Following an ugly loss against New Orleans Friday night, the Milwaukee Bucks sought to get back in the win column against the Charlotte Hornets.
It was a game full of twists and turns, but the Bucks ended up suffering their second consecutive defeat with a disheartening 126-114 loss to the Hornets. There were several good individual performances, most notably 34 points, 18 rebounds, and nine assists for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Jrue Holiday chipped in 21 points and five assists, while Khris Middleton poured in a quiet 18 points.
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As a unit, this was another lackluster performance from the Bucks. Racking up their eighth loss of the season 19 games in, this team certainly has to regain their identity.
They have several things internally to address ahead of Monday’s matchup, but in the meantime, here are three takeaways from the defeat against Charlotte.
Takeaway No. 3 from loss to Charlotte Hornets – Milwaukee Bucks fall short of another comeback
The Bucks came out with an immediate sense of urgency in their matchup against the Charlotte Hornets, building up an early 10 point lead in the first. They appeared to be in the driver’s seat with Charlotte struggling to get things going wanting to set the tone after letting the game get out of hand in New Orleans the night before. However, this is the NBA, and no lead is ever safe.
The Hornets started piecing things together on both ends, and before the Bucks could blink, they were facing a 39-31 deficit after the first quarter to one of the worst opening period teams in the league. Soon after, the Bucks found themselves down 20. Milwaukee battled back to cut the Charlotte lead down to four at halftime, and they fought restlessly in the second half before losing control of things in the fourth quarter.
Sound familiar? It should because it was the exact same scenario that happened against the New Orleans Pelicans Friday night. The Bucks were down by nearly 30 in the first half and worked their way back into the contest before losing in the final quarter.
Just like the New Orleans game, Milwaukee ran out of gas in the final period and looked drained of life as they let the game slip away. With the game knotted within single digits for most of the final 12 minutes, the Bucks logged an abysmal six turnovers in that span, and the Hornets, being one of the best scoring teams off turnovers, certainly capitalized.
While it is honorable that the Bucks did not throw in the towel in either of their past two matchups, they should not be finding themselves facing such deficits to begin with.
Takeaway No. 2 from loss to Charlotte Hornets – It might be time for Milwaukee Bucks to worry about Donte DiVincenzo
Donte DiVincenzo capped off Milwaukee’s last January game by having his worst performance of the season. In 27 minutes, the third-year guard scored zero points and shot 0-of-6 from the field, including 0-of-5 from 3-point territory in the loss to Charlotte.
This woeful January had been a common theme for DiVincenzo since the turn of the new year, having averaged 8.4 points on .390/.322/.889 shooting splits this month. This has been quite a departure from his production last month after the Bucks handed DiVincenzo the keys to the starting shooting guard position full-time.
In December, the guard was putting up career-best numbers throughout the five games, averaging 14 points on .542/.615/.667 shooting splits. He looked phenomenal in the early going as a newly integrated member of the starting lineup, but once he crossed over into January, the switch flipped.
While very few expected him to keep consistent with his red-hot shooting for the remainder of the season, he has not been able to throw a rock into the ocean during January. Consistency has been one of DiVincenzo’s biggest concerns since joining the Bucks, as seen in last year’s return to action in the NBA restart.
Hopefully, DiVincenzo can put this month behind him and look ahead to February. Shooting slumps are bound to happen, and while the Bucks might be willing to wait it out, this is unquestionably worrisome to some degree.
Takeaway No. 3 from loss to Charlotte Hornets – 3-point defense will doom the Milwaukee Bucks
Every game it seems that teams are lighting the Bucks up from behind the arc. Friday night, the New Orleans Pelicans tied a franchise-record with 21 made 3-pointers, and the Charlotte Hornets matched that total with 21 of their own Saturday night.
When Milwaukee’s opponents are hitting this many shots from the perimeter, the Bucks are likely to lose, as evidenced by this two-game losing streak.
The worst part of it is that both franchises were awful shooting the ball from distance heading into this matchup. Once the Bucks pack the paint with bodies and start giving opposing players open looks from long-range, the confidence clicks no matter what percentage the individual is shooting, and they seemingly cannot miss.
An immeasurable amount of the blame for these defensive issues has fallen onto the shoulders of head coach Mike Budenholzer, who has endured these regular 3-point barrages for three years now. He has died by his defensive principles in the previous two, which has led to two consecutive postseason flameouts. However, this season, he is showing a willingness to mix things up in these particular scenarios.
Once New Orleans and Charlotte started knocking down triples, and the deficit started growing, Budenholzer called for players to switch defensively. Typically, this is something that he would never do, but with this being the third consecutive year of the opposing teams exploiting Milwaukee’s awful 3-point defense, changing things up was long overdue.
Even when they are switching, this defense is far from perfect. It should undoubtedly be a massive wake-up call after these two games that the Bucks need to emphasize keeping the opponent’s 3-point shooting at bay from the jump, or they could very well find themselves home early again this year.
Things will only get more difficult for the Milwaukee Bucks as they welcome in one of the NBA’s better 3-point shooting teams in the Portland Trail Blazers to Fiserv Forum Monday night.