At long last, the Milwaukee Bucks have wrapped up their six-game road trip following their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday night.
Now on a three-game losing streak and down to 16-11 on the season, all while they’re without their star guard Jrue Holiday, returning back home couldn’t have come at a better time for the Bucks as they figure out how to climb out of this current skid.
More from Bucks News
- Bucks 2023-24 player profile: Can MarJon Beauchamp take a leap?
- Piecing together the Milwaukee Bucks’ dream starting 5 in 5 years
- Predicting Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s 2023-24 stats for the Bucks
- Grade the trade: Bucks land reputable backup guard in swap with Pacers
- New workout video should have Milwaukee Bucks fans excited
The fact that the Bucks’ road trip got off to such a strong start certainly seems like a distant memory, which certainly coincided being without Holiday as he entered health and safety protocols.
So without further ado, let’s explore the good and the bad that stood out for the Milwaukee Bucks now that they’ve wrapped up their longest road trek to date.
D.J. Augustin has been a falling trend for the Milwaukee Bucks.
It’s crystal clear that D.J. Augustin‘s first season in Milwaukee hasn’t gone to plan.
All season long, Augustin has been in search of his usual rhythm, but he has struggled to find any traction in that regard. And that’s only been magnified more as the Bucks have had to lean on Augustin without Holiday in the mix.
Over the Bucks’ road trip, Augustin averaged 6.7 points on .286/.273/.824 shooting splits, 3.5 assists and 0.7 turnovers in 21 minutes per game. There is certainly no sugarcoating that kind of ineffectiveness from a seasoned veteran guard such as Augustin.
Whether Augustin can shake out of his season-long struggles is one of the most glaring questions facing the Bucks at the moment. And with little guard cover on their roster, the Bucks have no choice but keeping turning to Augustin to give them the scoring punch they need from their bench.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been a rising trend for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Even as the Bucks’ road trip gradually went south, they got MVP-caliber performances from Giannis Antetokounmpo along the way.
Over the last six games, Antetokounmpo averaged 31.2 points on .556/.286/.754 shooting, 12.5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks and 1.2 steals in 35.4 minutes per contest. That’s vintage Antetokounmpo in every way right there.
Obviously, the fact that Antetokounmpo has amassed incredible scoring performances as of late, such as a season-high 47 points in the Bucks’ loss to the Suns, has been great to see. The same goes for the fact that he has made considerable strides when going to the free throw line addresses one of the biggest issues in the two-time MVP’s game.
Along with that, Antetokounmpo’s decision-making has improved greatly, especially when identifying teams are attempting to build a wall in front of him or doubling him in the post. And as Antetokounmpo has regularly spun past defenders when getting downhill, his high offensive foul rate has gone down to where he was committed 23 offensive fouls on the season and is now averaging 3.6 turnovers per game.
While his shot selection from three versus getting to the paint aggressively remains a battle in fully optimizing his game, Antetokounmpo has looked like his dominant self more and more each week.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ perimeter defense has been a falling trend.
The Bucks have been stuck between a rock and a hard place without having Jrue Holiday over the last week.
Yes, Bryn Forbes has had no trouble stepping in and providing some much-needed sharpshooting. Meanwhile, Donte DiVincenzo has stood as one of the Bucks’ hardest working defenders, but it all hasn’t turned out to bea viable mix where the Bucks have been able to withstand Holiday’s absence, especially defensively.
That was only made worse by the premier scoring guards the Bucks recently faced over their road trip, whether that was Jamal Murray, Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell and so on.
From that crop of guards, every player but Murray had no trouble shaking off the Bucks’ perimeter defenders and Milwaukee was hard pressed to find a defensive solution that wouldn’t present further problems elsewhere.
Of course, this is what comes with the territory of being without an integral player like Holiday has been over his first season in Milwaukee. The 30-year-old takes on so many responsibilities, especially defensively, and the Bucks just don’t have the personnel behind him to weather being without him on that side of the ball.
Clearly, Holiday’s health comes first in this kind of situation, but the Bucks will look forward to having their dependable guard back in the fold when the time comes.
Khris Middleton’s passing has been a rising trend for the Milwaukee Bucks.
It’s common knowledge that the Bucks have their Robin with Khris Middleton to Antetokounmpo’s Batman and the two-time All-Star has filled this valuable role of being the MVP’s long-standing sidekick the last eight years. Even placing Middleton in such a light still doesn’t properly the value that Middleton brings to this Bucks team, especially as a distributor.
Over the Bucks’ road trip, Middleton averaged 6.5 assists per game, which was helped by hitting double-digit assists in the Bucks’ win over the Nuggets and their loss to Phoenix. Those marks came with Middleton posting a 2.05 assist-to-turnover ratio as well, which slipped after Middleton logged five turnovers in their defeat to Oklahoma City.
Milwaukee has certainly relied more on Middleton with the ball in his hands while they have been without Holiday and it’s been greatly needed. That, in turn, has come as the Bucks have largely cut down on their miscues and hold a 13.4 turnover percentage on the season, the fifth-best mark in the league so far this season.
If this is how Middleton can elevate the Bucks’ offense, we can only imagine how he’ll be able to smoothly operate when Holiday returns back into the Bucks’ starting lineup.
We’ll be back again next week and see what emerges from the Bucks’ eight-game homestand that kicks off Tuesday night versus the Toronto Raptors.