Bucks vs. Cavaliers Player Grades: Giannis’ terrific start sullied by injury

SB Nation

The Milwaukee Bucks went down to the Cleveland Cavaliers last night, losing two games in a row for the first time this season. The headline from this game was obviously Giannis leaving in the second quarter

with a groin complaint; the big fella was having one heck of a game before that. For the Cavs, Donovan Mitchell just went to work on the Bucks, slicing and dicing for 37 points. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.

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Player Grades

Giannis Antetokounmpo

13 minutes, 14 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 6/10 FG, +2

In the minutes played, Giannis was otherworldly. As I mentioned in the rapid recap, the Bucks’ first 23 points were accounted for by GA, which is wild. He was orchestrating everything out there and making every right read. It just sucks that he got injured.

Grade: A+

Myles Turner

37 minutes, 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 4/9 FG, 4/5 3P, +1

Myles played decently in this one. He isn’t going to create his own shot, but he competed on both ends and was impactful in his minutes against the towering duo of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. The players must be aware that when they pass him the ball and he doesn’t immediately shoot it, there needs to be a “next action” right away; the possessions where guys look to him to make a play on his own go nowhere.

Grade: B+

Ryan Rollins

29 minutes, 24 points, 5 assists, 4 turnovers, 9/22 FG, 5/10 3P, +1

Ryan wasn’t as efficient as usual, and he turned it over too much. While he needs to improve on those things, I mostly attribute that to unrealistic expectations being placed on him to lead the offence after Giannis went down. The ball was placed in his hands to make a play out of nothing against that defence. Tough.

Grade: B

Kyle Kuzma

24 minutes, 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 4/12 FG, +2

I didn’t hate Kuzma’s minutes. Again, asking him to be a primary option against the Cavs is tough. Regardless, I thought he competed hard and tried to play through the system.

Grade: B-

AJ Green

40 minutes, 12 points, 4 assists, 1 steal, 4/10 FG, 4/8 3P, -10

Finally, a game where AJ didn’t find himself in foul trouble, which is reflected in him playing 40 minutes. I thought Green took his chances and played hard, but he still needs to refine some aspects of his defensive positioning.

Grade: B

Gary Trent Jr.

31 minutes, 12 points, 2 turnovers, 5/10 FG, 2/5 3P, -18

I’m not sure what to think of Trent’s game on defence. On one hand, GT was set up to fail guarding Donovan Mitchell; on the other, he definitely could have done better at forcing him one way and not allowing him to reject screens. On offence, it was good to see Gary gain some rhythm in the second half.

Grade: C+

Cole Anthony

21 minutes, 4 points, 8 assists, 2 turnovers, 2/8 FG, -11

It was another rough game on offence for Cole, but his passing was a positive.

Grade: C

Bobby Portis

26 minutes, 11 points, 6 rebounds 3/7 FG, -13

This has always been a bad matchup for Bobby, but he competed hard and kep the ball moving on offence.

Grade: C+

Doc Rivers

Talking about the portion of the game where Giannis was playing, I give Doc credit. He had the team prepared for the game, and I really liked the cross-screen set they used to get GA open on the block. Of course, after the big fella went down, things got much tougher, naturally. I will say, though, that Doc just is not creative enough in getting a movement shooter like AJ Green more looks. Green seems to either get his shots off doing the dirty work in inverted pick-and-rolls with Giannis or off spot-ups. AJ is capable of much more, and Doc isn’t doing enough to maximise him.

Grade: B-

Limited Minutes: Gary Harris, Jericho Sims

DNP-CD: Amir Coffey, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Andre Jackson Jr., Pete Nance, Mark Sears

Inactive: Kevin Porter Jr., Taurean Prince, Alex Antetokounmpo

Bonus Bucks Bits

According to Marc Stein, Giannis will undergo an MRI today to assess the extent of his injury.
Doc said that Giannis grabbed his groin multiple times beofre the injury that took him out occured:

“He grabbed [his groin], I want to say in the first quarter and I asked him then. He said it was fine. Then I think he grabbed it again and he said it was fine. And then the third time, you know, is when it happened. But I think it happened earlier, in my opinion.”