Following a shorthanded win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Milwaukee Bucks were even more shorthanded against the Washington Wizards.
With no Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, or George Hill, the Bucks would be forced to dig deep into their bench, which is exactly what they did. Things never went Milwaukee’s way in this matchup, as their largest lead was just at one point early on in the first quarter. On the other hand, the Wizards managed to build a lead as large as 26, having held control of this game essentially from start to finish. When the final buzzer sounded, the Wizards walked away with a big 118-95 win on the road. This is a game that all Bucks fans would love to put in the rearview, but first, let us look at three takeaways from the matchup.
The Milwaukee Bucks were plagued by a lack of transition and paint defense in the loss to Washington Wizards
Last night’s outing was far from an excellent performance from the Milwaukee Bucks, especially in two key areas: transition and paint defense. The Washington Wizards outscored the Bucks 72-26 in the paint and 22-8 on fast breaks. It would be incredibly hard to win when the opposing team is putting up those kinds of numbers, which was the case last night.
The Wizards came out and immediately set the tone by attacking the basket. Daniel Gafford, the starting center for Washington, attacked Milwaukee’s bigs right from the opening tip and finished with 12 paint points in the period. The big man finished with 16 total, while Kristaps Porzingis, Rui Hachimura, and Deni Avdija all finished in double figures in that area as well. Although there were a handful of key pieces missing for the Bucks, it was still a bit concerning that they were outscored by 46 in the paint, given that protecting that area is typically their specialty.
Meanwhile, an area that has not been Milwaukee’s specialty this season has been their defense in transition. The Bucks were outscored by 14 on the break last night, as the Wizards faced very little resistance converting when they were out and running. Hachimura did most of the damage for the Wizards by scoring a game-high nine points on fast breaks. It wasn’t nearly as big of a disparity as the paint scoring between the two teams, but the transition defense was still a significant factor in an ugly loss at Fiserv Forum.
The Bucks will have to look over the film and try to fix these mistakes moving forward.