Milwaukee Bucks: 3 defensive trends worth monitoring at quarter mark

The Milwaukee Bucks aren’t as potent on the defensive glass.

For the greater emphasis the Bucks have made in chasing down their misses on the offensive end, they haven’t been as strong on the other side of the ball.

Of course, it’s hard to live up the historic marks the Bucks put into their defensive rebounding last season as they led the league with a 77.5 defensive rebounding percentage and broke an NBA record by pulling down 42.2 defensive rebounds per game.

This year, though, the Bucks have slipped in both categories by posting a 75.0 defensive rebounding percentage and 37.3 defensive rebounds per game.

There are some obvious reasons for that, the biggest of which is the Bucks just aren’t playing at the same pace after having played at a league-leading 105.5 pace last season. With less possessions, that means less opportunities for the Bucks to clean up on the glass to the towering heights they did last season.

However, the most concerning aspect is that they just aren’t finishing out defensive possessions, even as they’re allowing 40.1 opposing paint points per game this season.

The Bucks have stayed to true to the principle of making life difficult in the paint for their opponents set by Budenholzer upon his arrival to Milwaukee. But finishing out and getting stops remains fundamental to the Bucks’ success and the slip in defensive rebounding is a big reason why they haven’t lived up to their defensive ideals yet this year.