Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 103-91 win over Portland Trail Blazers

No Fast Balls

With the Bucks losing the rebounding battle so dramatically they needed another way to influence the game in their direction. Against the Trail Blazers that was the turnover battle. The Bucks performed in a way that would make even the Miami Hurricanes proud, winning the turnover margin 19-10.

When coach Jason Kidd, incorporated his hyper-aggressive trapping style, this was the type of turnover margin he expected. The Bucks had 11 steals on the night, one more than the amount of total turnovers by the team. If this trend can continue, things might be progressing upwards for this team.

Perhaps more impressive than the turnover margin, was what Milwaukee did to Portland’s AST/TO ratio. The Blazers had 19 turnovers to just 17 assists. Some of this can undoubtedly be explained by sloppy play, but for an NBA team to have a negative AST/TO ratio the defense is doing something right.

The Bucks’ defense has been under much scrutiny this season, and for good reason, one game of stellar play doesn’t prove it is back on track. Still it is always a good sign when one side of the ball is playing well, and the Bucks have certainly done that in the past two games.

Yes, the Blazers, much like the Kings, are not well equipped to take advantage of the Bucks’ inability to defend the three-point line. The team ranks 24th in three-pointers made, while the Kings ranked 30th. Still, if the Bucks are able to dominate the turnover margin like this consistently it’s hard to imagine the defense not improving.