Having consistently held one of the highest volume of three-point attempts around the league so far this season, the Milwaukee Bucks’ success from beyond the arc has gone cold throughout the month of December.
As has been much discussed over the summer and into the start of this season, letting it fly has been one of core tenets in the Milwaukee Bucks’ reshaped identity this year.
The point of the Bucks’ three-point revolution was two-fold as it finally brought the Bucks into the modern age when it comes to finally embracing that element of today’s game but also spreading the floor for their superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo to exact his special scoring talents at a higher rate on opposing teams.
It’s safe to say the added space has led to the surefire MVP candidate flourishing even further as a scorer and more importantly, has eased the burden of simply creating shots, given he’s leading the league in attempting the most shots per game within the restricted area as well as tallying the most points in the paint per game. Mind you, he’s doing all that on a career-high 63 true shooting percentage and on 26.6 points per game.
But in recent weeks, the Bucks’ collective three-point success has taken a turn following their scorching start to this year’s campaign.
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While maintaining their hefty volume of attempts from long distance throughout this point in the season, the Bucks have only hit on 32.7 percent of their 40.1 attempts throughout their seven games so far in December, a number that ranks them 25th in the league.
By and large, that’s why the Bucks have experienced a precipitous decline in their offensive efficiency to this point in the month, considering they’re putting up 106.2 points per 100 possessions, good for 22nd in the NBA.
For comparison, the Bucks currently hold the second-highest offensive efficiency at 113.2 points per 100 possessions this season, standing just behind the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
Of course, one particular player in swingman Khris Middleton has practically embodied the Bucks’ inconsistent marksmanship from downtown during this recent stretch of games.
Having recently given voice to his shooting struggles following the Bucks’ loss to the Indiana Pacers last week, the 27-year-old’s faring from three has significantly slipped on a month by month basis as he’s gone from hitting 54.9 percent on 51 attempts during October to connecting on just 26.7 percent of his 30 tries so far in December.
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But it’s obviously gone beyond Middleton’s noteworthy shooting woes as regular role players such as Pat Connaughton (15.8 percent on 19 attempts), Donte DiVincenzo (18.2 percent on 11 attempts) and Tony Snell (25.9 percent on 27 attempts) have all gone cold from that level of the floor this month, just to name a few.
Those three respective players are illuminating cases to the Bucks’ three-point identity, considering Connaughton and Snell have both endured previous shooting inconsistencies throughout their pro careers and DiVincenzo’s budding stint in the league has firmly trended in that direction.
While certainly other motives were at play in their decision to deal for him last week, it’ll be curious to see how new Bucks guard George Hill can give a boost in this department, considering his previous three-point shooting pedigree over the last four seasons in particular (though, Bucks fans are still waiting on their first trip to One Three Hill during his limited run so far in Milwaukee).
And luckily, the Bucks’ fundamentally solid defense, despite being very susceptible to let opposing teams launch away from three, has more than held up their end of the bargain as they try to lift themselves out of this rough shooting patch, considering they rank fourth in defensive efficiency at 102.2 points per 100 possessions in December.
As The Athletic’s Eric Nehm expertly highlighted on recently, this will very much be a defining test to the Bucks’ season and the players’ collective trust into the system Budenholzer and his staff have implemented since his arrival last May.
With this kind of regression to the mean extrapolated over weeks of games at this point, the Bucks will continue searching for short-term solutions until they find their three-point shooting touch to something resembling their early season form.