Milwaukee Bucks’ lack of offensive rhythm recently

The Milwaukee Bucks are currently on their longest, most grueling road trip of the 2022-23 season. With one game remaining at Chicago to end the trip, they have compiled a very disappointing 1-3 record so far.

What is contributing to the Milwaukee Bucks’ struggles on this road trip?

What is most concerning is the lack of rhythm on offense lately by the Milwaukee Bucks. Most teams go through this sort of funk during the season, especially during long road trips. This is no excuse, though, for the Bucks, who were the #1 team in the league record-wise when the trip began. They need to right the ship, regain their shooting touch and overall flow offensively.

Losing at Cleveland, which was a very winnable game based on earlier matchups this season, had they played with effort and energy in the first half, followed by two blowout losses at Brooklyn and Boston respectively, is quite concerning.

The Bucks have come out of the gate very flat these last three games, outscored in first quarters 107-77. This seems to be a consistent and concerning pattern throughout the first 33 games of their season.

What has been even more glaring and concerning during the early part of the season, and specifically the last three blowout losses during this road trip, is their poor shooting and lack of flow and rhythm with the teams offense.

Not only has the team struggled to shoot, as evidenced by their poor three point shooting percentage (the Milwaukee Bucks are currently 16th in 3-point percentage on the season, 25th over their last three games), there has been little to no flow on offense. They seem to be out of sorts offensively, which had lead to an overall lack of rhythm.

The overall offense looks to be discombobulated on many possessions. Many times, the team looks passive, timid and disjointed.

There have way too many lazy and careless passes and ill-advised shooting from almost everywhere on the floor. There also seems to be a lack of confidence overall offensively. Turnovers continue to be a problem for the Bucks, who rank 21st on the season and 29th in the last three games.

This has culminated in Giannis Antetokounmpo  playing way too much hero ball of late, as it seems as though he is trying to force things, especially ill-advised 3-point shots very early in the shot clock that are missing badly.

Giannis also needs to start passing the ball early and far more often. The offense has become way too stagnant, as guys tend to stand around watching him as he tries to bully his way to the basket.

There is plenty of blame to go around, both on the players and head coach Mike Budenholzer. One of the main culprits has been Grayson Allen.

Allen seems to lost his confidence when it comes to his specialty, which is shooting the ball. He has been reluctant to shoot for some reason and has been passing up open shots far too often.

When he’s not pump faking his defender and driving to the basket, which has many times led to either not finishing at the rim or resulting in a turnover, his field goal attempts per game have decreased dramatically.

Allen’s shooting in general is streaky, as we know. Generally, when he is shooting well and scoring, the offense in general as a whole is usually much better.

Backup point guard Jevon Carter, who has been relegated to the bench lately for some strange reason by Budenholzer even with Khris Middleton sidelined, has also lost his shooting touch of late. At times, he seems to panic and is trying to do too much, which has also resulted in too many turnovers by him.

It hasn’t been fun to watch lately on offense for the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Milwaukee Bucks’ offense should be and hopefully will be better once Khris Middleton returns to full health. If and when he returns to his elite self and regains his shooting form, the teams overall offense should be much improved. The same could be said for Joe Ingles, who has just four games under his belt since his return.

Without Middleton on the floor creating space for Giannis and others, the offense tends to dry up far too often and leaves a lot to be desired in the half court. Too many of the teams role players are being asked to step up in his absence and fill the void, which has had very mixed results at best.

Bobby Portis also needs to improve his 3-point shooting. He has seen a dramatic drop-off this season so far, as he’s shooting a career low 29.8%.

There is no rhyme or reason for this drop-off by Portis, but this needs to change and needs to change fast. When Portis is hitting his three point shots, the offense flows much more smoothly overall.

The Milwaukee Bucks are close to wrapping up their most arduous road trip of the season. While a 1-3 record so far including losses against three of the top four teams in the Eastern Conference is very disappointing and unacceptable, there is plenty of blame to go around on the offensive end of the floor.

This might just be bad bad stretch for the Bucks as the offense will hopefully improve for the duration of the season. If not, then things might get worse before they get better.

All in all, three things that can help the Bucks’ offense improve are better ball movement, fewer turnovers and better shot selection, all things the team is capable of if they focus on them.

Stay tuned with Behind the Buck Pass for analysis as the Milwaukee Bucks look to right the ship.