It’s been a wild couple of weeks for the Milwaukee Bucks filled with highs and lows on and off the court.
The Bucks’ road swing out west looked to have been promising before ending on an uneven note, staying consistent with their 2020-21 season overall. They’ve also been without key players as of late, whether it’s been the ongoing absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo or the newly acquired P.J. Tucker.
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On the other hand, all Bucks fans breatehd a sigh of relief when Jrue Holiday signed his four-year extension last week to secure his stay in Milwaukee for the foreseeable future. And we continue to see the flashes of the team the Bucks hope to be when it matters most when near or at full strength.
With all of that in mind, let’s look at some rising and falling trends for the Milwaukee Bucks from the last two weeks.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ rebounding dominance has taken a turn this season
While the Bucks rank second in the league in averaging 48 total rebounds per game, their production in that department has slipped as of late.
As BTBP co-site expert Jordan Treske recently touched on, the Bucks’ struggles to keep their opponents off the glass and subsequently feast on second chance points was a featured all throughout their recently concluded road trip.
Milwaukee let up a season-high 25 second chance points off of 13 offensive rebounds in their loss to the L.A. Clippers nearly two weeks ago. They followed that up by allowing 20 second chance points on 11 offensive rebounds in their win over the Los Angeles Lakers two nights later.
Allowing double-digit offensive rebounds was a feature all throughout their road trip against Western Conference opponents and it all proved to be a snapshot in their drop-off on the boards, especially after setting a historic marks in the last two seasons.
Per NBA.com/stats, the Bucks now rank eighth in the league with their 74.9 defensive rebounding percentage, down from the 77.5 defensive rebounding percentage they posted last season.
While the Bucks have made a concerted effort to change their overall approach on the defensive end, it has left them searching for their rebounding peak as a result.
Jrue Holiday has been a rising trend for the Milwaukee Bucks
The reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week and the Bucks’ new $160 million man in all intents and purposes, Jrue Holiday is in the midst of playing his best basketball in a Bucks uniform.
His rough game in the Bucks’ loss to the Dallas Mavericks notwithstanding, Holiday has taken on a bigger role orchestrating and leading the Bucks’ offense, especially as they have been without Antetokounmpo recently. Holiday is not far removed from putting in his best performance of the season in the Bucks’ win over the Sacramento Kings where he scored 33 points on 23 shots, along with 11 assists and seven rebounds across 37-plus minutes.
Along the way, Holiday continues to get the praises and admiration of his peers, coaches and fans alike for his fantastic two-way play. And after signing that aforementioned long-term extension, Holiday declared himself to be a Buck for life, warming the hearts and minds of the Milwaukee faithful.
Whether it’s the way he’s scoring the ball at a career-best efficiency or putting in his trademark stalwart defense, Holiday has been as advertised for the Bucks this season. If he can continues this form into the playoffs, that alone will be a world of difference for the Bucks than what they previously have had in their backcourt.
Pat Connaughton and Donte DiVincenzo have been a falling trend for the Milwaukee Bucks
Elsewhere within the Bucks’ backcourt, both Pat Connaughton and Donte DiVincenzo have gone through their fair share of struggles as of late.
Starting with Connaughton, the veteran Bucks wing has been on a brutal shooting stretch dating back to the start of the Bucks’ road trip out west. The 28-year-old has shot 3-for-22 from beyond the arc (13.6 percent) over the Bucks’ last seven games since their loss to the Clippers.
Although Connaughton has looked to contribute in other ways, whether it’s been his energetic rebounding or versatile defending, the Bucks need more from their lone true ‘3-and-D’ wing within their rotation.
Moving over to DiVincenzo and the 24-year-old continues to have his ups and downs that have been the theme of both he and the Bucks’ 2020-21 season thus far.
On one hand, we’ve recently seen DiVincenzo hit a career-high six triples and score 22 points in the Bucks’ loss to the Mavericks or haul in a career-high 14 assists against the Kings. On the other hand, DiVincenzo continues to fall victim to the low scoring nights that the Bucks can’t afford for him to have, especially as he struggles to generate any offense within the arc.
While the Bucks have constants in the form of Antetokounmpo, Holiday and Khris Middleton, the play of both DiVincenzo and Connaughton stand as bellwethers of their own. When one or both are in-sync, the Bucks have reaped the rewards and haven’t when either or both haven’t.
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.
Facing adversity has a rising trend for the Milwaukee Bucks.
After having stood atop of the East for each of the last two seasons only to crash and burn in the playoffs, the theme of the Bucks’ season has been tackling adversity well ahead of the postseason.
Well, that’s been front and center over this recent stretch, whether it’s being without superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and P.J. Tucker or enduring through a spate of fourth collapses that soured the end of their concluded road trip.
Even in the times the Bucks have faltered as of late, the lessons learned from taking on such an experience have been more important than the result.
Multiple Bucks players such as Holiday and Khris Middleton as well as Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer have talked at length about the issues that the Bucks are trying to correct this time around. While it was surely hard to stomach the botched inbounds play that left the Bucks scrambling and with a 1-point defeat to the Warriors last week, accountability from Middleton, who threw the errant pass, soon followed postgame.
"Just a simple bad pass." - Khris Middleton on his errant inbounds pass to Jrue Holiday
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) April 7, 2021
With that said, Holiday dove into the finer details that played a part in the Bucks’ fourth quarter collapse down against Golden State that all contributed to the loss. Whether it was their struggles containing the Warriors off the glass, getting sufficient stops or racking up turnovers, the Bucks still have plenty of fine tuning to find their final form this season.
With their focus on performing at their best come playoff time, the Bucks have nearly four weeks to overcome their current hurdles, regain their full health and iron out the long-standing concerns that they have to tackle when the going gets tough. Even tougher than what it looks like right now.
We’ll be back again in a couple of weeks to explore the trends that emerge from the Bucks’ road swing and for when they return home to kick off a four-game homestand next weekend.