3 important takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks’ win over Atlanta Hawks

Joe Ingles is finding his role with the Milwaukee Bucks

After struggling in his first few games with the Milwaukee Bucks, the patience is starting to pay off for Joe Ingles. Ingles’ stat line from Wednesday night doesn’t jump out at you, but it’s starting to be seen what kind of a role he will have for the Bucks.

Ingles has surprised some with his playmaking ability over the last few games. A career 40 percent 3-point shooter is what many Bucks fans expected out of Ingles. Milwaukee has approached using Ingles as a secondary playmaker that can create a shot for himself or set up his teammates.

As a facilitator, Ingles has been excellent in January off the Bucks bench, averaging 7.2 points and 4.6 assists per game, per NBA.com/stats. Ingles will likely never produce jaw-dropping numbers in either the scoring or assist departments, but his production is great for a player who isn’t a point guard by trade with the way Milwaukee is using him.

Consistent shooting will come out of Ingles, but his ability to be trusted as a primary ball-handler will be huge for the Bucks. He allows Jrue Holiday and Giannis Antetokounmpo to play more freely and not have the ball in their hands so often.

While a stat line of seven points and five assists on 3-for-8 shooting won’t look impressive to a box score watcher, it has been encouraging to see Ingles look better on the court lately as a playmaker for the Bucks.

Stay tuned for more Bucks updates, with the season now halfway complete.