3 big takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks sweeping tough 3 game stretch
The Milwaukee Bucks got key contributions from their bench in each game
The Bucks’ bench contributions (or lack thereof) this season have been a huge topic of conversation, specifically how little scoring they’ve gotten.
They didn’t get a ton of scoring in this three-game sweep, but they still got very key contributions from the bench that they needed to win those games.
In the first two games, the Bucks got 17 points from their reserves in both games. That’s not very good from a scoring perspective. In fact, that would easily be the lowest bench scoring average in the league; well behind the Toronto Raptors’ 24.3 points per game from their bench.
But, as we all know, there’s more to basketball than points!
Wesley Matthews, who is still struggling from 3-point range and missed the Suns game with a toe injury, played over 28 minutes against the Heat and was a key piece in closing that game defensively. He was a plus-12 in that game (tied for the highest on the team with Holiday) and was big for the Bucks’ switching defense late in that game.
Matthews also played over 23 minutes against the Bulls, but it was Jevon Carter who was the bench player that shined brightest in that game. His pesky on-ball defense was big and he closed the game in place of Matthews after he suffered the injury.
Then, against the Suns, it was Serge Ibaka’s turn to lead the way for the bench. I saw many saying that Ibaka didn’t have a good game defensively, which I’d push back against. He was solid, but Deandre Ayton made some tough shots. Ibaka was fantastic offensively with 14 points to go along with 10 boards and two blocks. It was easily his best game with Milwaukee and hopefully, this gives him some confidence going forward.
Also, because I’m a shameless optimist, I have to shout out Jordan Nwora. He closed the game against Phoenix and, despite some early shot clock 3s, had a good night. I thought he played with confidence on defense and limited his mistakes. Then on offense, did a very nice job penetrating and attacking when the ball came to him against a scrambled defense.
It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was a nice sign for Nwora to impact the game without his jumper and be on the floor in crunch time.