Poor three-point shooting
This has been an ongoing issue all year, but even more so through the first six games in March. In those games, the Bucks shot just 28.3 percent on threes, dead last in the league. Small sample sizes may seem meaningless in the regular season, but since a playoff series is a small sample size itself, stretches like this can’t just be disregarded.
The biggest contributors to the Bucks’ season-long three-point shooting woes are Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez. They’re second and third respectively in three-point attempts per game and, of the guys consistently in the rotation, they are the two worst at making them.
Eric Bledsoe also deserves some of the blame. His 34.8 percent on threes is only slightly lower than the league average of 35.7 percent, but it drops drastically in losses, down to 21.9 percent. Teams are going to dare him to hit shots in the playoffs, and if he does, the Bucks will win.
Much like Bledsoe, Giannis is much worse in losses, shooting a horrendous 10.9 percent on threes. Giannis is going to get the same treatment as Bledsoe, so that is quite concerning.
Other than those three guys just hitting more shots, the team could greatly improve by making more of their open threes. The Bucks take 21.3 wide open threes, most in the league, but only convert on 36.5 percent of them, which is 27th in the league.
For a team where every player can shoot, it’s quite astounding that they shoot it so poorly. That would have been a major concern heading into the postseason, and it may still be whenever the league starts back up.