The Milwaukee Bucks still surrender a staggering amount of threes.
It’s a tale as old as time for the Bucks and their defending of the 3-point line.
This season has brought about different changes and an increased flexibility on Budenholzer’s part to the defensive formula that served as the backbone to the Bucks’ success in the last two regular seasons. Yet the Bucks and Budenholzer have been unable to thwart their opponents from that dreaded 3-point line.
Milwaukee has allowed 38.1 opponent 3-point attempts per game this season, which they are converting at 38.9 percent clip, the third-worst mark of all teams. This week alone, the Bucks have allowed 21 triples in their 115-108 win over the Toronto Raptors and saw a subpar shooting team like the New Orleans Pelicans light them up from three as they went 21-for-48 in New Orleans’ 131-126 win over the Bucks Friday night.
Even as other teams have looked to the Bucks’ defensive blueprint as something to follow just as Jared Dubin wrote about for Five Thirty Eight earlier this month, defending the 3-point line still remains the bane of their overall existence. And it’s a big part in whey are allowing a 53.4 opposing effective field goal percentage this season, which is quite the slide from the 48.9 percent mark they posted for the 2019-20 season.
As Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo remarked after the Pelicans game, Bucks opponents have to make history when shooting from that range to take down the Bucks and Antetokounmpo is willing to live with that.
Giannis Antetokounmpo w/an accurate point on opponent's setting franchise records for made threes to beat the #Bucks:
— Jim Owczarski (@JimOwczarski) January 30, 2021
They have to literally make history, shoot the best any team that org. ever has, to have a chance.
He said if that's what has to happen, he can live with it.
Yet what Antetokounmpo didn’t opine on is the regularity in which the Bucks allow their opponents to break these kind of shooting records. And whether his teammates are willing to live with that stands as a big question.
No matter the tactical changes the Bucks are looking to implement, the Bucks’ 3-point defense is one of the constants in their overall identity and Bucks fans shouldn’t expect to see anything else at this point.
We’ll just have to see how the Bucks continue to come together on the defensive end, which has certainly been uncharacteristic from what we’ve been used to over the Mike Budenholzer era.