3 takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks’ road win over the Orlando Magic
By Dalton Sell
Grayson Allen’s shooting slump persisted once again for the Milwaukee Bucks
After starting the season scorching hot, Grayson Allen has cooled down mightily over the past few games for the Bucks. While it is understandable to see his production regress considering his best basketball came when other focal points for Milwaukee were sidelined and he saw more time with the ball in his hands, the guard is struggling to deliver much of anything for the Bucks. Last night’s game was the perfect representation of this and the recent slump that continues to hinder him.
Allen scored just three points on 1-of-4 shooting in nearly 23-and-a-half minutes played against the Magic. Allen’s scoring output was simply almost nonexistent throughout the entire game, and he instead looked to be passive. To his credit, Allen was solid in that regard as he dished out three assists in the contest, making sure his teammates were involved. However, the Bucks need Allen to bring an added boost of outside shooting, and it was head-scratching to see him attempt just two in the entire game. After all, this is a player that was top three in 3-point makes at one point this season, but he has fallen far down the latter over this recent stretch.
To be fair, Allen has not had the chance to find much stability lately. Between his own non-covid related illness and the endless changes to the lineup with health and safety protocols, the Bucks have been working day by day to determine who will be playing on a given night. They are starting to get healthy as last night’s injury report featured solely Brook Lopez, but Allen is struggling to adapt to playing with everyone together. With Donte DiVincenzo making his season debut recently and Wesley Matthews seeing prominent minutes nightly, Allen’s role has lessened to some degree lately. Hopefully he can keep going and shake this slump as the season goes on because everyone already knows he is a perfect fit for this Milwaukee team.
It just starts with being more aggressive. A mere two 3-point attempts for one of the best outside shooters in the league today is far too few, especially when he has the greenest of lights. Allen has to keep letting it fly with confidence.