Milwaukee Bucks: Fast break scores hard to come by against Orlando Magic

The Milwaukee Bucks righted the ship in Game 2 of their first round series with the Orlando Magic, but they did so without addressing their transition struggles.

That sound you heard around the city of Milwaukee Thursday night was a collective sigh of relief.

More than 50 hours after they were served a slice of humble pie with their Game 1 defeat to the Orlando Magic, the Milwaukee Bucks leveled their first round series Thursday night with a 111-96 victory that served as a return to form in many ways.

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Milwaukee’s defensive resurgence was at the center of their bounceback performance as the team went on to deliver a vintage showing on that side of the ball to stifle the Magic to 91 points on 34.8 percent shooting from the field and 7-for-33 from downtown (21.2 percent).

While the Bucks’ defense has finally shown up in the bubble and not a moment too soon, not all parts of their identity have resurfaced. Take their lack of potency in the transition game, for example.

Orlando limited the Bucks to just six fast break points in Game 2, just two days after compiling 10 fast break points in Game 1. Milwaukee’s transition defense hasn’t been any less suffocating as they’ve held the Magic to 20 fast break points through the first two games in the series.

But with getting out and running embedded into the Bucks’ identity, especially with someone like superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo front and center of the Bucks’ offensive attack, they’re being posed quite the puzzle, and it’s one they better get used to throughout their playoff run.

None of this is all that surprising, given that Magic head coach Steve Clifford has honed in on and preached the values of transition defense and building the kind of walls that have limited Antetokounmpo from absolutely running wild in the open floor. Clifford talked about why that is central to his coaching ethos in a piece by Jared Zwerling for Bleacher Report back in 2014 when Clifford was in his first year with the then-Charlotte Bobcats:

"“If you look at the stats that matter the most, the best teams don’t give up fast-break baskets. It’s every year. If you look at the teams that go deep in the playoffs, they don’t give up fast-break baskets. So we commit to it.”"

Believe me, the Bucks have certainly tried to generate and make quick shots, even as the Magic have made a point to barricade off the paint and the basket for the Bucks and specifically Antetokounmpo. But those attempts are firmly what those are at this point, based on a few numbers. The Bucks have averaged 0.65 points per transition possession, the second-worst mark of all the 16 playoff teams.

Per Inpredictable, the Bucks are averaging 0.91 points per possession after they corral a defensive rebound through their first two games against the Magic. Grabbing and going isn’t as easy as it is when there are fewer odd-man advantages or slivers of space down the floor with the Magic getting back on defense as well as they do, even without key defensive pieces such as Aaron Gordon or Jonathan Isaac.

And lastly, the Bucks have attempted more early threes in the shot clock with little to absolutely no effect. Milwaukee has a 32.3 percent effective field goal percentage and are 2-for-18 from three on shots attempted between 22 and 18 seconds on the shot clock in their series with the Magic.

All of this has put a greater emphasis on the Bucks being able to perform in the halfcourt and they certainly performed better in that regard in Game 2 – 20 turnovers and all – and they aren’t getting to the free throw line as frequently as they’ve been used to this season. It certainly looked better when the Bucks’ defense was as unrelenting as it was for Thursday night.

We saw for most, if not all, of Game 2 how much the Bucks’ shining defensive work can paper over some of the cracks they Bucks may show, even in decisive victories such as that one. But work still remains in the Bucks’ ability to fine tune the principles to who they have been in the Mike Budenholzer era, and that includes having to get more creative and clinical when operating in the open floor.