Bucks vs. Knicks: Big Apple abomination

Karl-Anthony Towns lights up spiritless Milwaukee

Milwaukee showed little effort or focus on the second night of a back-to-back, losing handily to New York, 116-94, and slumping to 2-7 on the season. Karl-Anthony Towns killed the Bucks with 32 points, while Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 24 points to lead the visitors. A parade of errors from Milwaukee, including giving up fourteen offensive rebounds, was the primary reason for the loss. 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 Bucks got absolutely killed on the offensive boards. On the night, they gave up fourteen offensive rebounds. Too many Bucks were standing around while the shot was going up, not boxing out or (gasps) pushing the other team around. Doc began his presser lamenting the team’s ability to finish possessions.

“In the first eight minutes, we got stops on every possession, and then they got the ball back. They had eight offensive rebounds in the first nine minutes of the game. It’s deflating, because that’s where they scored… and I thought they just controlled the pace the entire game because of it. They used the clock, they kept moving the ball, then they shot, they got a rebound, they got another rebound, and we were walking the ball up the court playing slow basketball. I didn’t think we moved the ball very well today offensively… we’ve got to be batter there as well.”

Three Things

Brook Lopez guarding KAT did not work.

KAT started the game blistering from the three-point line, which forced some hard closeouts, allowing him to attack the rim and finish. He was able to stretch out Lopez, who is used to protecting the rim, and make him defend in space. Postgame, Doc called the decision “a mistake,” and that he should have put Giannis on him from the start but was concerned with the workload it would require from Antetokounmpo.

“We ask so much of Giannis. The last thing we wanted to do was [for him] to start the game on their best offensive player.”

Milwaukee got pushed around, and didn’t push back.

Anecdotally, the main takeaway I had watching this game was that New York, as they are wont to do, were excellent in being physical and pushing the Bucks out of what they wanted to do. The ball wasn’t moving as well as you’d want, evidenced by the Bucks having just 20 assists to the Knicks’ 35. This resulted in a lot of one-on-one, and we know this team looks so much worse when they play that way. Postgame, Doc said the team wasn’t committed to making the next play.

“How many times did we drive the paint and make a play? We got into the paint; we just didn’t make plays tonight. The way we played yesterday and today was night and day. And give the Knicks credit. I thought they got a lot of deflections. They got their hands on a lot of balls”

Ryan Rollins seems to have officially earned a spot in the rotation.

Rollins had been getting some spot minutes in previous games, but was subbed in to take over from Jackson and guard Jalen Brunson late in the first quarter and then again in the third. Doc has said previously that the team believes he has some upside, so it was interesting to see this trend continue.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• I wrote in the Rapid Recap that Jackson had been subbed out at half time for tactical reasons. It was actually due to an injury. (Great!)

• Speaking of Jackson, I thought he was excellent on Brunson in the minutes he did play. The guy just has that rare ability all the top on-ball defenders have where they almost float, if you catch my drift. Very difficult to screen, able to turn the offensive player in the full court and not get beaten, etc. If I had to predict, I’d say his starting spot is here to stay.
• Bobby Portis had some bad closeouts in this game. In particular, he fell for two shot fakes by noted non-shooter Josh Hart. Portis is going to struggle defensively, as we know, but these mistakes are killers.

Up Next

Milwaukee now goes home to face Boston on Sunday at 2:30 PM Central on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.

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