Second takeaway from Milwaukee Bucks’ win over Kings — Khris Middleton is getting back on track
There’s no question the Bucks have missed Jrue Holiday over the last two weeks and his absence has affected some of their cornerstone players the most, namely Khris Middleton.
However, Middleton showed no sign of being slowed down Sunday night as he put in quite the bounce back game, to say the least.
Working in tandem with Antetokounmpo, Middleton looked plenty comfortable hoisting up shots over any and all of Sacramento’s perimeter defenders. As he routinely got to his spots, Middleton was truly conducting the ‘Tough Shot Express’ by consistently putting down some ridiculous shots as the Bucks continued to pull away from the Kings.
With his offense rolling, Middleton put in a strong performance defensively as he was disrupting Kings players from getting into the flow of their offense. It was former Bucks player Jabari Parker who Middleton pounced on a couple of times when digging down in the post and snatching away the ball from the journeyman forward to get the Bucks started on the break.
Middleton wound up finishing with a season-high 32 points on 13-of-22 shooting (3-for-5 from downtown, 3-for-3 from the foul line), eight rebounds, six assists, five turnovers, four steals and two blocks in 32-and-a-half minutes.
Whether the Bucks have Holiday or not, Middleton still stands as one of their metronomes and it was clear over the Bucks’ losing streak that he was off time with his teammates. When he has it clicking like he did last night, he and the rest of the Bucks follow in rhythm.