A 127-82 disembowelment by the hapless Nets should cost at least one of the Bucks below their jobs, regardless of Giannis being out. And I’m not talking about any player. Read our full summary of the game
here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below. Fire Doc.
Player Grades
Myles Turner
24 minutes, 9 points, 3 rebounds, 0 blocks, 2/4 FG, 0/2 3P, 5/6 FT, -21
Another pretty invisible game because of a coaching staff not putting Turner in position to succeed. Often nowhere near the rim on defense since his job is apparently to switch onto smaller guys while rollers beat Buck guards inside. Fire Doc.
Grade: C-
Kevin Porter Jr.
30 minutes, 5 points, 7 assists, 6 turnovers, 4 steals, 2/13 FG, 0/5 3P, -21
After three steals in the first six minutes, KPJ’s positive contributions to this game were over. I know he’s been on a tear recently and they need his offense, but I felt he devolved into a chucker last night. Just bad shot selection and plenty of careless turnovers too, though he wasn’t alone in that regard. On the other end, he overhelped often and lost his man a few times. Fire Doc.
Grade: D
Ryan Rollins
22 minutes, 11 points, 5 assists, 2 turnovers, 5/11 FG, 1/5 3P, -28
Had a few nice drives to the rim when the game was still within reach, but that’s about it. He gambled for steals too often, which just resulted in easy Nets buckets. Fire Doc.
Grade: C
Kyle Kuzma
28 minutes, 13 points, 7 rebounds, 6/11 FG, -18
Kuzma began a perfect 4/4 from the field, so you can see how he faded a bit. He did his level best to will Milwaukee back into it during the second quarter alongside Trent. Fire Doc.
Grade: C+
Gary Trent Jr.
29 minutes, 20 points, 2 steals, 7/14 FG, 4/8 3P, -17
Leading all scorers, it was in large part due to GTJ’s shotmaking that the Bucks were briefly within 11 in the second quarter. This and the Boston game are easily the best he’s looked since the season’s opening week. Fire Doc.
Grade: B
Bobby Portis
16 minutes, 10 points, 3 rebounds, 4/7 FG, 2/3 3P, -16
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at Portis going from heavily engaged on defense against the Celtics back to his lackadaisical ways. His entry in the first quarter was when the floodgates started to open, as Brooklyn kept getting to the rim with ease. Fire Doc.
Grade: C-
Cole Anthony
20 minutes, 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assists, 4 turnovers, 4 fouls, 0/4 FG, 3/4 3P, -27
A couple of his ugly turnovers late in the first quarter were big reasons the Nets built an early 12-point lead. When Anthony is bad, he’s bad. He’s only getting minutes because AJ Green is out—he can’t be logging DNP-CDs soon enough. Fire Doc.
Grade: F
Jericho Sims
30 minutes, 7 points, 7 rebounds, 3/4 FG, -29
Having supplanted Trent as the plus/minus scapegoat of this team, I don’t know what the Bucks need to be doing to play better when he’s on the floor. Because despite his rebounding and athleticism, he’s not helping them at all. Even with Giannis out, he should play fewer minutes. Fire Doc.
Grade: D+
Andre Jackson Jr.
15 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1/6 FG, 0/5 3P, -16
Pre-garbage time entrant in the third, though the game was out of reach then too. Got some shots up but didn’t distinguish himself. I get wanting to try him out over Anthony, but it’s not as if Ajax had any more success defensively than other Bucks. Fire Doc.
Grade: C-
Doc Rivers
How much worse does it have to get? How many losses do they have to compile before Jon Horst finally stops the bleeding here? How many times do fans need to tweet Fire Doc? This man is one of the five highest-paid coaches in the NBA and has no answers. His players are undisciplined, he doesn’t have them ready, his staff’s schemes don’t work at all without Giannis, and they obviously need something when he’s not on the floor. He hasn’t been a good coach since before the Clippers acquired Kawhi Leonard. The Boston win was an aberration thanks to outlier shooting in the second half. The Pistons game looks flukier and flukier by the day. Rivers needed to be canned two weeks ago, and the longer he stays, the more this franchise’s future slips away. He is not helping keep the big fella with these results.
Grade: F
Limited Minutes: Gary Harris, Fire Doc
Garbage Time: Amir Coffey, Pete Nance, Fire Doc
DNP-CD: Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Fire Doc
Inactive: Alex Antetokounmpo, Giannis Antetokounmpo, AJ Green, Mark Sears, Fire Doc
Bonus Bucks Bits
- Fire Doc.
- Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez came down with the flu earlier in the day and wasn’t on the sidelines for this one. Assistant Steve Hetzel took his place.
- Fire Doc.
- This is the fewest points the Bucks have scored since losing to the Heat 97-79 on January 14, 2018.
- Fire Doc.
- While Brooklyn shot the ball predictably well, it’s not as if they tore the cover off it (52.9% FG%, 44.2% 3P%). The disparity, though, is a major story: the Bucks shot just 39.2% and 22.9% from three. Both are season lows by 0.8% and 6%, respectively.
- Fire Doc.
- Brooklyn’s offense ranks 24th per Cleaning The Glass with a 112.8 offensive rating. Milwaukee matadored them to 129.6, while posting 82.8 for themselves.
- Fire Doc.
- Only the Clippers’ loss 98-79 loss to the Warriors in late October has a lower losing team point total this year.
- Fire Doc.
- Gary Harris played only six minutes, all in the first half. He looked fine and even hit a three while the game wasn’t out of hand, but I guess Doc decided to go bigger? Didn’t work.
- Fire Doc.
- Rim defense was a major issue in the first half, with 36 points in the paint for the Nets and 28 for the Bucks. In the third, Brooklyn really fell off inside… because they shot 7/14 from deep and outscored Milwaukee 34-23, all but putting the nail in this one.
- Fire Doc.
- Like I said in the rapid, the Bucks did everything poorly as a team. I could go on about the 20-13 turnover differential, the 24-13 fast break differential, but this is nothing new. Doc hasn’t fixed it, and won’t. Time to find someone new, even if it’s just Darvin Ham.
- Fire Doc.
Up Next
Thanks to the NBA Cup, the Bucks will have another three-day break between games before hosting the Raptors for the first time this season after splitting the first two matchups in Toronto. Tip is at 7:00 p.m. CST and viewable on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.
Fire Doc.
