Milwaukee Bucks played Chicago twice in 11 days at home. To the outside eye, you thought “Two easy wins against one of the league’s worst teams that will be nice considering the tough schedule surrounding this games.” That didn’t happen. Instead, Chicago has been playing good basketball of late with the emergence of Kris Dunn and Niko Mirotic, and they beat Milwaukee twice at home. Both times Milwaukee failed to show up defensively. But this time, it stung a little more with the tough road ahead for this Bucks team. Things could be going from bad to worse in games to come.

Bucks failed Giannis in the second half
Milwaukee’s superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo clearly had it going early on in this game. He finished the first half with 20 points. You would think he’d be on to one of those ‘Giannis nights’, yet he only finished with 28 points. The Bucks offense did not find opportunities to get Giannis the basketball. Instead, Khris Middleton continued to find his shot which never showed up, and Giannis didn’t really have the same opportunities he did in the first. Credit Fred Hoiberg for adjusting, and another red mark towards Jason Kidd.

Turnovers and second chance buckets killed this team
Milwaukee turned the ball over 17 times and gave up 15 offensive rebounds. That’s not ideal for a team against anyone. You’re not beating most teams on a given night with that kind of shit performance. Milwaukee continues to be an awful rebounding team, and it showed again tonight. They need some help down low, and it doesn’t even have to be a big move for this team. The John Henson-Thon Maker duo isn’t cutting anymore. Those two combined for a total of nine rebounds.

Middleton should have took an extended break
What a piss poor performance from Khris Middleton. I’m okay with guys having bad nights, but what makes me upset is when players do not realize their shot isn’t falling. One of the bigger issues with Middleton is he fails to see that on a regular basis. When he goes cold, Middleton tries to warm himself up instead of helping out others on the team. The other issue I have is he tried to make things happen from deep while being ice cold. Let’s hope this isn’t the start of a slump.

Next up
Milwaukee welcomes Minnesota for what should be a barnburner in the Bradley Center on Thursday night. This is a fantastic basketball game whilst being worrisome. Milwaukee is awful against shooting guards which means could mean a big Jimmy Butler night, and the rebounding is an issue which means big things from Taj Gibson and Karl-Anthony Towns. Milwaukee will need a strong effort to win.

Charlie.