The Milwaukee Bucks looked like their season was about to flip a switch following their NBA Cup final win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, but since then they have struggled to kick on.
Back-to-back defeats to the Brooklyn Nets and Portland Trail Blazers have seen them win just three of their last eight games since December 18.
It felt like a corner had been turned with the team starting to step up, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard in full flow, role players stepping up and the team rising up the Eastern Conference standings. Injuries and bouts of sickness have offered excuses in some games, but overall, the Bucks have struggled to progress in recent weeks.
Issues that hampered them early on as they fell to a 2-8 start have continued haunting them throughout the season, and when the shots aren't falling, these issues are glaring. Dropping games to rebuilding or tanking teams is never a good sign for a team hoping to be a contender. The Bucks have now lost three games to the Nets, who threw away a 20-point lead as they attempted to tank and yet still managed to win the game.
Here are some of the poor habits continuing to destroy the Milwaukee Bucks.
Lazy defense
A noticeable trend with the Bucks has been the laziness on times defensively. It is an issue that has hampered the Bucks for a long time, and despite the anchor of Brook Lopez and Giannis and role players stepping up their defense, the issue still stands. Strangely, the Milwaukee Bucks are currently 10th in defensive rating in the NBA at 111.0, but that feels far from the reality.
They are 17th in points off of turnovers with 17.8 per game and 19th in opponent fast break points with 15.7. It's a clear sign that when they give the ball up, they don't get back quick enough, and teams are exploiting that. The teams tanking or rebuilding tend to be younger and looking to continue retooling through the draft, something the Bucks have struggled with this season.
One way to fix this is to play Andre Jackson Jr. more. Doc Rivers clearly trusts him to start, and against what you'd say are the playoff-caliber teams, he tends to play more minutes. Yet, against lower seeds, he regularly plays less than 15 minutes.
His hustle is perfect and his ability to stay in front as a defender is All-Defensive level. What happens is when the Bucks take him out, it allows teams to build up a lead, and then Rivers doesn't feel he has the offensive capabilities to help the team get back into it, so Jackson spends long periods on the bench. He has been a fix for a lot of defensive issues, and why he doesn't play more is confusing.
The other answer to this could be making a trade to freshen up the locker room and bring in much-needed defensive energy.
Lazy passes
Similar to the defensive side, the passing at times is so sloppy and lazy. The younger teams are quick on to the telegraphed passes, resulting in fast break points that the Bucks struggle to prevent. The Bucks are 10th in the league for turnovers with 14 per game, but that doesn't tell the whole story as Chicago is 18th and averages exactly one more per game, so there is a cluster of teams around the 14 and 15 mark per game.
Even in the NBA Cup win, the Bucks had 17 turnovers to the Thunder's 10. In fact, the last time the Bucks registered 10 or fewer turnovers was the 111-105 defeat to the Boston Celtics. The Celtics and Thunder average less than 12 a game, and yes, the Bucks aren't as good as those two teams, but if they are to compete with them, they need to bring the turnovers right down.
There isn't a magical solution to this other than the players and coaching staff taking it upon themselves to take more care with the ball and draw up plays that reduce the chance of a turnover but continue to create offensive opportunities.
Little effort
Maybe the most grueling aspect at times is that in some games, there seems to be very little effort from the Bucks collectively, whether that be getting back on defense, working hard to stay in front of players or offensively, showing a bit more hustle to create opportunities for others.
Giannis spoke to reporters after the Blazers defeat and said, "We can watch film, we can talk, we can walk through stuff — which all those things are good, add to us being ready to compete — but at the end of the day, we’ve got to step on the floor and do it. I feel like that’s what we did a couple of weeks ago."
We all know the two-time MVP does not shy away from being vocal about himself and the team but for any fan of any sports team, it is always a concern for a player to say they have shown positives in practice and prior to the game and then for them to not doing any of that during the game.
Like all the issues, this may require fresh blood being brought into the locker room to shake it up, but again, this is down to the players and the coaches to step onto the court and perform. Dropping games is fine, every team does it, but for a team wanting to contend, being simply outworked by teams actively trying to get better draft odds is a worry.
Plenty of time still remains in this NBA season for the Milwaukee Bucks to turn things around and get to where they want to be. Behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, anything can happen in a playoff series, but the same issues continue hampering them from reaching their goals. Change is needed, and it will be interesting to see how they go about it.
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