Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 117-97 win over Brooklyn Nets

Enter the Dragan

With Robin Lopez missing due to illness, there was another opportunity for Dragan Bender to soak up minutes as the Bucks’ backup center.

The Croatian big man certainly made the most of his chance too, adding some promising offensive contributions to the stellar defense he’d displayed in his last outing against the Knicks.

Bender played 21 minutes in total, and in spite of going 0-of-3 on his attempts from inside the arc, knocking down 2-of-4 shots from deep on the night certainly gave Bucks fans something to get excited about.

Similarly encouraging from an offensive perspective was Bender’s sole assist, which demonstrated his exceptional feel for the game and vision. Bender threaded the needle to find Donte DiVincenzo on a cut to the rim, delivering a perfect pass to set up two points.

Bender also corralled six rebounds on the night, and it remains his defense that’s probably most worthy of discussion. Clearly benefiting from reps in the G League with the Herd playing in a similar system, Bender seems to have a strong handle on what’s expected of a big on the defensive end in the Bucks’ scheme.

There were no blocks awarded to Bender on this occasion, but he frequently showed impressive verticality to offer formidable resistance at the rim.

Finishing as a +14 in the box score, Bender certainly hasn’t done his chances of further minutes any harm.