Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from 122-121 season opening loss to Boston Celtics
By Dalton Sell
The Milwaukee Bucks started their 2020-21 season with a tough, heartbreaking loss to the Boston Celtics Wednesday night that saw them go 0-1 on the year.
What a heartbreaking loss to open the season for the Milwaukee Bucks against the Boston Celtics.
With Milwaukee holding a 120-119 lead with just under eight seconds to go, Boston’s Jayson Tatum hit them with a gut-punch as he banked in a 3-pointer to take a two-point lead with 0.4 seconds to go in regulation. Giannis Antetokounmpo received the opportunity to tie the game at the free-throw line after a late foul on the following possession, but went 1-of-2 and leaving Milwaukee with a 122-121 loss to open their season.
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Although it ended in defeat for Milwaukee, this was a thrilling game to watch from start to finish.
As the Bucks will return home and look to bounce back against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas, let’s dive into the three takeaways that stood out from their season opener against the Boston Celtics.
Takeaway No. 3 – Milwaukee’s bench struggled to produce
The Bucks retooled their roster substantially this offseason and completely overhauled their bench in the process. The additions of Bobby Portis, Bryn Forbes, Torrey Craig, and more appeared to be a significant upgrade compared to last year, but the group struggled to make an impact in the loss against Boston.
Milwaukee’s bench scored just 12 points on the night, which was led by Pat Connaughton’s six points and both Portis and Forbes had three points each, respectively. While it was refreshing to see head coach Mike Budenholzer did give his starters extended minutes to the starters, the lack of a scoring punch from the Bucks’ depth was too big too ignore.
Of course, the Bucks entered the night without their new sixth man, D.J. Augustin, who was sidelined with a calf injury. Along with that, Torrey Craig did not see any action as a hamstring injury had disrupted his time in camp and preseason. The absence of these two certainly hurt Milwaukee, and strictly looking at those who did play, the bench contributions were finite in Wednesday night’s game against the Celtics.
This second unit has the potential to be special for the Bucks, and hopefully, they can collectively offer more than what they did in the loss.