Milwaukee Bucks: Torrey Craig’s minutes compromised further with injury

Torrey Craig reportedly suffered a nasal fracture against the New York Knicks and will be sidelined for the foreseeable future for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Throughout the first three games of the season, Torrey Craig has not started his tenure with the Milwaukee Bucks as many expected.

Craig has not been a regular in the rotation, having logged just 13 total minutes. When he has been fortunate enough to receive the opportunity, the game’s outcome has already been decided, which has rubbed some people the wrong way, justifiably.

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Now, Craig’s case for minutes will be far more complicated as he is out against the Miami Heat Tuesday night with a nasal fracture, per the Bucks.

Craig suffered the injury late in the Bucks’ 130-110 loss to the New York Knicks Sunday night, in which Kevin Knox inadvertently clocked him on a spin move.

Craig’s availability on Milwaukee’s two-game trip to South Beach is up in the air, as he will likely miss both games on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Miami Heat. Although this injury does not necessarily change the rotation drastically, it guarantees more minutes for Pat Connaughton and Bryn Forbes, which spells trouble defensively for the Bucks.

With Torrey Craig sidelined, the Milwaukee Bucks will need to explore other avenues to defend the perimeter against the Miami Heat’s sharpshooting.

Milwaukee’s perimeter defense is where the importance of Craig comes into play. Craig’s calling card is his defensive tenacity. He has asserted himself as one of the league’s best perimeter defenders, which was a significant reason that fans were so excited when he signed with the Bucks this offseason.

Defending the 3-pointer has been an issue for Milwaukee in the Mike Budenholzer era, and Craig provided some immediate optimism in fixing that, particularly against teams like the Heat.

The Bucks and their fans are well aware of how well the Heat can shoot the ball after last year’s postseason meeting, and they are off to a red-hot start this season as well. While Jimmy Butler will also miss Tuesday’s game with a sore right ankle, Milwaukee will certainly have their hands full trying to contain Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson from behind the arc.

A large part of Miami’s postseason success was due to Budenholzer’s defensive scheme, which is built around taking away the basket and allowing shots from three. Still, Craig could undoubtedly be useful in games like these. Opponents are currently shooting 39.3 percent from behind the arc against Milwaukee this season, and that number will likely either hold or bump up a few ticks after this upcoming back-to-back in Miami.

That means Milwuakee’s healthy wings will be put to the test defensively against a group of long-range marksmen. This game seemed like the perfect opportunity for Craig to finally break through the rotation because of his defensive prowess, but it will have to wait following these latest developments.

While there is no specific timetable for the fourth-year forward, this is an injury he had similarly suffered before and made a quick comeback. In the 2019 postseason, Craig suffered a broken nose in the second quarter of a game against the Portland Trail Blazers. He returned with a protective mask, as Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted.

While the Bucks will hope for a speedy recovery with Craig after this back-to-back in Miami, we’ll have to see when the time will come for him and his bid in the team’s rotation.