Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 104-86 loss to Indiana Pacers

A lack of playmaking

As covered a bit already, the Bucks’ struggle to make plays was evident all throughout the night against the Pacers.

Aside from the likes of Khris Middleton and Malcolm Brogdon, the Bucks were unable to lock into a rhythm consistently and it was only exacerbated by the leisurely way in which the team played at times. To make matters worse, the Bucks struggled to take care of the ball when they weren’t hitting shots, committing 20 total turnovers on the night.

This is obviously exaggerated by the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who practiced with the team earlier in the day but remained out of action for the second straight preseason game. But the Bucks even missed being without a player like Matthew Dellavedova, who while limited in very key areas, does bring stability with his point guard play.

Making plays, however, goes beyond just creating for others as having verifiable scorers will go a long way for the Bucks as well. It may be where a player like Gerald Green looms large in this discussion, who scored 12 points on 3-6 shooting from the field and went 1-3 from deep (should be noted that the majority, if not all of his production came when the game was far out of hand).

While it’s important to preface every part of the team’s play is happening in preseason, this may be a bigger talking point once the regular season comes around, especially being without a couple of key contributors this season (or for much of the year, in Jabari Parker‘s case).