Bucks Team Notes

[Milwaukee Bucks]

Rapid Recap: Bucks 104, Wizards 101

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Milwaukee wins super ugly in Khris Middleton’s Wizards debut

The Milwaukee Bucks win super ugly against the Washington Wizards in Khris Middleton’s Wizards debut. With Giannis saddled with foul trouble and a minutes restriction, Kyle Kuzma led the way for Milwaukee in his return to Washington with 19 points, five assists, and eight rebounds. The Wizards were led by no. 2 pick Alex Sarr, who posted 22 points and seven rebounds.

NBA.com Box Score

Game Recap​

Predictably, Milwaukee got off to a slow start on offence on the SEGABABA, scoring just eight points in the first five minutes of the quarter. Of course, Middleton nailed a few of his patented mid-range jumpers—and drew a charge on Giannis—to put the Wizards up 13-8 at the first timeout. Without Dame and with Giannis on a severe minutes restriction, you could really tell how much they missed Bobby Portis’ ability to generate offence. Washington stretched their lead out behind threes from Corey Kispert and the newly acquired Marcus Smart. It was rough offensively for the Bucks (shooting just 36% from the field and 25% from three), down 19-32 after one.

Despite shooting 3/4 from the field, Giannis looked out of sorts early in the second, committing four turnovers and a silly foul on a three-point shooter. The Bucks got going slightly on O but kept making defensive errors, but were unable to eat into the Wizards' lead. Finally, the Bucks got going a little bit late in the second: Kyle Kuzma hit a three and had multiple successful drives to the hoop, followed by a Lopez pick-and-pop triple. The Wiz led 56-50 at the half.

Giannis barrelled to the rim off the elbow attack for the and-one to get the Bucks going out of the half. Then they hit Rollins off the down-screen for the floater, followed by transition buckets from Kuzma and Antetokounmpo to grab Milwaukee’s first lead since the score was 2-0. Giannis drove to the hoop and got called for a charge to give him his fourth foul; Doc challenged the call, but it was unsuccessful. Luckily, the Wizards continued to miss, and the Bucks continued to make, forcing a Wizards timeout up 69-62 about halfway through the third. Kispert came in for the Wizards and immediately halted the Bucks’ run with a movement three. Then Giannis got his fifth foul off a sketchy call and had to go to the bench. The non-Giannis lineup was a mixed bag, but the line I would use to describe it is, “Kuz giveth, Kuz taketh away.” Bucks led 84-75 after three.

After having a rough game up to that point, Gary Trent Jr. nailed the mid-range and-one to give the Bucks their first points of the fourth. Then both teams went comically cold for six straight possessions before Ryan Rollins broke the seal with a transition three—Bucks up 90-76. KPJ, or “Scoot” as the team calls him, then exploded off some botched pick-and-roll coverage for a mean two-handed jam, followed by consecutive mid-range jimmies. The Bucks’ lead got down to 10, and Doc brought Giannis back in for the first time since midway through the third. Antetokounmpo then made two frankly really lackadaisical errors and got his sixth foul of the game. The wheels fell off for the Bucks during this period as Washington went on a 14-1 run. Khris, of course, nailed the triple to reduce the lead to one with a minute to go, but Lopez got free throws down the other end to get the Bucks’ advantage back up to three with 38 seconds left. Brook then got the monster block on the next defensive possession and should have gotten the ball on the mismatch down the other end, but Kuz took the three and missed, giving the Wizards an opportunity to tie it down 101-104. And, of course, the play was drawn up for none other than Khris Middleton, who missed the fading wing triple, thankfully. Bucks win, and I need a cigarette…

Stat That Stood Out​

Giannis looked off in this one in a few ways, but his seven turnovers in 19 minutes stood out to me. I think his minutes restriction and unfamiliarity with his new teammates, along with some of the usual Giannis stuff (overdribbling, going too fast, etc.), really plagued him tonight in a game he’d probably like to forget (at least from a personal perspective).

