The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder Saturday night 108-94 without Giannis Antetokounmpo who sat the game out with right knee soreness. An ailment likely the result of the Bucks only back to back in the month of November.
The Bucks and Thunder were within one point of each other in the first, third and fourth quarters scoring wise, the Bucks created their separation in the second quarter outscoring the Thunder 33-19. Let’s take a look at three key takeaways from this win.
Takeaways from the Milwaukee Bucks win over the Thunder: The rookie’s first start
Rookie MarJon Beauchamp got the start in the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo, starting at the small forward position as Bobby Portis joined him in the starting lineup at power forward with Grayson Allen coming off the bench for this game.
Beauchamp played easily the best game of his young career on Friday night against the Timberwolves and was rewarded handsomely with his first career start.
The returns on Beauchamp’s first start are a bit rough if you only look at the box score. Beauchamp scored just two points on 1-of-9 shooting including 0-for-6 on 3-point attempts. However, Beauchamp did collect five rebounds and a steal and was diving on the floor, showing off his ability and willingness to hustle.
MarJon did foul out of this game and has a lot to learn, however he possesses all of the physical tools to be a player that could become the best first round pick since Giannis Antetokounmpo for the Bucks.
Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks win over Thunder: Brook Lopez
We need to seriously start asking the question “did Brook Lopez have the greatest back surgery ever?” Lopez is off to an absolutely fantastic start to the season. A start that Bucks fans could have only dreamed of, because not only does he look like pre-injury Brook Lopez, he looks even better!
Splash Mountain is officially back, shooting 50 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from behind the 3-point line through the first nine games of the season for the Bucks. Both of those percentages are near his highest marks since he joined the Bucks. Not only Splash Mountain, but the Milwaukee Bucks announcers, Lisa Byington and Marques Johnson have taken to calling Brook Lopez “Smash Mountain” on the defensive side of the ball because of all the blocked shots Brook is racking up.
Brook Lopez scored just seven points in the win over the Timberwolves on Friday night and bounced back in a huge way Saturday, 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including 4-of-9 on 3-point tries. Despite six players in double figures for the Bucks, Lopez was the teams leading scorer.
Every time Lopez shoots an open three it feels like it’s going in, having witnessed the the Hawks game last Saturday in person I can confirm this feeling. Lopez also grabbed three rebounds and one each of an assist, steal and block. Brook Lopez has blocked at least one shot in every single game this season so far and is second in blocks per game with 2.56 per game, trailing Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers by just 0.04 for the league lead.
Brook Lopez will seek to continue his streak of blocking a shot in every game tonight against the Atlanta Hawks, a team that he recorded two blocks against and absolutely torched to begin the game in their first matchup, making seven straight shots to start.
Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks win over Thunder: Jevon Carter
Starting this takeaway, I would like to extend a sincere thank you to the Brooklyn Nets for releasing Jevon Carter to pick up Goran Dragic last season. Jevon Carter came in to Milwaukee and made a ton of 3-pointers for the Bucks in the last month plus for the Bucks and Bucks fans and many of us at Behind the Buck Pass strongly advocated for him to win the backup point guard job since the announcement that the Bucks were re-signing him.
Not only has he won that job but he has also won the interim starting lineup spot for the Bucks in the absence of Khris Middleton and there is certainly an argument to keep him there even when Khris is healthy.
Jevon Carter had his best game of the season Saturday night and quite possibly his best game as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. Carter finished with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting and 5-of-9 on 3-point tries. Carter’s five made threes bested his season high of four 3-point makes that he cashed in against the Knicks just over a week ago. The efficiency with which he scored is what stands out even more. If the Bucks fifth-sixth option is efficiently scoring 18 points on 50 percent field goal shooting, the Bucks will have so many scoring options teams won’t be able to double and triple team Giannis Antetokounmpo and that will be a major problem for opposing defenses.
In addition to his 18 points, Carter also registered two rebounds, a steal and a block, the fact that Carter spent much of this game guarding the budding, young star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and was part of holding him to just 18 points, well below his season average, and then matching that output, is just beyond impressive.
Thank you Brooklyn for Jevon Carter.
Stay tuned for previews and takeaways for each Milwaukee Bucks game.