Milwaukee Bucks: Looking at recent trends throughout uneven stretch

The Milwaukee Bucks’ bench has been a falling trend.

At this stage in the season, Milwaukee’s second unit continues to get a mish-mash of contributions.

The Bucks’ leading scorer off the bench, Bobby Portis, has played up to his capabilities since returning from being in the league’s health and safety protocols. And we’ve seen Jeff Teague seamlessly come in and put together solid performances as the Bucks’ backup point guard behind Holiday as well.

Elsewhere, though, Bryn Forbes had his fair share of shooting struggles over the team’s trek out west before breaking out with an 18-point performance against the Hornets Friday night.

But perhaps the biggest development seen from the cadre of Bucks reserves has been the steadying impact of Thanasis Antetokounmpo. Always playing with such high intensity, Thanasis has acquitted himself incredibly well to being the Bucks’ energy booster any time he steps foot on the court.

Now the elder Antetokounmpo is parlaying that into being the Bucks’ irritant, which was displayed in the battle he and Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic had late in Thursday night’s clash between both sides. Antetokounmpo clearly frustrated Doncic as he pressured extensively on the ball and baited him into errant passes and committing offensive fouls.

While that ended in a loss for the Bucks, it showed just how Antetokounmpo could under the skin of opponents and how that could be a weapon for the Bucks come playoff time, provided he were to see any action.