The Milwaukee Bucks suffered their seventh loss of the season following a turbulent 131-126 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans Friday night.
It was a game that New Orleans controlled from early on, and four of their starting five finished the game with 21 or more points. The oddball, big man Steven Adams, made his presence felt by grabbing an astounding 20 rebounds against the Bucks, who came in as one of the best rebounding teams in the association.
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On Milwaukee’s side, it was the Giannis Antetokounpo show all night long as he finished with a game-high 38 points and 11 rebounds.
Jrue Holiday played second fiddle with 22 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, while Khris Middleton struggled for a good portion of the game, finishing with 16 points on just 6-of-17 shooting. Brook Lopez also continued his recent hot streak with 16 points of his own.
There were several takeaways from the Milwaukee Bucks’ seventh loss of the season, most of them negative. With that in mind, here are three takeaways that stand out in particular from Friday’s contest.
Takeaway No. 3 from loss to New Orleans Pelicans – Milwaukee Bucks’ awful perimeter defense
The Bucks’ abysmal 3-point defense has been one of their most fatal flaws during the Mike Budenholzer coaching era, and it was certainly on full display in last night’s loss. The Pelicans knocked down a franchise-tying 21 of their 48 attempts from behind the arc, which doomed the Bucks from the start.
Due to Milwaukee’s poor defensive efforts from the outside, these outings where their opponents hit franchise-tying or even record-setting numbers from 3-point range is nothing new. However, it undoubtedly stings coming from a subpar shooting team such as the Pelicans.
New Orleans entered the game shooting 33.7 percent on 30.8 attempts from 3-point range per game, which stood as the league’s 27th worst mark. Judging by how they torched Milwaukee from the outside, it looked like they were one of the premier offensive units.
Time and time again, the Bucks have found themselves in trouble due to their opponent’s red-hot 3-point shooting. It was their demise against the Miami Heat in the postseason last year, and it is rearing its ugly head into this year. That will not bode well for the Bucks down the road, and they need to get things figured out soon.
Takeaway No. 2 from loss to New Orleans Pelicans – Milwaukee Bucks’ second half comeback falls just short
To put it bluntly, the Bucks looked absolutely awful in the first half against the Pelicans. They entered the game as the highest-scoring first half team in the league at 61.4 points, but they looked nowhere near that dominant in this contest.
The best way to describe Milwaukee’s first half efforts would be downright sluggish. They lacked any energy on both ends of the floor and proved careless with the basketball on top of it. After a grueling 24 minutes, the Bucks looked at a 68-45 halftime deficit, and their body language depicted defeat heading back into the locker room.
However, to their credit, the Bucks came out with a renowned sense of urgency in the second half to spark some momentum towards a comeback. Their shots started falling, and the defensive effort started to tune-up, helping Milwaukee put together a 44-point third quarter. They followed that up with a 37-point fourth quarter, but it was still not enough as the Pelicans walked away with the 131-126 victory.
The Bucks fought back relentlessly from the point of no return as they faced a 29-point deficit at one point in the first half. However, despite a Herculean effort propelled by Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee fell just short of the win. The Bucks put together a resilient comeback effort and losing this one certainly stings.
Takeaway No.1 from loss to New Orleans Pelicans: Milwaukee Bucks fail to slow down Pelicans’ backcourt
Much like the team’s 3-point shooting, the Pelicans’ backcourt looked shockingly fantastic and out of character. Lonzo Ball and Eric Bledsoe struggled throughout the first few games of this season on the offensive end, but any sign of struggle was absent against the Bucks.
Bledsoe, playing in his first regular season game against Milwaukee since they traded him this offseason, looked great after scoring 25 points on 9-of-21 shooting. What certainly stood out the most was his prolific 3-point shooting, where he did most of his damage, having gone a stellar 7-for-14 on his attempts from behind the arc. That tied a career-high in makes for the guard previously hit as a member of the Bucks, and, of course, he had a little motivation entering this game, it seemed.
His backcourt mate, Lonzo Ball, was right there with him on the offensive end. Ball stuffed that stat sheet as he poured in 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting and chipped in eight assists. The guard entered the game shooting a career-worst 30.1 percent from long-range, but much like the sharpshooting Bledsoe, he could not miss against Milwaukee, hitting 7-of-13 total shots from distance.
Circling back to the Bucks’ lackluster 3-point defense, these two surely gained a boost of confidence with the handful of open looks they were getting. Both known as guards with a lacking shot from behind the arc, they did not look the part Friday night as they hoisted a combined 27 3-pointers, hitting an astounding 14 of them.
With this loss out of the way, the Bucks have little time to rest as they will take on the Charlotte Hornets Saturday night in the second night of a back-to-back.