Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 126-113 win over Washington Wizards

Takeaways from Bucks’ 126-113 win over Washington Wizards – Taking advantage of opportunities

Long before Antetokounmpo’s premature exit, the Bucks entered the night down key pieces and rotation players such as Eric Bledsoe, Donte DiVincenzo, Wesley Matthews and All-Star forward Khris Middleton.

Those absences, as well as the DNP-CD for Marvin Williams, led for many minutes for some of the Bucks’ players whose spots in the rotation have been far from guaranteed, and a few stood out in the process.

Let’s start with third-year wing Sterling Brown, whose struggles this year and in Orlando have been plain to see.

On Tuesday night, though, Brown turned in a terrific 23-point performance that doubled as a season-high for the SMU product. The key to Brown’s night was connecting on the five triples he finished with and it was him, along with Brook, that helped fuel the Bucks’ success from downtown as the team went 18-for-38 from three (47.4 percent) on the night.

And while Brown’s probing of the paint had its ups and downs, he still managed to put down some tough finishes in traffic. When he’s hitting the kind of shots in rhythm that he did last night and pairs that with his slashing game, it’s easy to see why Brown could still have a place in the league next season, despite his great struggles.

In addition to Brown’s season-high performance, two-way player Frank Mason III continues to take advantage of the rare opportunities that have come his way while up with the Bucks this year and now in Orlando.

With the Bucks’ offense being run down by turnovers and sloppiness with the ball, Mason gave some much needed stability with how he set up the offense with his pace and ability to draw a crowd of defenders and cleanly kick it out to an open teammate.

While setting up the Bucks’ offense has been a staple of his limited minutes with the Bucks, Mason showed off why he was named the G League’s Most Valuable Player with the way he bursted through the paint and converted a number of tough to crafty finishes at the cup.

That helped him get to the free throw line where he went 4-for-7 on the night and the Kansas product showed of his shotmaking from three and from mid-range. And not for nothing, but Mason’s hustle and competitiveness on the defensive end shined as well as he regularly cleaned up loose balls or errant passes in passing lanes.

Mason ended his 21-and-a-half minute outing with 19 points, six assists, five boards, a pair of steals and a turnover. Who knows whether he’ll see further time with the Bucks down in Orlando, but the organization he brought to the floor was great to see and his effectiveness and production was the cherry on top.

The Bucks will wrap up their seeding portion of the restart Thursday afternoon when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies for a 3 o’clock tip-off down in Orlando.