The Milwaukee Bucks have 12 games remaining before the All-Star break in what has been an eventful 2021-22 season to this point.
Amidst injuries and illnesses, the Bucks have had their share of adversity to overcome early on, and they have done so well as they sit at fourth in the Eastern Conference. There is still plenty of ground to be made up, and it looks like they have a golden opportunity to do so coming up. With Jrue Holiday returning for the Memphis Grizzlies game on Wednesday, the Bucks are almost fully healthy. Brook Lopez remains the only Buck listed on the injury report, meaning the champs will have most of their roster intact leading up to the All-Star break. With that said, let’s look at three goals for the Milwaukee Bucks to help them close the pre-All-Star break trending upwards.
3 Milwaukee Bucks’ goals before 2022 All-Star break: Limiting turnovers
The Milwaukee Bucks have dealt with some really inconsistent point guard play this season in large part due to key players missing time. George Hill and Jrue Holiday have both missed chunks of the season, both at the same time for a stretch.
This predicament put the Bucks in a tough spot signing guys to 10-day contracts and using Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton at the point guard position. Middleton is his most effective off the ball and not bringing the ball up the floor and handling the ball a ton, being forced to do more ball-handling is what has contributed to him currently averaging a career-high number of turnovers.
The Bucks are currently averaging 14 turnovers per game after a solid night of taking care of the ball against the Chicago Bulls Friday night committing only eight turnovers. However, the Bucks currently rank right in the middle of the league at 16th in turnovers per game. If the Bucks can do a better job taking care of the ball, even cutting down from 14 turnovers per game to 13 per game they would find themselves top six in the NBA.
This is absolutely a reachable goal with Holiday back in the lineup, even though he’s coming off the bench and playing under a minutes restriction. As the Bucks get healthier their play needs to be cleaned up and polished, the next 12 games are a perfect time to correct turnover issues and build confidence heading into the All-Star break.