Fresh off a big win over the New York Knicks Friday night, the Milwaukee Bucks aimed to keep the ball rolling as they hosted the Denver Nuggets last night. Unfortunately, in what has been the tale of their season, the Bucks take one step forward with a win, and then they will take another step backward in their next game with a crushing loss. That is precisely what happened in last night’s meeting with the Nuggets, who embarrassed the Bucks in front of the Fiserv Forum crowd.
Not only did the shorthanded Nuggets beat the Bucks, but they simply dominated them for what seemed like the entire game. After taking haymakers for 48 minutes, Milwaukee walked off the floor with a 36-point loss under their belt in arguably their ugliest game of the year. The Nuggets never let up as they secured the 136-100 victory that should have the Bucks looking at themselves in the mirror for the next few days before their next game on Tuesday.
Before we can forget about this ugly loss, let us take a look at the three biggest takeaways.
The Denver Nuggets torched the Milwaukee Bucks from 3-point range
Milwaukee’s 3-point defense has plagued them for years now. It is no secret that opposing teams tend to get hot when they play the Bucks because they exploit the defense, which is just what the Nuggets did in this one. They shot a scorching hot 23-of-43 (53.5 percent) from long range, which plagued the Bucks throughout the game. Whenever the champs seemed destined to attempt their comeback, Denver would bury another triple and extend their lead further.
Monte Morris led the 3-point charge for Denver by shooting 4-of-5 from distance to help him tally 18 points on the night. Aaron Gordon, a 32.5 percent outside shooter on the season, caught fire as he hit four triples in eight attempts en route to scoring a team-high 24 points. Including these two, there were eight Nuggets that knocked down two or more 3-pointers in this game, which is quite concerning. Milwaukee’s perimeter defense has reared its ugly head once again.
Meanwhile, the Bucks could not buy a 3-pointer for most of the contest as they shot a lackluster 10-of-30 (33.3 percent) from long range on the night. Aside from Grayson Allen, who hit two of his five attempts from deep, no other Buck knocked down multiple triples. Aside from Allen, the rest of Milwaukee’s starters combined to shoot a woeful 4-of-15 from long range, which is a recipe for disaster. Poor shooting games are bound to happen, but it always makes matters worse when the opposing team catches the hot hand and seemingly cannot miss on the night.
Once again, the Milwaukee Bucks may have to make some tweaks to their perimeter defense.