3 takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks’ shameful loss to Detroit Pistons
By Dalton Sell
The Milwaukee Bucks had all the momentum possible heading into Monday’s contest against the Detroit Pistons. Not only had the defending champs won six straight games prior to this matchup, but they were going up against an opponent they had not lost to since February of 2018. Detroit is among the least successful teams in the association this season, having won just six games going into the game, the fewest in the league. Despite everything working in their favor, the Bucks failed to take advantage in this one, even on their home floor.
The Pistons looked like the more motivated team from the jump, knocking down tough shots and playing robust defense to give the Bucks trouble early on. This energy carried out throughout the entire game as Detroit never quit. With the Pistons leading for a sizeable portion of the game, the Bucks found themselves battling back, but whenever they got close or even took the lead, Detroit answered right back. In the end, the Pistons earned a stunning 115-106 victory to end a six-game win streak by the Bucks. This one will undeniably sting for quite some time, but with all that said, let us take a closer look at three takeaways from the matchup.
A downright horrible outside shooting night doomed the Milwaukee Bucks as the Detroit Pistons caught fire
Perimeter shooting from both teams in this game was undoubtedly a trending topic from start to finish. The Bucks struggled to find the bottom of the net for most of the matchup as they shot a grueling 11-of-43 from long-range (23.9 percent). Winning a basketball game while shooting like that is a tall order as is, but it is certainly made more challenging when the opposing team shoots the lights out by going 18-of-43 (41.9 percent) from behind the arc.
No one could buy a bucket for Milwaukee, with Giannis Antetokounmpo missing all four of his tries from deep, George Hill coming up empty after his five attempts, Pat Connaughton burying just one triple in four tries, and much more. Given how important the 3-point shot is for this team, they still let it fly whenever the opportunity presented itself, but unfortunately, they could not find a groove one bit. More on a few players going through slumps in a minute.
Meanwhile, two Pistons that stood out were Saddiq Bey and Josh Jackson. Bey had a career night as he shot a scorching 8-of-13 from 3-point range, giving the Bucks problems during the contest as he finished with 34 points. Jackson turned it up a notch as well by knocking down five threes in seven attempts en route to a 24-point performance. The Bucks could have certainly done a better job defensively of keeping these two in check, but it ultimately did not pan out that way.