---

Support our site! | BreakingT | ESPN+ | ESPN+ 30 For 30 | fuboTV | Disney+

Source: https://www.brewhoop.com/2025/2/21/...okounmpo-kyle-kuzma-khris-middleton-alex-sarr

 

[Milwaukee Bucks]

Bucks vs. Wizards: Old faces, new places

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Milwaukee grinds out a win against Washington’s Khris Middleton

The Milwaukee Bucks failed to register a field goal in the final 7:02 of the game but somehow escaped with the victory against the Washington Wizards, 104-101. Kyle Kuzma, although relatively inefficient, was among Milwaukee’s most impactful players with 19 points, five assists, and eight rebounds in his Washington return. Giannis had 18 points in 19 minutes, and five other Bucks register at least nine points. Alex Sarr dropped 22 and seven rebounds for Washington, while Khris Middleton had 12 points on the evening, including a ginormous three down the stretch. 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?​

I think the main learning was that with Dame out, Giannis on a minutes restriction, and Bobby suspended, it was a grind to generate offence. Kyle Kuzma helped a little with that but asking him to be a facsimile of Khris is a little unrealistic. They tried tapping into “Brooklyn” as Doc called it postgame, where Brook Lopez gets down on the block and plays like he did with the Nets all those years ago. But other than that, you’re looking at KPJ as the primary creator (which he has done an admirable job of thus far), and asking Trent, Green and Rollins to do stuff above their paygrade. Makes you a little nervous, but the upgrade in defence and rebounding offsets that a little bit.

Three Observations​

Washington’s switching coaxed Milwaukee and Giannis into a brand of slow, iso-heavy offence.​

With the lack of offensive options last night, the Wizards plan seemed to be to switch basically everything and stay out of rotation, which inevitably led to the ball ending up in Giannis’ hands on the block with a mismatch. Now, Giannis can usually beat mismatches, but you pair that strategy with the fact that Milwaukee was down creators, Antetokounmpo on the minutes restriction and looking out of sorts, no Bobby to stretch the floor, and the usual slew of options dried up. This was a nice piece of coaching from Brian Keefe, I thought, to pick that poison for this particular game, given the circumstances.

Kevin Porter Jr. is impressing not only fans, but his coaches and teammates.​

KPJ had just two points at halftime, but 10 in the second half as he helped keep the margin at 10–14 points through the late third and early fourth. You could see the team deferring to him as the primary creator throughout the game, and he kept delivering. His ability to snake pick-and-rolls and get to those step-back jimmies is awesome. The herky-jerky dribbling is tantalising. Giannis spoke glowingly of Porter postgame:

“Oh, I love him. He’s nice, I’m not even going to lie to you... He’s been incredible these past two games I’ve played with him… He’s able to get to his spot, create for others. Defensively, he’s so good. Knows how to use his hands and his body… I love playing with him… That’s a steal, for sure.”

Just wanted to throw this one in here for the heck of it:

Ryan Rollins continues to stay ready.​

After not playing the previous night, Rollins started against the Wizards and produced. 6/10 from the field and 2/5 from three with four assists, four rebounds, three steals, one block, and a team-high +12 in 33 minutes. Yeah, this dude is an NBA player, period. He has just three games left on his two-way contract. Maybe the Bobby Portis situation complicates matters, but the Bucks would surely want to sign him to a standard contract, right?

Bonus Bucks Bits​

• Not to be dramatic or anything, but Kyle Kuzma attempting that late contested three with Brook right in front of him on the block being guarded by Kyshawn George (!) made me want to throw my computer out of the window. Doc jokingly said Kuzma was trying to be the hero in his return after the game:

“That last play was supposed to go to Brook and Kuz wanted to make the shot. So we’re going to give him the hero ball grace period for one day. But he knew it right away.”

• Brook Lopez had a massive block on Middleton late in this one. Postgame, he credited Kuz with doing a good job running Khris off the three-point line and funnelling him into the paint.
• Jericho Sims is doing a fine job. He screens and rolls hard; if they’re switching, he still rolls hard to quickly take his matchup out of the action (even though he knows he’s not getting the ball with the mismatch). The guy just does things with purpose and intent. It’s not necessarily pretty, but he’s definitely additive out there.
• Rough few games for Gary Trent, eh? A combined 6/19 over this back-to-back.
• No minutes for new Wizard AJ Johnson.

Up Next​

The Bucks head home to play the Miami Heat on Sunday night in their blue City Edition uniforms! Catch the action at 6:00 p.m. Central on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin or stream it on our Playback and YouTube channels.

---

Support our site! | BreakingT | ESPN+ | ESPN+ 30 For 30 | fuboTV | Disney+

Source: https://www.brewhoop.com/2025/2/22/...okounmpo-kyle-kuzma-khris-middleton-alex-sarr

 

[Milwaukee Bucks]

Fans think Giannis’ MVP case is waning

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

The Bucks need a strong finish to get the Greek Freak back in the conversation.

