Bucks outscored 60-37 in the second half after going up by 21 in the second quarter
The Milwaukee Bucks got their first look at Kyle Kuzma in the lineup against the Atlanta Hawks, and despite some good moments from the newest Buck, the team’s collapse in the second half on both ends of the floor proved to be too much. Atlanta took home the win over the Bucks, 115-110. Bobby Portis had another strong showing starting in the place of Giannis Antetokounmpo last night, going for 26 points, 15 rebounds, and six assists, while Damian Lillard had himself another double-double with 23 points, and 10 assists, and finished one rebound shy of another triple-double. Trae Young led the Hawks offense with 24 points and seven assists, while Dyson Daniels (15 points and 10 assists) and Mouhamed Gueye (15 points and 12 rebounds) had double-doubles for Atlanta. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.
What Did We Learn?
The Milwaukee Bucks have not learned their lesson about how to start the second half of games. They switched up the running issue of the “third quarter Bucks” by applying the maxim for more than just the quarter, instead spending the entire second half getting outscored 60-37. Per Eric Nehm of The Athletic, head coach Doc Rivers talked about the struggles and their laissez-faire approach coming out of the locker room at halftime:
“I thought we completely – I’m trying to find the right word – I don’t wanna say we tricked off the game. Our casualness in the third quarter was ridiculous. And then we couldn’t turn it back on. That’s happened 3 or 4 times this year.”
As someone who’s covered seven games at Fiserv Forum this year, I can say that in at least three or four of those games alone, the Bucks have come out flat and uninspired to start the second half. Maybe Doc was talking about the calendar year of 2025, rather than the season as a whole. It has been an issue with this team regardless of who has been on the floor, with or without Khris Middleton, and no matter what changes have been made to the starting lineup. This group flat-out loses focus at the most random times for no reason.
Listen, I know the team has been on the road for a long time, especially with their canceled game in New Orleans, but losing to a team who had lost nine of 10 and with one capable offensive threat (Young), even without Giannis, is a red flag. Doc does seem to acknowledge his part in getting his team there and how bad they played in that second half. Heck, you could even say they only played one good quarter all night, considering they were down 10 heading into the second.
“It would have been a joke to basketball if we won the game tonight. We didn’t deserve it…And it’s on me, I gotta get them to see it. It’s on me. I gotta get them to see that you can’t be casual in an NBA game and think you’re gonna win the game.”
I’m not ready to throw a deep playoff run out the window with a random game in Atlanta the day after a trade deadline in which the Bucks were active participants. Yet, they can’t just flip a switch after falling asleep to start the second half and expect to beat Indiana, New York, Cleveland, or Boston in a seven-game series. (editor’s note: or just about any semi-serious professional basketball team!)
A Barrage of Threes
While this was an incredibly frustrating game for 2 1⁄2 quarters, the Bucks did have one-quarter of brilliance: the second. They tied a franchise record for most three-pointers in a single quarter with 11 and hit 10 straight from beyond the arc. Here are some of the most impressive threes during the shots from long range during that quarter.
This is the kind of shots you want Kyle Kuzma to be taking.
One of the concerns with Kuzma as the new third option would be his commanding a lot of ball-handling responsibilities, especially with bench units. While there were plays that legitimized those concerns, his catch-and-shoot ability was on full display and this was one of his better ones. While it wasn’t a clean catch off the pass from Trent, Kuzma corralled it off a quick step to square up to the basket, rose up, and fired it over Vit Krejci with 3.9 seconds left on the shot clock to cut the Hawks’ lead down to three points.
If the Bucks can keep running in transition like this, they can be dangerous.
One of the main goals in trading away Khris was to have the Bucks be a faster and more athletic team. Running in transition seemed to be a priority with the roster, and while the style shift wasn’t driven solely by Kuzma, it was good to see a guy like Taurean Prince running. After contesting the shot in the corner, he turns upcourt right away and stays in sight of Damian Lillard down the side. Once Dame sees him open, he fires it over and Prince pulls up for an impressive three-pointer over Keaton Wallace to tie the game at 43-43. If the Bucks are trying to move a bit away from iso-ball and run more after misses, then it’s gonna take buy-in from everyone and at least on this play, they seemed to have done that already.
Number 10 was a perfect example of how the Bucks should play in the half-court.
One of the main complaints about the Bucks offense is how reliant they are on Giannis and Dame to play hero ball to save the day and how often the ball gets sticky. Here in this play, Kuzma gets a strong screen from Prince, and Lopez slips down low to draw the attention of Okongwu, Krejci, and Young. Once that happens, Trent is wide open in the corner and Kuzma rifles a pass to him for the Bucks’ 10th straight make from distance. This is the type of offense we need to see more often and I’m not saying this exact play. However, the Bucks need to be willing to pass the ball and move it to find the best shot. Sometimes it will be one pass like this one. Other times it could be four to five passes ‘til one gets open. It’s all about committing to playing team basketball and believing in your teammates to execute what the gameplan is.
Bonus Bucks Bits
- The 11 three-pointers from the Bucks in the second quarter tied a franchise record for most threes in a quarter.
- When Lillard earned his 16th point of the night during the third quarter, he passed former Portland Trail Blazers legend Clyde Drexler for 37th all-time on the NBA scoring list (22,195).
- With his ninth assist in last night’s game at Atlanta, Damian Lillard passed Mookie Blaylock (5,972) to move up to No. 42 on the NBA’s all-time assists list.
- The Bucks fell to 10-11 in their 21st clutch game of the season.
- Kyle Kuzma had a strong first half in his Bucks debut, with 12 points on 3/5 shooting from three-point range. Unfortunately for him and the Bucks, he followed that up with an 0/4 stinker in the second half, did not score at all, and was a -15 on the stat sheet.
- They always say whoever wins the rebounding battle wins the game, and that was certainly the case last night in Atlanta. Yet, when you take a deeper look at how bad things got in the second half, it’s apparent why, with the Hawks out-rebounding the Bucks 33-19 with nine offensive rebounds (they had 12 for the game).
Up Next
The Bucks will swing back north to Milwaukee, where they will host the Philadelphia 76ers for a Sunday Matinee at Fiserv Forum. The final game of the legendary broadcaster and coach Hubie Brown will tip off at 1:00 p.m. Central on ABC, ESPN+, and our Playback and YouTube channels.
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