Milwaukee Bucks: 3 reasons behind Khris Middleton’s hot scoring start

Reason no. 3 – Khris Middleton has never been finishing at the basket

All Bucks fans know of Middleton’s shotmaking prowess and his deadeye shooting from 3-point range. It’s been the basis behind his reliable scoring throughout his time in Milwaukee.

Now, Middleton may be in the middle of the final stage of his scoring evolution, given his success when finishing around the basket. Middleton has converted a remarkable 77.1 percent of his 35 attempts within the restricted area to start the year.

Clearly Middleton’s deft scoring touch has never been in doubt, but the strides that he has made when penetrating towards the basket has been very invigorating to see.

To that point, Middleton is averaging a career-high 7.9 drives per game, which only follows Jrue Holiday and Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. The two-time All-Star has finished a blistering 63.9 percent of his 36 driving attempts when getting downhill to the basket.

Of course, Middleton’s downhill attacking doesn’t resemble the likes of Antetokounmpo or even Holiday’s deliberate and poised attacking, but it’s been every bit effective and has given the Bucks another ball handler that get into the teeth of opposing defenses.

Again, this new development doesn’t make Middleton a three-level scoring threat now as he’s established himself as that as he’s gone on to earn multiple All-Star appearances by now. But it goes to show that even a veteran player such as Middleton can always take incremental leaps to fill out his well-rounded skill set and that’s certainly the case here.

With this kind of explosive scoring start to the season, we’ll just have to see where Middleton goes with his play as the year goes along. Whether that leads to another All-Star selection and maybe even his first All-NBA nod remains to be seen, but he’ll certainly keep his sights set on reaching an NBA Finals after the last two years of playoff heartbreak.