The Milwaukee Bucks flashed some nice stretches, but simply weren’t on the same level as the New York Knicks, going down 117-85. Without Tyler Herro, the Bucks struggled to get open looks against a slew of elite Knicks defenders, which let the Knicks play freely and get whatever they wanted. There’s really not much more to it; at times, the teams looked like they were playing a different sport. Shrug. We move. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+
podcast,Bucks In Six Minutes, below.
Player Grades
Ryan Rollins
24 minutes, 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 0 turnovers, 5/9 FG, 4/6 3P, -10
Rollins played one of his best games of the season, frankly. Shot the ball with confidence when he was open, and I loved his ability to probe off pick-and-rolls and get deeper into the paint. There has been some criticism of Jenkins, saying he should have played Rollins more, and I agree; Rollins should have gotten around 30 minutes, given how well he was playing. Now, garbage time starting early may have impacted that, but still.
Grade: B
Jaime Jaquez Jr.
25 minutes, 16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 6/13 FG, 2/5 3P, -2
Jaquez was solid. He got off the chain in the third, scoring 12 of his 16 points in the period, including an instinctual backcourt steal after he sensed Karl-Anthony Towns was going to casually drop it off to Brunson without looking. Too many turnovers, though, which has been a theme lately.
Grade: B-
Kyle Kuzma
25 minutes, 5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 1/4 FG, 1/3 3P, -14
Just a dud game from Kuzma, who made very little impact on either end and, at times, looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. Namely, there was a play where the shot clock was winding down, and he had multiple chances to at least chuck something at the rim, only for the shot clock to expire while the ball was in his hands. And to be clear, the defender wasn’t smothering him and making it impossible to shoot; he just… chose not to. Very odd.
Grade: D
Myles Turner
27 minutes, 3 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1/7 FG, 1/6 3P, -24
Unfortunately, it was the same old story with Turner. He nailed the game’s first bucket on a pick-and-pop three, but could not get his jumper to fall from that point forward. When I watch Turner, I see him doing a lot right in terms of positioning, but he seems to have lost a considerable amount of mobility, so guys can jump over and around him. That said, not having Herro there as a reliable pick-and-roll partner (and someone who demands attention) did Turner no favours.
Grade: D-
Kel’el Ware
17 minutes, 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers, 2/6 FG, 0/0 3P, +1
An encouraging performance from Ware. He looked more active and “into the game.” I thought it was notable that he didn’t take a three; it seemed like there was a directive to roll instead of pop, since his jumper hasn’t been going in recently (or at all, really). Needs to build on that now.
Grade: C
Kasparas Jakucionis
23 minutes, 11 points, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 4/12 FG, 2/6 3P, -16
Still not shooting the ball terrificly, but there was a lot to like from Jakucionis’ game. He made consecutive great reads in the third quarter getting downhill, drawing multiple defenders and, without getting too deep and risking a turnover, throwing cross-court dimes to Ament and Jaquez for threes. Had a few nice finishes in that same quarter as well. I also thought KJ’s defensive intensity, especially guarding Brunson, was solid.
Grade: B
Brayden Burries
26 minutes, 3 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1/6 FG, 1/4 3P, -23
An off game for Burries, which are going to happen. He really struggled to navigate New York’s long, tough defenders. This grade may seem harsh, but my expectations for Burries have risen considerably.
Grade: D+
AJ Green
8 minutes, 0 points, 0/1 FG, 0/1 3P, -14
Respectfully, I don’t remember one thing Green did.
Grade: D+
Nate Ament
22 minutes, 10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 0 turnovers, 4/8 FG, 2/5 3P, -13
Man, Ament just keeps building. He’s clearly trusting his three-ball on offence—and he’s already started using the Pat Connaughton “catch-high, keep-high”— but the headline from this game was his defence. I mean, they put him on Brunson and, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but he did a really good job! Basically, if Ament could prevent Brunson from getting his shoulders past him—which did happen a few times—he was able to get great contests on the Knicks superstar’s shots. That said, Ament did mess up on two switches in the first half; his off-ball awareness remains a work in progress.
Grade: B+
Ousmane Dieng
24 minutes, 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3/8 FG, 2/5 3P, -22
Dieng is starting to trust his jumper, which is good to see. Frankly, he could be a bit more aggressive at the rim. Try to use his size more effectively.
Grade: C+
Taylor Jenkins
I do think Jenkins needs to work on his rotations a little bit, and he said as much postgame. I’ve seen some folks go a bit over the top about this, but yes, there’s merit to the argument that seemingly as soon as guys find a rhythm, they can often end up on the bench. And in general, few units play consistently together for long stretches. For example, the Bucks’ starters played a total of 10:47 together last night and posted a net rating of +18.0 in those minutes, per Hoops Junkie. At the same time, the point of this season isn’t necessarily to max out on veterans playing together; it is to discover which pieces are worth keeping for the future.
Grade: D+
Garbage Time: Bogoljub Markovic, Gary Trent Jr., Jericho Sims
DNP-CD: Caris LeVert
Inactive: Kam Jones, Cormac Ryan, Pete Nance, Tyler Herro
What We Learnt
The Bucks badly, and I mean badly, need Tyler Herro to look like a functioning team.
Bonus Bucks Bits
- The Bucks lost the second and fourth quarters 64-26 combined. They also got destroyed on the boards, 59-32, and lost the possession game, 89-79.
- Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t shoot well from the field (5/14), but he attempted an absurd 14 free throws. Myles Turner’s inability to provide any resistance was a major reason for that.
- Jenkins does seem to have quite a short leash with Ware. He had a stint last night where he came in, made a defensive mistake on Towns, and got taken right back out, with Jenkins deep in conversation with him after he was pulled. I don’t really know what to think of that, quite honestly. You could argue it’s unfair that Turner seemingly gets way more leash despite playing “equally as bad.” That said, I do think Turner does a lot of intangible things that don’t show up on the stat sheet and that, despite his poor form, he is needed for 25-30 minutes per game for the Bucks to look like a functional basketball team. I do not necessarily feel that way about Ware.
- Not sure if it’s even worth mentioning, but did anyone else catch Ament stay on the ground a little longer after his and-one in the first quarter? It looked like he might have tweaked his ankle a bit. Clearly, it wasn’t too bad since he played the rest of the game, but I guess there could be some lingering soreness. I’ll be monitoring the injury report over the next week.
- A nice dime from Bogi to end the game:
Up Next
The Bucks get right back to it tonight at home against the Los Angeles Lakers. Catch the game at 7:00 p.m. CST on MY24.
