Milwaukee Bucks Gaming return to action with win over Pacers Gaming
By Adam McGee
After a bye week allowed them to regroup, Milwaukee Bucks’ affiliate Bucks Gaming came up with a much-needed win against Pacers Gaming on Thursday.
Following consecutive losses to Blazer5 Gaming and Gen.G Tigers in their last gameweek, Bucks Gaming certainly looked like a team that could do with heading back to the drawing board to reconsider their approach.
Luckily for the Milwaukee Bucks’ NBA 2K League affiliate, a bye week gave them that luxury last week. Meaning that as they came into Thursday night’s clash with Pacers Gaming at 2-4, Bucks Gaming had at least added a couple of new tricks up their sleeve in an attempt to get back on track.
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With the Pacers at 4-3, Thursday’s series doubled as an opportunity for the Bucks to close the gap on a team that isn’t too far ahead of them in the early season standings.
As it turned out, it was an opportunity that the Bucks grabbed with both hands too, producing one of their most impressive performances of the season so far.
That success followed a notable adjustment to Milwaukee’s strategy, as Plondo moved up to the center spot where he made such a strong impression during his rookie season, with Squidris slotting back in at the power forward spot.
With Squidris still working on a glass cleaner build, and Plondo then placed in a better position to corral countless boards, the Bucks’ frontcourt established a clear foundation for Milwaukee’s star scorers to go to work on the opposite end.
As the Bucks prevailed 73-59 in the opening match of their best of three series with Indiana, Plondo grabbed 20 boards to go along with five points and eight assists.
After some rough moments in the Bucks’ last outing, Regg regained his scoring touch to lead Milwaukee with 31 points, while Arooks offered solid support by chipping in with 17 points of his own.
With a dream start secured, the focus then shifted to trying to close out the overall victory at the first available opportunity for the Bucks.
Following a strong defensive effort in Game 1, the Bucks brought the same energy into what proved to be a more closely contested Game 2.
With the score locked at a single possession in the early stages of the fourth quarter, there was still nothing certain about the outcome of the game and series, but a well-timed shooting masterclass from the Bucks broke the game wide open and ultimately delivered the very welcome victory for Milwaukee.
Regg poured in 42 points to act as Milwaukee’s beating heart in that 65-54 Game 2 win, with Plondo’s 13 rebounds also proving important.
Next. Bucks Gaming drop to 2-4 with loss to Gen.G Tigers of Shanghai. dark
The Bucks will be straight back at it on Friday when they’ll match up against the struggling Pistons GT, who are just 1-6 on the season to date.