Brook Lopez has long manned the middle for the Milwaukee Bucks for the last few seasons.
Having long solidified his place within the Bucks’ foundation, Lopez has shown himself to be capable of new tricks just as the Bucks have throughout this 2020-21 season. Although that hasn’t been smooth at times as seen by the struggles that the Bucks have had when Lopez is on the floor during clutch time minutes this year.
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Offensively, though, Lopez has only gotten better and more productive as the season has gone along. After his 22-point performance in the Bucks’ win over the Charlotte Hornets Tuesday night, Lopez is up to averaging 11.8 points on .488/.349/.855 shooting, 4.9 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 0.7 assists across 60 appearances and 27.2 minutes per game.
While he’s averaging the fewest shots of his career at 8.9 field goal attempts per game, Lopez is up to posting career-high marks as seen by his 57.3 effective field goal percentage as well as 60.6 true shooting percentage.
Brook Lopez has been enjoying a strong April for the Milwaukee Bucks
The 33-year-old is putting the finishing touches of his most productive month of the season. Over his 13 appearances in April, Lopez is averaging 14.2 points on .548/.407/.917 shooting, 4.4 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 0.6 assists in 27.2 minutes per game.
It’s certainly been a welcome surprise to see Lopez’s offense fall in gear, especially considering the lengthy struggles he experienced on that side of the ball for the vast majority of the 2019-20 campaign.
The source of that slide came from behind the 3-point line where Lopez had transformed his career before and after coming to Milwaukee. While shooting below the league average (36.6 percent) from that range of the floor, Lopez has been able to enjoy hitting triples from the best spot on the floor to do so. Lopez is shooting 30-for-73 on 3-point attempts taken in either corner, which is good for 41 percent.
Brook Lopez is thriving when scoring at the rim for the Milwaukee Bucks this season
While being able to space the floor and launch a high-volume of threes is the constant in Lopez’s offensive repertoire, he has been able to thrive within the Bucks’ revamped system.
The incorporation of the dunker spot has helped Lopez flourish offensively as the Bucks have utilized his size, strength and shooting touch to convert point-blank finishes at the cup. Lopez is shooting 74 percent on his 146 attempts within the restricted area this season, per NBA.com/stats.
And as we saw against the Hornets the other night, the Bucks have leaned on Lopez to turn it back to ‘Brooklyn Brook’ and exploit the mismatches that can come against opponents playing small. Just like the Hornets had done for the vast majority of the night.
Whether the Bucks will look to lean further on Lopez’s traditional skill set remains to be seen, but the wealth of scoring options and various looks they have toyed with, both in lineups and personnel, give the Bucks another asset to turn to if they so choose.
The more important trend here, though, is that Lopez’s play and scoring is on the rise and the timing of it all couldn’t work out better for the Bucks as they have their minds set on playing their best basketball when it matters most. And Lopez will certainly be a key figure to lean on in those moments.