperate to secure a playoff seed.