Milwaukee Bucks: George Hill has lost any pre-hiatus momentum
By Dalton Sell
George Hill was a lethal threat offensively before the season halted five months ago, but he has looked like a shell of himself for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Before the ongoing coronavirus pandemic sent the league into a place of uncertainty for five long months, George Hill was in the midst of a historic season for the Milwaukee Bucks. The twelve-year NBA veteran led the league in 3-point percentage, connecting on an astounding 48 percent of his shots from behind the arc. However, since the restart, Hill has been unable to regain his touch from deep, and struggled to pick up where he left off.
In the first five seeding games for the Milwaukee Bucks, Hill has converted on a mere 24 percent of his 3-point attempts, half of his pre-hiatus percentage. Milwaukee’s Sixth Man has not been able to find any rhythm from deep, which has hindered the Bucks significantly in their 2-3 start to the resumed season thus far.
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No example is more prevalent than Milwaukee’s last game against the Dallas Mavericks Saturday night. With the game tied at 119 apiece in the closing moments of regulation, Hill had a perfect window of opportunity to knock down the game-winning 3-pointer with an open look. However, the shot misfired, and the Bucks went on to lose 136-132 in overtime. The loss does not solely fall onto Hill’s shoulders, of course, but with a 1-for-5 night shooting from deep, the guard’s shooting troubles continue to plague him and the Bucks.
As it stands, Hill is averaging 7.4 points per game on 43 percent field goal shooting, and an abysmal 24 percent from behind the arc, far below his typical offensive quota. Things have not been all bad for the 34-year-old, however, as while his offense has regressed, he has made his impact felt elsewhere. In these five games, Hill is also averaging 3.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and just 1.2 turnovers per game.
After nearly five months away from basketball, Hill’s shooting woes should not come as that big of a surprise, given the circumstances. Still to see his 3-point percentage cut in half is worrisome given how he shot the lights out all season before the stoppage in March. Hopefully, as Milwaukee closes out the final three seeding games and the postseason approaches, the veteran can look to regain his rhythm and shoot the ball more like his previously efficient clip.
On the season, the guard is averaging 9.4 points on 52.4 percent field goal shooting, and by a large margin, a league-best 46.3 percent from deep. That puts Hill under Dell Curry’s franchise-best 47.6 3-point percentage, which he set in the 1998-99 season, a number many believed Hill could overtake before the hiatus. Despite his recent lackluster stretch, Hill still currently comes in at third on the list behind Curry and Craig Hodges and will go down as one of the best shooting seasons in franchise history, regardless of how he finishes these final three games.
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Although he is currently enduring a significant slump shooting the ball, Milwaukee will undoubtedly encourage Hill to continue to “let it fly” moving forward. As the Milwaukee Bucks look to chase this year’s NBA title, a rejuvenated spark of offense off the bench from George Hill would go a long way.