Milwaukee Bucks: Player grades from 119-112 win over Boston Celtics

After largely quiet performances during the three scrimmages, the Bucks’ sixth man, George Hill, kept with the trend Friday night in the team’s win against the Celtics. Hill’s shooting struggles, especially from three, continued into the seeding portion and it led to the very passive version of Hill that we had been accustomed to seeing in his early days with the Bucks last season. Even as Hill largely went against forcing the issue and probing the Celtics’ interior defense, his strong take midway through the fourth quarter helped give the Bucks a jolt on that end of the floor. <p>Still, Hill’s seven points on five shots, four rebounds, four assists, two turnovers and a steal leaves you lukewarm about his opening performance in Orlando. Here’s hoping that Hill will continue to figure things out as the Bucks’ stay goes on.</p>. Guard. Milwaukee Bucks. GEORGE HILL. C

C-. As he has since the Bucks have descended upon Orlando, Sterling Brown saw the court for nearly 23 minutes, the second-most of any Bucks reserve. Yet Brown’s minutes were very much a mixed bag all throughout the night. Defensively, Brown took on all sorts of matchups and guarded most of the Celtics’ top scorers. His hustle on that end of the floor helped him come away with three steals and plenty of deflections when flying in to help his teammates. <p>On the other side of the ball, though, Brown’s highlights were dimmed whenever he was thrust into making plays with the ball or trying to set up scores for others. And while he cashed in a tough driving finish in traffic, Brown failed to cash in any of his three triple attempts after shooting the ball well through the Bucks’ three scrimmages. While Brown’s -16 was inflated by the poor minutes of all-bench lineups, we’ll continue watching Brown closely to see if his play can improve over the weeks and months to come.</p>. Wing. Milwaukee Bucks. STERLING BROWN

C+. With Marvin Williams nursing a sore groin, Ersan Ilyasova served as the Bucks’ backup forward behind Antetokounmpo. Ilyasova wasn’t spectacular by any means, but was at least serviceable in knocking down at least one triple and playing solid team defense and moving his feet when matched up against any of the Celtics’ star forwards. All in all, the Turkish international finished with seven points on two shots, four rebounds in nearly 14 minutes.. Forward. Milwaukee Bucks. ERSAN ILYASOVA

B-. Seeing the floor for nearly 14 minutes, Kyle Korver gave the usual dose of sharpshooting, which was especially needed with their pedestrian shooting night from the floor. Doing so while supplying his usual sturdy team defending, the veteran finished with six points on 2-of-5 shooting from downtown, a couple of rebounds, steals and turnovers over his time on the court.. Wing. Milwaukee Bucks. KYLE KORVER

ROBIN LOPEZ. B. When he was upright, Robin Lopez enjoyed some solid minutes spelling his twin brother Brook. That was reinforced by the fact that the 32-year-old even gave the Bucks a much-needed offensive spark midway through the third quarter and adding in a triple went on to fill out his nine-point outing. Even as he picked up a few questionable foul calls, Lopez maximized his 14 minutes on the floor with his opportunistic scoring and sturdy defending at the basket.. Center. Milwaukee Bucks

Milwaukee Bucks. D.J. WILSON. INC. Six seconds of action was all there was for Bucks forward D.J. Wilson, who saw the floor to close out the first half.. Forward

B+. Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer talked about taking the long approach during his team’s time in Orlando. But already down a starter and two rotational pieces going into their re-opening night Friday, the reigning NBA Coach of the Year had no choice but to ride his key players more than he probably would have liked. Still, Budenholzer was able to keep the minutes for both Antetokounmpo and Middleton at just a little more than their season averages, respectively. And Budenholzer’s decisions on lineup configurations and forcing the Bucks to target mismatches, specifically Kemba Walker, played well into the team’s strategy. Of course, the team’s 15 turnovers and propensity to give up shooting fouls will be huge bugaboos that the Bucks have to control during their time in Orlando, and Budenholzer will let them know that too. But overall, it was a nice night for the Bucks and Budenholzer to get back to their winning ways.. Head Coach. Milwaukee Bucks. MIKE BUDENHOLZER