Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from 131-118 loss to Utah Jazz
By Dalton Sell
The Milwaukee Bucks suffered their fourth loss of the 2020-21 season as they were handed a 131-118 loss by the Utah Jazz Friday night.
It was an off-night for the Milwaukee Bucks from start to finish as they took on the Utah Jazz for their ninth game of the season.
The Bucks hit another bump in the road as the Jazz walked out of Fiserv Forum victorious with a 131-118 win. Despite the loss, Giannis Antetokounmpo continued his recent dominance with a 35-point performance, and Khris Middleton followed suit by having 31 points and 10 rebounds of his own.
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However, after that, there are not many positives to discuss from this matchup, as the Utah Jazz handled their business with relative ease.
Nevertheless, here are three takeaways from the Milwaukee Bucks’ fourth loss this season.
No. 3 – A tale of two benches
Eight games into the season, the Bucks’ bench had been fantastic. They ranked sixth in scoring at 42.5 points per game and showed substantial promise as one of the team’s strong suits. However, the second unit was downright awful in Friday night’s matchup against the Jazz.
When the final buzzer sounded, the bench had scored just 12 points in the loss, half of them coming late in the fourth when the Bucks had already thrown in the towel. Rookie Jordan Nwora was the only reserve to score on multiple occasions in what was simply an off night for the Bucks’ bench mob.
Meanwhile, the Utah bench shot 14-of-28 from the field en route to 35 points. However, it was more of a one-man wrecking crew than an all-around effort as Jordan Clarkson logged a season-high 26 points. The Bucks had no answer whatsoever for Clarkson and failed to slow him down as the Jazz continued to ride the momentum and build up a sizeable lead time and time again.
Hopefully, this was just a blip for Milwaukee’s bench because they were awful in the loss. The reserves have shown that they can provide a solid presence when called upon, but tonight simply was not their night.