The undermanned Milwaukee Bucks lost 127-113 at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers yesterday in what was their first “meaningless” game after being eliminated from play-in contention. The game was trending toward embarrassing blowout territory, but a fourth-quarter rally from Milwaukee made the final score look respectable. The Clippers sealed a 2-0 season series victory over the Bucks with this win. 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
Gary Trent Jr.
37 minutes, 36 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 5 turnovers, 12/21 FG, 9/15 3P, 3/4 FT, -8
Trent was lights-out in this one. He started off hot, scoring 11 of Milwaukee’s first 15, and he never lost his groove. The veteran delivered 16 points in the fourth quarter as part of a late rally for the Bucks. Awesome performance from a guy who keeps stacking good days. Gary’s 36 points were a season-high and the most he’s scored in a game since March 11th, 2022, when he had 42 against the Suns.
Grade: A
Taurean Prince
38 minutes, 18 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 5 turnovers, 7/12 FG, 4/7 3P, -2
Usually, you don’t want a player like Prince playing such a featured role, but to his credit, he was good in this one. TP hit timely shots and kept the ball moving, tying his career-high with eight assists. Five turnovers isn’t ideal, but he wasn’t the only guy coughing it up too much.
Grade: A-
Andre Jackson Jr.
33 minutes, 13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 4 turnovers, 5/8 FG, 1/2 3P, -15
AJax continues to look more aggressive on the offensive end. He made solid plays within the team’s sets and disrupted a bit on defense. More and more, he’s showing flashes that justify Milwaukee’s decision to keep him around.
Grade: B
Pete Nance
38 minutes, 5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 2/9 FG, 1/6 3P, -10
Nance’s offensive production has begun to tail off lately, and it’s limiting his ability to impact the game. He does enough on defense and as a hub at the five to make himself a factor when he isn’t hitting shots, but he’s gotta start doing that again.
Grade: C-
Ousmane Dieng
21 minutes, 7 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 6 fouls, 3/8 FG, 0/4 3P, -5
This was one to forget for the young Frenchman. Dieng forced some tough shots, missed all his triples, turned it over too much, and fouled out. This feels like a needed reminder to some fans who jumped the gun with him. Ous is still raw and young with a lot of development left.
Grade: D
AJ Green
28 minutes, 15 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 6 fouls, 4/8 FG, 2/5 3P, 5/5 FT, -18
Dairy Bird was aggressive, but maybe a little too much, as he also fouled out. But on the positive side, he set a new career-high in free throws made with five.
Grade: B-
Jericho Sims
22 minutes, 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 3/5 FG, -16
Somewhat pedestrian game for Sims, relative to the heightened standards he’s beginning to set for himself. Two of his three baskets came in the first two minutes of the game, both of which were impressive finishes over Brook Lopez.
Grade: C
Cormac Ryan
20 minutes, 13 points, 1 steal, 4/6 FG, 3/5 3P, +4
The rookie had the first double-digit outing of his young career yesterday. He looked comfortable, confident, and energetic. He hit a three as part of a big fourth-quarter run that got the few faithful fans in Fiserv jumping. Fun game for the kid.
Grade: B
Doc Rivers
“Playing the right way” has been Doc’s go-to buzzword phrase this season, but honestly, it’s the most accurate way to describe how the Bucks played in this game. Every guy on the floor kept the ball moving and played unselfishly. The offense really felt connected from start to finish, with each player (save maybe Dieng) hunting the best shot for the team. They turned it over too much, but that’s a natural byproduct of having no point guards in the lineup (where’s Mark Sears when you need him). So, assuming the structure of the game plan can be attributed to Doc, he did a solid job.
Grade: B
Inactive: The Antetokounmpos (Giannis, Alex, Thanasis), Ryan Rollins, Kyle Kuzma, Myles Turner, Bobby Portis, Kevin Porter Jr.
Bonus Bucks Bits
- Doc on Brook Lopez, who made his return to Milwaukee yesterday for the first time since he left in free agency:
- “I wasn’t here when he won the title. I can just tell you what he meant to me, and I texted him and this, after everything went down, you know, I hate ranking cause every time I rank somebody I get some blowback, you know, but he is a top five character person, by far, I’ve ever been around in the NBA, forget coaching, player. Brook was, I fell in love with the guy as a human being. He did everything right. Prepared right. He’s emotional about the game. You know, people don’t see that because he’s so stoic, but Brook is fiercely competitive. He hates… last year, when we were struggling, that one stretch with all the injuries, every time we lost a game, he would text me, ‘what can I do more?’ That was all. Not, what someone else is not doing, I want more shots, it was ‘what can I do more to help you help the team?’ That’s, I’ve never got that text from any player in my career, like that, and he did it every time, and he meant it, and so he was amazing. This city should embrace him every time he comes to the city.”
- Tyronn Lue on one thing that’s surprised him about Brook Lopez in his first season with the Clippers:
- “His work ethic. I mean, every single day, coming in with JVG, doing his shooting every day, doing his defensive stuff every single day, and no days off. You know, a guy who’s been in the league that long and that’s solidified as a great player this whole time, to just see him come in every single day and work, and so the same routine every single day, you can see why he’s had a long career. He’s a really good player.”
- Gary Trent Jr. on what he does to stay positive and loose regardless of the outcome of games and how many minutes he’s playing:
- “Again, you can only really control what you can control. I’m going into the eighth year of my NBA career. I’ve starred in games, I’ve been benched, I’ve been behind the bench in a suit, I done started and scored 40 before, so again, I done touched every aspect that you can be a part of, good and bad, so really just over those years, throughout my course of my career, helped me how to deal with things, how to stay sane, how to continue to keep working, little things like that.”
- Cormac Ryan went down chasing after a loose ball in the fourth quarter, and two Clippers helped him up. Always fun seeing little displays of sportsmanship like that, and Ryan’s overall energy has been very noticeable since he joined the team. He’s constantly standing up on the bench and cheering his teammates on.
Up Next
The Bucks will continue their homestand on Tuesday night, March 31st, against the Dallas Mavericks. Catch that one at 7:00 p.m. CDT on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.
