In an effort most fans would be proud of, the Milwaukee Bucks fell to the Philadelphia 76ers, 127-116, in a game that was much closer than the final score suggests. In the second leg of their back-to-back, the Bucks went to Philadelphia and took it to a team many believe will contend for a title. Every time Philly looked to take control, Milwaukee made a huge play—offensively or defensively—to keep them in the hunt. In the end, though, the 76ers’ talent became too much to overcome. 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
25 minutes, 15 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, 4 PF, 6/14 FG, 2/5 3P, 0
Certainly trending in the right direction, but still not quite at the production level we expect from Ryan Rollins. Kudos to Rollins for getting into an aggressive mindset from the jump, though, with two early attacks on Tyrese Maxey to get him going. I also thought Rollins was pretty damn solid as Maxey’s primary defender, making him work for everything. He’s getting there.
Grade: C+
Tyler Herro
31 minutes, 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 turnovers, 6/14 FG, 2/5 3P, -15
I mean, Herro still shot relatively efficiently, but his floor game was much worse in this one. Whether it was fatigue from the back-to-back—especially after spending so much energy getting the Bucks back into the game against the Bulls—or facing better defenders, Herro was pretty muted last night. The only reason I didn’t put Herro in the D-band is that he wasn’t forcing shots.
Grade: C-
Jaime Jaquez Jr.
27 minutes, 21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, 7/13 FG, 2/3 3P , 5/7 FT, -15
Jaquez did much of his usual work inside again, with another efficient night, but as we flagged in the offseason, his ability to make spot-up threes will determine his next contract—4/6 over his last two games. He also proved to be one of the Bucks’ best defenders on Jaylen Brown, even though he was at a speed disadvantage.
Grade: B+
Kyle Kuzma
35 minutes, 14 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 turnovers, 6/11 FG, 0/3 3P, -3
An OK game from Kuzma overall. In particular, I liked Kuz’s cutting; he made a really nice diagonal cut in semi-transition to get a layup off a drive by Herro in the first quarter.
Grade: C+
Myles Turner
20 minutes, 0 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 3 turnovers, 0/4 FG, 0/2 3P, -16
I mean, where do you even start with Turner? This was maybe the worst game I’ve seen Turner play in a Bucks uniform; he was actively detrimental to the team for most of the game. To sum it up, MT had a sequence late in the second quarter that went as follows:
- Jaylen Brown missed from the right elbow, the ball bounced right in front of Turner, and he let Brown run in and grab his own rebound to put it in;
- a minute or so later, Turner caught the ball on the left wing and telegraphed a pass right into the waiting help defenders;
- Tyrese Maxey ran in front of him in transition, receiving the ball for the layup;
- he telegraphed the ensuing inbound pass, which was stolen by the 76ers;
- he fouled Jabari Walker, but not hard enough that Walker couldn’t get the and-one.
Suffice it to say, the big man found himself on the bench to close the half.
Grade: F
Kel’el Ware
29 minutes, 19 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers, 6/11 FG, 2/5 3P, 5/5 FT, +4
As Michael Corleone says in The Godfather, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” Had some great defensive moments containing drivers in the drop defence, along with blocking shots both in the half-court and in transition. He also ran the floor hard, set good screens, and I thought he took the right three-point shots. I also want to add that Ware sealed smaller players well multiple times, but his teammates didn’t get the ball to him, which was annoying.
Grade: B+
Kasparas Jakucionis
24 minutes, 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 4/8 FG, 0/3 3P, -15
Yet another strong game from Jakucionis, who is cementing himself as a key cog on this team. Showed some great craft and touch around the rim, and maybe most surprisingly, was not scared one bit of challenging Joel Embiid. That said, three turnovers for just two assists isn’t ideal.
Grade: B-
Brayden Burries
17 minutes, 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3/7 FG, 1/4 3P, +6
A solid bounce-back game for Burries, who struggled the night before. When he can get a step on his defender and go to the hoop with a head of steam, good things usually happen—he also hit a nice transition three.
Grade: C+
AJ Green
19 minutes, 11 points, 2 turnovers, 4/7 FG, 3/6 3P, +5
Green made his open threes and mixed in some tough ones, but that wasn’t the news of the day. Did anyone see his hesitation move on the wing, where he exploded to the rim and finished with the right-hand-right-foot finish? Whewwww.
Grade: B-
Nate Ament
11 minutes, 1 point, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 5 PF, 0/1 FG, 1/4 FT, -6
Look, clearly this wasn’t the debut Ament was hoping for. He got called for three fouls in what felt like a minute, then two more for boxing out with the wrong technique. His minutes were just so choppy that it would have been tough to find a rhythm. Ament must learn that his size and length let him defend with a slight buffer and still contest shots; he doesn’t need to get so close to guys or try to steal the ball. That said, we should acknowledge that Ament was tasked with guarding Jaylen Brown, and he did have some nice possessions, including a steal (which was followed by a double-dribble, unfortunately).
Grade: D+
Taylor Jenkins
Again, there’s very little Jenkins can do about 22 turnovers. Maybe you could criticise his decision to throw Nate Ament out there against that team, but Ament needs to get experience somehow, and this season is about development over winning (also, it wasn’t like Ous was lighting the world on fire). Closing with Ware was absolutely the right move. Maybe Herro could have been more of a focal point; he did feel a little too much like an afterthought for my liking, but others may disagree. Overall, though, it’s incredibly impressive that Jenkins had the Bucks push Philly to the brink on the second night of a back-to-back—that’s the story.
Grade: B
DNP-CD: Ousmane Dieng, Caris LeVert, Bogoljub Markovic, Jericho Sims, Gary Trent Jr.
Inactive: Kam Jones, Cormac Ryan, Pete Nance
What We Learnt
The Bucks will win these games if they can just fix their damn turnover problem. They had another 22 in this game, currently ranking seventh-worst in the league.
Bonus Bucks Bits
- Jenkins: “Obviously, the record is the record, but we’re making progress on how we want to play. This was a better reflection of what we want to do defensively… I thought we got great looks, just missed some shots. Turnovers put us in a bind, but overall, I love the competitive juice. Just came up short in the end.”
- Finally, the Bucks won the paint battle, and did so in a major way, beating Philly 58-26. They also killed the 76ers in fast break points (31-13).
- Listen, I’m no Joel Embiid stan, but when healthy, that dude is legitimately unstoppable; easily one of the most skilled big men in NBA history.
- Tyler Herro seems to have a cap of around 30 minutes per game. So far, he’s played 32, 32, and 31 minutes. I reckon the Bucks might be doing what the Hornets did last season with LaMelo Ball, where you cap their minutes in the hope that doing so keeps them healthy, thus increasing their value, and then you trade them.
Up Next
The Bucks get a day off before returning Monday night to play the Indiana Pacers at 7:00 p.m. CDT. Catch the action on MY24.
