The Milwaukee Bucks dropped another game without Giannis last night, this time at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland was superior on both sides of the ball, having their way in the paint
and building a 33-18 differential in the free-throw attempts department. 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
30 minutes, 10 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 turnovers, 4/14 FG, 0/4 3P, -15
Rollins faced some serious ball pressure in this one, with Toumani Camara picking him up full court on most possessions. The young guard isn’t quite used to being a marked man yet, and it shows in his struggles from last night. That said, it would be unfair to expect him to have zero growing pains as he adjusts to a lead role.
Grade: C
Myles Turner
32 minutes, 13 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, 4/12 FG, 3/8 3P, -12
This was a solid outing for the man in the middle. He made some plays in the third quarter that kept the game from going completely haywire. It would be great to see him get a little more involved offensively with Giannis out, though.
Grade: B
Kyle Kuzma
27 minutes, 15 points, 6 rebounds, 5/9 FG, 1/1 3P, 4/6 FT, +5
Kuz played the type of complementary basketball we want to see from him consistently. Most of his points were easy play finishes, not forced awkward off-the-dribble faders. He probably should have been more aggressive, honestly.
Grade: B
Bobby Portis
26 minutes, 22 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 9/15 FG, 4/5 3P, -5
Bobby was *the* spark in this one. The Bucks won the bench point battle handily, and much of that is thanks to the Mayor. He scored 14 points in the second quarter alone, a run that nearly blew the roof of Fiserv Forum. The fact that he had 20 points at halftime and finished the game with just 22 is not ideal, though, and he probably should have gotten more touches and looks down the stretch ahead of garbage time.
Grade: A
AJ Green
22 minutes, 6 points, 2 rebounds, 2/7 FG, 1/6 3P, -31
What does AJ Green do when he’s not hitting threes? Apparently, he doesn’t play defense anymore; he couldn’t do anything but hack away on that end when matched up against Jerami Grant. Dairy Bird’s game-low plus/minus of -31 emphasizes just how much of a non-factor he was in this loss.
Grade: D
Gary Trent Jr.
32 minutes, 12 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 3/7 FG, 2/4 3P, 4/5 FT, +9
Trent did his job. He hit a few shots. Considering how much plus/minus has hated him as of late, seeing him lead the team in that category is a pleasant surprise.
Grade: B
Cole Anthony
17 minutes, 16 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 8/12 FG, 0/3 3P, -15
Besides Bobby, Anthony was the only Buck really getting stuff going offensively across long stretches. This was a nice bounce-back for the streaky guard after some rough performances recently.
Grade: A-
Jericho Sims
11 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 4 fouls, -17
Sims started this game, the first time he’s done so in a Bucks uniform, but he had an extremely quiet outing, which is unfortunate because Milwaukee really needed some help in the size and physicality departments. Foul trouble torpedoed what was a prime opportunity for the big man to earn some more PT.
Grade: D
Gary Harris
17 minutes, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, -1
There’s not much to be said about the elder Gary’s night. He’s a respectable end-of-rotation player; he looked like one tonight, but he probably should have let at least one shot fly.
Grade: C
Doc Rivers
This team is automatically at a massive disadvantage without Giannis, so it’s tough to heavily fault Doc for things looking rough like they did tonight. However, the repeated defensive lapses have to be addressed, like, yesterday, plus more creativity could have been put into the offense to rescue Rollins from the clutches of Camara and get some real half-court action going.
Grade: C-
Limited Minutes: Andre Jackson Jr., Mark Sears, Amir Coffey, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Pete Nance
Inactive: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Porter Jr., Taurean Prince, Alex Antetokounmpo
Bonus Bucks Bits
- Doc Rivers on balancing Bobby Portis’ minutes when he’s hot and the starters are struggling:
“It’s kinda misleading cause we took him out at the end, so he probably would have played those minutes as well. But he had a great stretch for us, but Bobby in long stretches struggled as well, you know, 30 minutes is usually like his number. I think if it wasn’t a blowout he probably would have played that.”
- Tiago Splitter on how the Bucks are different when Giannis isn’t playing and how he prepared his team for those wrinkles:
“Well, definitely a team that has a lot of shooting pieces to surround Giannis, it makes sense. So the shooting piece is still there, so you gotta be aware of that. Of course, other players now have more shots; it’s just a different team, but still a very talented team and a dangerous team.”
- Myles Turner has now scored double-digit points in nine of his last 10 games. He’s starting to regain form after his slow start to the year.
- This was only the fifth game this season which AJ Green made less than three triples.
Up Next
The Bucks will travel to Miami for a Wednesday night NBA Cup showdown against the Heat, looking to keep Darvin Ham’s famous undefeated record alive. You can catch that one on FanDuel Sports Network at 6:30 p.m. CT.
