3 keys for the Milwaukee Bucks as they host shorthanded Phoenix Suns

The Milwaukee Bucks need to capitalize on their open 3-point looks

Aside from absolutely getting killed inside the arc (seriously, the Suns went 41-of-57 on 2-point shots outside of garbage time! that’s almost 72 percent!), the Bucks shooting 23 percent on above-the-break 3s ruined their chances for a win, all numbers from Cleaning the Glass (subscription required).

Phoenix does a good job limiting opponent 3s, but especially from the corners (about two percent below league average, fourth-best). They’re less vigilant on above-the-break 3s and the Bucks took advantage, getting 26 shots up but they missed 20 of ’em.

A large part of that was the trio of Khris Middleton, Bobby Portis, and Pat Connaughton shooting a combined 3-of-18 from deep. Basically, the only person who shot well from deep on any kind of volume was Holiday going 3-for-4.

Of course, the Bucks won’t have Connaughton for this game but even just getting Portis and Middleton to hit a few more 3s would be nice. We can’t expect a ton of shooting from this version of the bench, but please, Serge Ibaka, if you’re open, shoot it.

They were able to get a ton of good looks from the midrange (since that’s what the Suns concede on defense), but nailing those 3s would have made it a much more competitive game. They say role players shoot better at home, so maybe Grayson Allen can have a nice night.

The Bucks have gone 3-1 coming out of the All-Star break and have looked strong through the first four games of their awful schedule down the stretch. We’re starting to see the championship-caliber Bucks rounding into form and that’s without some key pieces.

This is a very winnable game against a team that’s missing its two best players, so don’t play down to the competition.