Milwaukee Bucks: 3 key things to watch for against San Antonio Spurs
For the second time in a week, the Milwaukee Bucks will take on the San Antonio Spurs and wrap up their first season series with a team in the opening month.
The undermanned Bucks took care of the Spurs a week ago in a 121-111 win in San Antonio. The Bucks are back at home for this one, the second game of their three-game homestand and the opening game of their first back-to-back of the season. Their first meeting was a relatively close game until the Bucks pulled away at the end. Khris Middleton led the way offensively with 28 points on 66.7 percent true shooting while Giannis Antetokounmpo was second with 21 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and three blocks.
Milwaukee will try to bounce back after a valiant comeback attempt fell short against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday and get back to above 0.500 at home (they’re 1-1, I’m just being dramatic).
Will the Milwaukee Bucks’ rebounding woes continue against the San Antonio Spurs?
Ever since Brook Lopez missed his first game against the Miami Heat, the Bucks have had real trouble rebounding the basketball. It even prompted Antetokounmpo to (jokingly) make a plea for Lopez to get better soon and come back to the lineup.
Over the last three games, the Bucks have allowed 32 offensive rebounds and their opponents have grabbed the fourth-most defensive rebounds against them. Their defensive rebounding rate (72.9 percent) ranks 18th in the league after they ranked 4th last season.
It has caused major problems and is part of the reason why the Bucks have the eighth-worst defensive rating coming into tonight’s game, according to NBA.com/stats. They sorely miss their big man in the middle to anchor their defense and help box out potential rebounders for the opposing team.
Jakob Poeltl was a menace on the offensive glass for the Spurs in their first meeting, grabbing six offensive boards, so that will very much be someone to watch out for if Lopez can’t play or is on a minutes restriction. They’ve conceded six or more offensive rebounds to a single player (Poeltl, Goga Bitadze, and Jarred Vanderbilt) in their last three games, something that will need to be cleaned up with or without Lopez.