It was certainly an interesting game for the Milwaukee Bucks Saturday night against the New York Knicks as they closed out a five-game stand at Fiserv Forum.
The Bucks only had eight players available in total for the game due to various circumstances, leaving Brook Lopez as the only full-time starter to hit the court. That forced head coach Mike Budenholzer to dig deep into his bench to put together a rotation, and it was undoubtedly thrilling to watch.
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Despite a gutsy effort from the Bucks from start to finish, they could not close this one out as they fell 102-96 to the Knicks. Although they were without nearly every typical rotation player, it still stung that the Bucks let this one slip away after being tied in the final minutes.
Nevertheless, given the circumstances surrounding the lack of available bodies, this is not a game that the team will hang their heads over for too long.
Before the Bucks hit the road for a six-game swing out West, here are three takeaways from their tough loss to New York last night.
Mamadi Diakite gets his first genuine minutes with the Milwaukee Bucks
Before last night’s matchup against the Knicks, rookie big man Mamadi Diakite had not seen any meaningful run in the Bucks’ rotation.
With the overall shortage of rotational pieces at Budenholzer’s disposal last night, the rookie finally got an opportunity. Diakite could not quite find his rhythm offensively in his first legitimate action by finishing the contest with eight points on 4-of-9 shooting, including 0-of-2 from deep. Still, he impacted the game elsewhere by stuffing the stat sheet with seven rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in 23 minutes of burn.
Overall, it was a solid first start for the 24-year-old and a glimpse at what he can potentially bring to the table. The big man is coming off a dozen game stretch in the G League where he earned himself a handful of nominations, most notably an All-NBA G League first team nod.
The potential is there for Diakite, and following Saturday’s contest, he finally has gotten his feet wet. With Milwaukee’s frontcourt depth currently thinned out as they gear up for a six-game swing, Diakite could potentially earn himself some more minutes in the rotation moving forward, and he must capitalize on the opportunity.