Milwaukee Bucks: Shooting the lights out to start the 2020-21 season
The Milwaukee Bucks’ blowout victory over the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day was highlighted by one of their best shooting performances of the Mike Budenholzer era.
The Milwaukee Bucks certainly took to bouncing back after adversity to heart on Christmas Day.
Milwaukee’s 39-point Christmas Day victory over the Golden State Warriors turned out to be quite the festive celebration, especially after having fallen to the Boston Celtics to open their 2020-21 regular season account a couple of days earlier.
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Propelled by Khris Middleton’s highly efficient 31-point performance that buoyed the team until the floodgates opened up over the second half, the Bucks shot 20-for-37 from downtown on the day, good for 54.1 percent.
Over the Mike Budenholzer era, the Bucks have made letting it fly a priority for multiple reasons.
While it brings the Bucks to the modern age when it comes to launching up 3-point looks on a high volume, the spacing that opens up for the attacking prowess of one Giannis Antetokounmpo has been the linchpin of the Bucks’ high-powered offense these last couple of years.
While it’s only two games, we’re seeing the potential of the shooting upgrades that the Milwaukee Bucks made a priority throughout their moves this offseason.
So it’s fitting that the Bucks posted such a glowing shooting display from long distance after such a busy offseason and after they made shooting such a premium through the draft and free agency especially.
To that point, the Bucks had never hit at least 20 total triples and shot higher than 50 percent in a single game over the Budenholzer era until Friday afternoon. And granted, much of that was helped by the Bucks’ reserves lighting it up with the game well in hand, but it’s still a notable achievement all the same.
Milwaukee’s 3-point party against Golden State came after going 14-for-35 from three in their one-point loss to the Celtics, which certainly bodes well for their shooting capabilities holding up to fellow contenders. And not for nothing, but the Bucks are shooting 21-for-43 on their total catch-and-shoot threes (48.8 percent) through their first two games, per NBA.com/stats.
Bucks general manager Jon Horst had just discussed earlier in the week about the goal the Bucks are seeking with their added shooting and overall shotmaking within their established foundation as relayed by Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
"“The big goal was obviously to improve and to get better. We’ve had two really good regular seasons. We’ve had some successes in the playoffs obviously, but we haven’t accomplished the ultimate goal. The idea was to figure out how do we get better, to push the envelope and not just rest on the fact that we had a bubble performance that was subpar. Not making excuses for that but really figuring out how we could improve.“For us analytically, from a coaching perspective and from a scouting perspective, we really boiled it down to shot making, shot creation and really trying to do that while we maintain our integrity, our IQ and our impact defensively. That’s a hard thing to do, but that led us to the transactions and the acquisitions we had in the offseason and I’m happy with what we’ve done.”"
Through the Bucks’ first two games of the 2020-21 season, we’re certainly seeing the potential of their offensive firepower. Of course, there is much work to be done in trying to recapture their defensive steel with all of their roster changes from the offseason.
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From that lens, it’s the beginning of a long season and for all of the promise the Bucks’ additions make this season, all Bucks fans will hold off on giving their shooting the benefit of the doubt when it matters most. But promising signs to say the least.