Weekly Wednesday Wrap-Up: October 30, 2024

Jekyll and Hyde halves from Milwaukee

Welcome back to the Weekly Wednesday Wrap-Up, a—hopefully—weekly series where we recap the week, wonder what trends are noticed, which plays were the best, and the usual vibe check.

The Bucks weren’t given a demanding schedule, but starting with three out of four on the road is a challenging way to kick off the year. Things looked fine in the opener with a professional, no-nonsense victory against the Philadelphia 76ers. Yes, that was without Joel Embiid and Paul George, but one of the things I mentioned in our season preview of Deer Diaries was the Bucks to win the games they were supposed to. The win against the Sixers accomplished that, but the next two games against the Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets fell well short. Given the issues currently presented, how Milwaukee turns it around is interesting, and there are 78 more games for them to turn things around.

The Week That Was

• Bucks 124, Sixers 109 (Ringing In The Season with a Win)
• Bucks 122, Bulls 133 (A Blunder in the Home Opener)
• Bucks 102, Nets 115 (Second-Half struggles spell disappointment)
• Bucks 108, Celtics 119 (Better, but not better enough)

Weekly Wonderings

What are they doing at halftime? I ask because in these four games, the theme has been defense optional in the third quarter. In their four games, the Bucks have allowed 34, 39, 35, and 37 points in the third quarter. That is horrendous on the surface level, but it’s so much worse when you dig a little deeper.

I guess congrats on being mid and not allowing assists, but overall, these are numbers you would expect from a team hoping to win the draft lottery, not a team aiming for a championship. Now, what are the factors that play into this? Milwaukee’s offense, at times, being stagnant or turning the ball over, puts more pressure on defense and miscommunication, which leads to easy baskets for the opposing team, or worse, allowing opposing teams to shoot threes a reasonable amount of time open.

It is not very encouraging that teams are getting a high number of open or wide-open threes, and that results in the opponents feeling confident their shot will go in. In the end, Milwaukee needs to find a way to turn around their second-half performance, as our managing editor mentioned. The good news is that Milwaukee’s next opponent is just as bad in the second half as the Bucks.

Week’s Top Plays

The home opener has some highlights:

The rookies have already shown more than Marjon ever did:

Ok now I just need you to show this effort on defense too:

What’s The Vibe?

It’s only been four games.

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