Most Valuable Player debates haven’t been quite as toxic this season as they’ve been in years past, and mercifully seemed to start deeper into the year. Giannis Antetokounmpo hasn’t finished above third since winning his second MVP in 2020, even slipping to fourth last year. Last year, when he became the first player ever to average at least 30 points per game while also shooting over 60% from the field. The first ever! Not even Wilt Chamberlain did that while feasting on expansion teams in the 60s!

He’s going to accomplish that very same feat this year too. For a good chunk of the season, Giannis led the lead in scoring at around 32 PPG. In the past couple months, he’s slipped ever so slightly to a still-outstanding 31.2 PPG to go with 11.9 RPG and 5.8 APG. He’s doing this all on 61% shooting, 61.4% effective field goal percentage, and 62.1% true shooting (Damian Lillard is just 0.1% behind him!)—just super efficient stuff.

On top of that, he’s blown away previous career highs in the midrange at 50.6% between 10–15 feet and 45.3% between 16 feet and the three-point arc. That’s good for 33rd and 43rd among the 186 players who’ve logged over 1,000 minutes, ahead of stars like LeBron James, Jaren Jackson Jr., Tyrese Haliburton, De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Maxey, Donovan Mitchell, and Karl-Anthony Towns. He even shoots better from that 10–15 range than Steph Curry on similar volume!

Of course, many of these stats are better than his back-to-back MVP seasons of 2019 and 2020, when he played fewer minutes per night thanks to a more dominant Bucks squad. His per-36 averages for rebounds and assists are a teensy bit shy compared to those rates in his first MVP campaign, but his scoring volume is higher (it will be hard to top his 34.8 points and 16.1 rebounds per 36 from his second MVP campaign, but he’s only two points away).

But Shai Gilgeous-Alexander assumed the driver’s seat in the scoring title race since the New Year amid a historic season of his own. Though Giannis is just one point per game behind SGA currently, it’s easy to imagine that last year’s runner-up will get the nod in 2025 thanks to the Thunder’s utter dominance. I certainly can’t argue with it: his case is stronger, given how much OKC has rampaged through the league (at least when the games have counted in the standings!), plus his 32/6/5 averages on .522/.357/.899 shooting are sterling. That line grants Gilgeous-Alexander better efficiency numbers than Giannis, for the most part. SGA has also only missed one game all season.

Reflective of this, he’s at +10,000 in FanDuel odds, waaaaayyyyy behind SGA (-500) and Nikola Jokic (+340). Fans are even more bearish, which might make you think he’ll finish lower than third. A national poll conducted by SB Nation has SGA as the runaway frontrunner for MVP honors at this point, with Giannis getting a mere 1% of the vote.

Jokic is enjoying another amazing season, possibly his best, that will surely place him in the top three vote-getters again, but I highly doubt he’ll get his fourth award. Maybe if he’d won another title last season. But to have Tatum, whose scoring and efficiency are down a fair bit as compared to his last two seasons, over Giannis is a joke. Yes, Boston is good, but they’ve been surpassed to some degree in the East, at least in the regular season. Methinks their fans may have stuffed this virtual ballot box. Towns probably gets a Knicks fan boost too, and Wemby isn’t going to qualify since he’s done for the season (this poll was conducted prior to that announcement).

Team success is probably the biggest reason Giannis isn’t higher: at 31-24, the Bucks’ roller coaster year has them at least 5.5 games behind the other contenders’ squads in the standings. And to be honest, Giannis’ free throw shooting is a big demerit against him. At a career-worst 57.7%, he’s obviously detrimental once he steps to the line, though he’s not getting there at quite the same pace as he was from 2021–24 when he topped a 60% free throw rate twice. But it’s the third-highest in the league behind Rudy Gobert and Mason Plumlee (who has played nearly 1,000 minutes). While he’ll make an All-NBA First team for a seventh time if he can play in 22 of the Bucks’ last 26, a third MVP is probably out of the question after he positioned himself as possibly a favorite in mid-December once Milwaukee broke out of their early season slump.

And playing in 22 of 26 is by no means guaranteed. Though he just returned from a left calf strain after the All-Star break and played in back-to-back games, the Bucks have five more B2Bs remaining, including two in April, thanks to their January Pelicans matchup being postponed. After missing so much time in the Bucks’ last two playoff runs due to injury—one from perhaps fatigue but another from Kevin Love taking a charge, to be fair—you have to think they’ll look to get Giannis some rest going into the postseason when they’re able. Still, I think fans will take a healthy Giannis in the first round over one who played 65 games in an Embiidian charge at an MVP.

Source: https://www.brewhoop.com/2025/2/22/...ee-bucks-shai-gilgeous-alexander-nikola-jokic