Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 119-116 loss to Brooklyn Nets

Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks’ 119-116 loss to Brooklyn Nets: Returning to action

For all of the grim elements that came from Tuesday’s surprising loss, an undoubted positive came in the form of the Bucks’ returning duo of Eric Bledsoe and Pat Connaughton.

Having overcome and recovered from their respective bouts of COVID-19, Bledsoe and Connaughton both took to the court again, albeit with minutes restrictions that saw them log 18 minutes each.

Still, the Bucks were quite clearly better for having both of them again, in spite of some visible rust that both players will need more reps to work off.

Bledsoe’s 1-of-5 shooting from the field left a little to be desired, but given the Bucks’ playmaking woes in Orlando, an element of added control by way of his four assists to two turnovers helped on that front.

Things were even better for Connaughton, who scored eight points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field, including two nice triples and a really impressive driving finish, while also coming up with five rebounds for good measure.

With two starters completely inactive, and Giannis and Khris only playing the first half, this wasn’t exactly the kind of game that was going to demonstrate the benefit of the Bucks’ depth being restored. But in the games ahead, Milwaukee’s rotation should become a lot more stable, and that can only be a good thing.