Milwaukee Bucks: Relentless shot-blocking providing entertainment
By Adam McGee
The Milwaukee Bucks’ league-best, suffocating defense often provides runs of relentless shot-blocking and all of the fun and excitement that goes with that.
Most often in NBA games, it’s bursts of standout offensive plays that get all the attention. There’s an obvious thrill to an explosive dunk or a sustained run of lights out three-point shooting that’s known for getting fans up out of their seats.
As the Milwaukee Bucks continue to run the rule over the entire NBA with their 50-8 record, it’s become just as common for defense to be that kind of energizer for fans of Mike Budenholzer’s squad, though.
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After compiling the league’s best defensive record last season, the Bucks have come back even stingier this year. At present, Milwaukee leads the league in defensive rating, allowing just 101.7 points per 100 possessions. That number comes in at 3.2 points fewer than their own mark from a year ago, and a full 2.8 points better than the second ranked Toronto Raptors this year.
Milwaukee has come to be so dominant by just how complete and well-rounded their defensive play is but, without question, a key element is just how difficult they make it for opponents to score at the rim.
The Bucks allow just 38.4 paint points per game to their opponents, which is once again a league-best mark. Part of that is attributable to denying opponents the chance to get to the rim, but just as important is the Bucks’ ability to deny their opponents when they do get to the rim.
Having ranked second in the NBA in terms of blocks per game in 2018-19, the Bucks again find themselves in that spot, albeit having increased their output of rejections.
Milwaukee is up from 5.9 blocks per game last year to 6.3 this season, and in part that is attributable to the team’s constant hunger for rejections.
What’s notable about Milwaukee’s approach to shot-blocking, and has become even more apparent of late, is that the Bucks have a knack for stringing blocks together.
This is not a team that makes a habit of sending shots rows deep into the stand, instead reliably opting to keep the ball in play in an attempt to retrieve it.
With strong interior shot blockers such as Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and guards who are weakside specialists such as Donte DiVincenzo, Pat Connaughton, and Eric Bledsoe, the Bucks relentlessly hunt down shots.
In their last two games alone, there have been instances where a Bucks block turns into an offensive rebound, only for the opponent to again be met with another rejection.
These kind of runs provide major boosts of energy and momentum to the Bucks, and in a home game, would reliably send the fans into frenzy. Regardless of the venue, they are obviously demoralizing for the opposition too.
It speaks to just how dominant this Bucks team is defensively, but one of the greatest joys in watching them has become the chance to marvel at shot after shot being sent back.
Next. Robin Lopez stays steady, no matter the role changes. dark
In many ways, the block is the defensive equivalent of the dunk. It’s a statement of both authority and superiority, as the Bucks have taught the vast majority of their opponents to this point in the year.