The Milwaukee Bucks’ 22-point comeback fell short in Beantown, as they lost to the Boston Celtics 109-102 after leading in the fourth quarter. If the Bucks could just avoid one horrendous quarter each game, they’d probably have three or four wins by now. The fight and character the team showed was pleasing, to be sure, but fans want to see the team not just be in games, but win them, no matter the opponent. And as I’ll get to, the difference between winning and losing is razor-thin; it is about recognising
moments and understanding what the team wants to achieve in those moments; unfortunately, the Bucks have some guys who seem incapable of doing that. On a completely unrelated note, I am officially retiring from inserting sarcastic/self-deprecating dinosaur-related Easter eggs into my writing until I can make it clear to readers that they are, in fact, sarcastic/self-deprecating dinosaur-related Easter eggs! 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
23 minutes, 13 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers, 5/10 FG, 2/3 3P, +3
Finally, Rollins had what I think everyone would call a solid game (minus the turnovers). His shot still isn’t falling as we’d like, but man, Rollins was a menace on defence. Just terrific on that end. He was given the primary assignment on Derrick White and forced him into a 7/18 night. Rightfully got the close alongside Herro.
Grade: C+
Tyler Herro
32 minutes, 25 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 8/17 FG, 4/10 3P, -8
Herro’s night was highlighted by a white-hot third quarter in which he scored 17 of his 23 points on 6/8 shooting (after failing to score in the opening quarter). It felt like Herro’s aggression flipped a switch at halftime: he came off screens with more vigour, his crossovers were more violent, and he had a stronger will to get to the hoop. Unfortunately, Herro took just one shot in the fourth; not sure whose fault that is, but he needed to be more involved (at least in the final few possessions, Mr Kuzma).
Grade: B-
Jaime Jaquez Jr.
30 minutes, 18 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 7/16 FG, 4/6 3P , -3
On the plus side, Jaquez continues to be money from three this year (although he did take a horrendous one late, as Turner was wide open on the extra pass). On the negative side, he went 0/5 in the fourth quarter and couldn’t get anything to go inside the arc. Still, I thought Jaquez was solid in his possessions guarding PG.
Grade: D+
Kyle Kuzma
27 minutes, 6 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2/5 FG, 1/3 3P, -8
If you looked at the stat sheet, you would think Kuzma played just a meh game, and I suppose he did, but I can’t get over how incredibly frustrating some of his decisions are. As I’ve said before, no matter how he plays overall, Kuzma is guaranteed to give you 2-4 make-you-want-to-pull-your-hair-out plays per game. Most notably, he shot a three off one pass with 18 on the shot clock while down two with three minutes to play. Why!? He also had a play in the third—as the Bucks are desperately trying to string stops together—where he flopped off a slight push-off from Paul George; the refs (rightfully) didn’t fall for it, and he was on the ground when George shot and made the three. He had another pathetic defensive possession on PG late, where he was effectively standing straight up—not in a defensive stance at all—as the 36-year-old zipped past him with ease. Kuzma was rightfully pulled for AJ Green to finish, and I honestly think they win if he didn’t play in the fourth. Just an infuriating player to watch sometimes.
Grade: D
Myles Turner
35 minutes, 12 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, 4/6 FG, 4/6 3P, -1
I thought Turner got monstered on the inside a few too many times—as he is wont to do—but overall, it was another well-rounded game where you really felt his presence. Shooting the ball much better of late. Just keep stacking good games.
Grade: B-
Kel’el Ware
15 minutes, 2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1/6 FG, 0/2 3P, -6
Ctrl C, Ctrl V from the last game.
