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

Amid much pandemonium and panic among Milwaukee Bucks fans after they lost their third straight game in being swept on a three-game homestand and missing four of their five starters from last season, it appeared things were going to go off the rails! But a game against the Detroit Pistons was exactly what they needed with a 117-89 blowout win over their division rival.

It was only a seven-point lead for the Bucks after the first quarter, but they blew the doors off the Pistons in the second and never looked back. Despite missing Khris Middleton (health and safety protocols), Jrue Holiday (ankle sprain), Brook Lopez (back soreness), and Donte DiVincenzo (injury recovery), the rest of the Bucks role players stepped up around Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Four of the five starters had a plus/minus rating over plus-20 as they took it to the young Pistons starters. This is the first in a stretch where Milwaukee will play six of their next seven games on the road, so picking up a win against a struggling team like the Pistons is important with how undermanned the Bucks are.

Giannis Antetokounmpo with one of his most impressive shooting performances for the Milwaukee Bucks in their win over the Detroit Pistons

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Giannis Antetokounmpo dominated the youthful Pistons and their frontcourt to the tune of 28 points, eight rebounds, nine assists, four blocks, and a 73 percent true shooting percentage all in 26 minutes!

He did his scoring in a variety of ways, both inside and outside the paint. He hit three of his seven 3-point attempts and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. He’s had gaudier shooting lines, but with his improved shooting form, this is as impressive of a performance as I’ve seen from him shooting the ball.

His first 3-point make was far too wide open with how confident he has been shooting the ball.

And his final one was a very nice catch-and-shoot look that he didn’t hesitate on. Additionally, the 7-for-7 from the line continues his solid stretch of free-throw shooting, putting him up to nearly 74 percent in the early season. I’m still tentative to fully buy-in on his new shooting form and free-throw routine, but it’s certainly an encouraging stretch so far.

Giannis has been unbelievable to begin the 2021-22 season and has battled through some lingering left knee soreness while his fellow starters are out. He has needed to be at his absolute best to keep the Bucks afloat and that’s exactly what he has been.

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.

It was a complete bounce-back performance from the Milwaukee Bucks against the Detroit Pistons

I’ll clarify this by saying: yes, it’s the Pistons and they are very young, inexperienced and the Bucks should have blown them out. But to paraphrase Detroit rapper Big Sean “last game they took an L, but tonight they bounced back.”

It would have been easy to see who was out, see the opponent and then a) rest Giannis and b) take the night off as a team against a bad team (no offense, Pistons fans). But that’s not what they did! They took it to them tonight from the beginning and bounced back after a rough homestand.

They shot nearly 46 percent from 3 (17-of-37) and did what they do best on defense which is contesting shots at the rim. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Pistons shot 44 percent at the rim (11-of-25) and the Bucks made it hard on them all night with eight total blocks.

The role players got going, even Semi Ojeleye got on the board for his first points as a Buck (although he’s still looking for his first 3-point make), and the starters didn’t even have to overexert themselves with Giannis playing the most minutes at 26.

This is exactly what you wanted to see from the Bucks is stepping on the necks of a team that they should beat, even if they were severely undermanned. They’re a veteran team going against the fourth-youngest team in the league, so they still had the advantage.

It won’t get easier from here for the Bucks as they get a few days off before starting a stretch of six straight games against Eastern Conference playoff teams from last season, including a rematch against their Eastern Conference Finals foe; the Atlanta Hawks.

This was a good confidence builder and hopefully by Friday against the Knicks, they’ll be healthier.