Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 134-123 loss to Denver Nuggets

Zeller making a difference

Make no mistake about it, Tyler Zeller didn’t stop or slow down Nikola Jokic — it seemed like there wasn’t a player on the planet who could have done that on Thursday — but much of the Bucks’ best basketball coincided with the recently acquired big man being on the floor.

Zeller was acquired to provide the Bucks with a more imposing and physical presence for exactly the kind of matchup they had to deal with on this occasion, and in all honesty he probably should have seen even more time on the court than he ultimately did against the Nuggets.

While Thon Maker had a plus/minus of -20 in just 17 minutes of action, Zeller’s 30 minutes of play resulted in a plus/minus of +9.

Considering the Bucks lost by 11 and trailed by double digits for a large portion of the game, it’s remarkable that Milwaukee managed to comfortably outscore Denver in Zeller’s considerable time on the floor.

Part of that can be attributed to Zeller providing a more solid and savvy presence inside on the defensive end, but Zeller shone on the offensive end in particular. In what are still his formative games in Milwaukee, Zeller has shown his teammates that if they throw the ball up for him anywhere around the rim, he excels at gathering and finishing in a fluid motion.

There were plenty of instances of that in evidence on Thursday, as Zeller finished with 14 points and five rebounds on 7-of-9 from the field.