Grade: D-
Kasparas Jakucionis
12 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebounds, 1 assist, 0 turnovers, 1/2 FG, 1/2 3P, -15
Tough game for Jakucionis, who didn’t play in the second half and had by far the worst plus/minus on the team (the next-worst was -8). I don’t think he necessarily did too much wrong in his minutes; it’s more that I don’t think Jenkins liked how the team operated when he was running it, and he loved how the team ran in the second half with someone else handling the rock. Things were going well, and as the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Grade: D-
Brayden Burries
22 minutes, 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 3/7 FG, 0/3 3P, 3/4 FT, +5
We still haven’t seen Burries explode on offence in the extended minutes that come with starting (granted, his two starts have been against top-10 defensive teams), but he still did a bunch of typical Burries stuff. He has a knack for impacting the game regardless of whether his shot is going in, a quality I absolutely love. Burries was super active and impactful defensively and pursued each rebound like his life depended on it. Also, the rook was on the bench for most of that electric third-quarter run, but I noticed him up and encouraging his teammates the whole time—brownie points.
Grade: C+
AJ Green
20 minutes, 5 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1/5 FG, 1/4 3P, -4
I feel like a bit of a broken record with Green when I say that even when he doesn’t hit shots, it never feels like he impacts the game negatively the way it does with a certain someone. He generally does his job on defence, even if he is undersized in a lot of matchups, and it’s just make-or-miss as to how much he plays. Had a killer defensive possession guarding Paul George in the first half.
Grade: C-
Nate Ament
18 minutes, 9 points, 2 rebounds, 3/9 FG, 2/6 3P, +5
As has been the case a few times this season, Ament had a meh first half and a much better second. He started the game with a major rookie moment, trying to take on Mitchell Robinson and getting it emphatically thrown back in his face, which earned him a seat on the bench immediately. Then in the second half, Ament was just… existing more as part of a coherent unit that was playing extremely well? Like, he took his chances when they came to him instead of forcing stuff, but he also contributed on the other end, which matters to me much more than his scoring. Now, Ament still has a little too much tunnel vision, and I’d like him to set screens and not slip them as much as he does—which will generate scoring chances for him—but hey, encouraging signs.
Grade: C+
Taylor Jenkins
On the one hand, I totally get going back to your veterans to close a game on the road against a good team—and there are certainly other considerations—but Jenkins closing with Kuzma and Jaquez may well have cost them the game. Maybe Ament should have stayed in (though I reckon he’d played a fair stretch by that point), but definitely Green. Heck, Jenkins could have dusted off Jericho Sims, who played well the game before. Other than that, credit to the Bucks coach for getting the team in the right mindset—and with the right game plan—to mount that comeback.
Grade: D+
Limited Minutes: Ousmane Dieng, Jericho Sims
DNP-CD: Bogoljub Markovic, Caris LeVert, Gary Trent Jr.
Inactive: Kam Jones, Cormac Ryan, Pete Nance
What We Learnt
The team is guaranteed to lose its collective mind for one quarter of each game.
Bonus Bucks Bits
- Jenkins on his team’s fight: “Can’t overlook that we were down 22 to the Celtics and came back and took the lead… the energy, the life was there… A lot of growth, a lot of progress. This was awesome by our group. We have to continue to not dig ourselves holes… Overall, our guys’ resilience was the biggest thing from this game.”
- Regarding my comments about Brayden Burries’ ability to impact beyond scoring, I want Nate Ament to learn from that; it feels like Ament is much more “out there” a lot of the time, rather than you feeling his presence from possession to possession. Now, the fact that Ament is even playing regular NBA minutes at this point is huge in and of itself, so I don’t want to put too much on the kid, but it’s just something I’d love for him to be thinking about when he’s out there.
- I found it notable that Brayden Burries matched up with Derrick White, and many draft analysts used White as his player comparison. I wonder if Burries was thinking the same thing.
- The Bucks averaged one turnover per minute in the opening six minutes of the game. Crazy.
- Tyler Herro started the first quarter scoreless; the same thing happened against the Wolves.
- The Bucks shot 14/42 in the first half, and by the halfway mark of the third quarter, they were 10/12. Also, they had just one turnover in the entire third.
Up Next
The Bucks head home now and will open their NBA Cup campaign Friday night against the Toronto Raptors. Catch the action at 7:00 p.m. CST on MY24.
