Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 115-107 Game 1 loss to Brooklyn Nets

The Milwaukee Bucks’ new backcourt struggles mightily in Game 1 loss

Given the season-ending injury to Donte DiVincenzo, the Bucks pulled a new card by shifting around the starting lineup to include P.J. Tucker.

That meant sliding typical small forward Khris Middleton into the shooting guard slot to form a backcourt with Jrue Holiday running the point. While it was a nice idea given the matchup afoot, those two certainly did not provide much optimism following the horrendous showings they individually pieced together.

First and foremost, there is no avoiding how bad Middleton was from start to finish. Chipping in just 13 points, clearly far below his typical quote, the forward was highly inefficient by shooting just 6-for-23 from the floor, including 0-for-5 from distance. It was disheartening watching him continue to heave shots from all over the floor when he could simply not get relatively anything to drop with consistently, even on shots closer to the basket.

Although he contributed elsewhere by hauling in 13 rebounds and dishing out four assists, those scoring numbers will not cut in. The Bucks need Middleton to produce at a higher level with much greater efficiency, especially if they will go toe-to-toe offensively with this high-octane-scoring Brooklyn team. It goes without saying that this version of Middleton cannot stick around or things will head south for the Bucks rather quickly.

While the finger has largely been pointed in his direction, Holiday also had his struggles throughout the matchup. Although he finished right around his regular season average with 17 points, it was a highly inefficient outing as he shot just 7-for-19 from the floor, including 2-for-7 from deep. Missing two of his three foul shots as well, it was an all-around bad night in scoring the ball for Holiday. Also logging three turnovers thanks to some questionable decision-making with the basketball, it was far from the guard’s best night, despite tallying nine rebounds and six assists.

These two must bounce back in Game 2 for the Bucks to stand a chance or they will likely be doomed to suffer the same dreaded fate.