Milwaukee Bucks: Panic or patience for 3 concerning stats so far

We’re enough games into the 2021-22 season where people are starting to make assumptions about every team even though it is still incredibly early and there is nothing that can be taken from a six-game sample. Imagine this was a random six-game sample from the middle of February, you’d think that it’s a bit silly to panic about the Milwaukee Bucks because it’s six games!

But it’s also a new season so there are new challenges that teams are facing and the Bucks are not immune to that. They’ve dealt with a slew of injuries to key players, most notably Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez.

This has caused some stats to look a little wonky through their first six games and has some fans ready to hit the panic button. So it’s time to play a classic game of panic or patience where we look at a few concerning stats to begin the season (both team and player) to try to determine whether it’s time to be concerned so early in the season or take the advice of Aaron Rodgers and R-E-L-A-X.

Khris Middleton is shooting well below his career average for 3-point percentage for the Milwaukee Bucks

I honestly didn’t even realize how poorly Khris Middleton was shooting from 3 to begin the season, but the Bucks’ second star is shooting right around 25 percent on over five attempts per game in the early going. Naturally, he’s shooting a near career-high on his 2-point attempts at around 54 percent so he’s still getting to his spots inside the arc, he’s just not converting from behind it.

Middleton has never shot below 30 percent from 3 in his entire career. You’d have to go back to his rookie season with the Detroit Pistons where he played 27 games to find the last time he shot below 35 percent from 3-point range, so there’s a strong track record of success.

He got off to an absurd start to begin last season, shooting over 48 percent from 3 in the opening six games of the season but perhaps there’s a bit of fatigue for Middleton following a short turnaround from his long season, championship run, and Olympic gold medal run last season.

What’s comforting is that Middleton is getting around four 3s a game that is classified as “open” (the closest defender is within four-to-six feet), per NBA.com/stats. That is nearly a shot more per game than he got last season on open 3-point attempts and he shot over 38 percent on those looks.

This could be any random six-game sample through a random stretch of the season and fans wouldn’t bat an eye, considering Middleton is still averaging over 20 points per game and he’s still taking a good amount of 3s. He’ll break out of his 3-point funk soon enough, but for now, it’s cool to see Giannis Antetokounmpo shooting a higher percentage from 3 than Middleton. Who would have seen that coming six games into the season!

Verdict: Patience