Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from bounce back win over Detroit Pistons

The Milwaukee Bucks role players came through in their blowout win over the Detroit Pistons

One of the biggest problems for the Bucks over their three-game losing skid was that they didn’t have anyone other than Antetokounmpo (and Khris Middleton for a couple of games) step up around him. It was a source of frustration for Antetokounmpo that other guys weren’t cutting or moving around off-ball enough to create easier passing angles and forcing him and Middleton to make something out of nothing.

It wasn’t malicious from Antetokounmpo, just a point that they play a role on offense in creating offense for themselves by moving around and cutting for easier looks. Tonight we saw the players around Giannis step up in a big, big way.

One player who had struggled to score in particular was Jordan Nwora. He came into the game shooting a little over 30 percent from 3 and was missing some pretty open looks. It was a get-right game of sorts for the sophomore wing, finishing with 16 points, four rebounds, and three assists with 61.5 percent true shooting.

Pat Connaughton caught fire in this one and had one of his better games of the early season with 16 points of his own, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. He nailed 4-of-5 from deep and did a little bit of everything, leading to a game-high plus-27.

Bobby Portis (12 points) and Justin Robinson (11 points) also chipped in with double-digit efforts. Every Bucks player who played tonight (minus Georgios Kalaitzakis) scored tonight. It was a full team effort from beginning to end and this is something for the role players to build on. It’s unclear when the Bucks will get Holiday and Lopez back while Middleton will be out for at least 10 days. There is a lot of opportunities here for these guys to show what they can do in expanded roles.