Milwaukee Bucks: Key Takeaways From Win Over Brooklyn Nets

After a largely flat performance in their season opener, the Milwaukee Bucks bounced back with a buzzing beating victory over the Brooklyn Nets. What stood out the most, both and good and bad, for the Bucks?

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

It was a little sloppy and a little too close for comfort at the end, but the Milwaukee Bucks came away with their first victory of the season on Saturday night, beating the Brooklyn Nets 110-108.

Following their opening loss to the Charlotte Hornets, the Bucks were looking to rebound by coming out on top of the sneaky Nets. There were certainly a few factors in the Bucks’ favor, with the biggest being the fact that the Nets were on the second game of a back-to-back (the Nets had a come from behind victory the previous night over the Indiana Pacers in Brooklyn).

However, the Nets didn’t play like a team who were fresh off of a tough battle and while the Bucks were mostly in control for most of the game, they could never fully shake the Nets.

Things came to a head very late in the fourth quarter when defensive mistakes from the Bucks piled up, which led to the Nets tying the game on a key three-pointer from Bojan Bogdanovic with about 11 seconds left in the game.

Although Jabari Parker was tasked with creating a score on the game’s final possession, the game winner came courtesy of a tip-in from John Henson that slowly went through the cylinder as time expired.

Overall, it ended up being the first win of the season for the Bucks and there were many positives to take away from it. But it wouldn’t be a true Bucks nail biting victory if a few glaring negatives didn’t stand out as well.

So with that, let’s dig in to see what worked and what didn’t work in the Bucks’ victory over the Brooklyn Nets.

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The Rashad Vaughn Game

On the day of his third-year option being picked up, Rashad Vaughn certainly celebrated in style by delivering a career performance.

Playing 27 minutes off the bench, Vaughn delivered a career high 22 points, of which he went 8-of-17 from the field and most notably, 6-of-12 from three-point range.

For someone whose shooting struggles have dominated his young career, Vaughn never looked more confident in his shot than he did last night and it was evident as the game wore on.

As a result, the Nets were without any solutions to counter Vaughn’s scoring burst and he made them pay at every chance when he saw daylight to let loose (Vaughn went 6-of-12 on uncontested shots, per NBA.com/stats).

Although his offensive performance will be the biggest takeaway from his play, Vaughn managed to make a very solid impact on the defensive end as well. Vaughn played with great activity, making very measured closeouts and even delivered a pretty emphatic block to close out the first quarter.

With all that said, it’s just one game and as we know very well already, drawing any conclusions from Vaughn’s performance would be getting way ahead of ourselves. Nonetheless, it’s very encouraging to see that Vaughn’s capable of displays like he had last night and all we can hope for is more of the same in the future.

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Give It To The Greek

His performance will ultimately be overshadowed by Vaughn’s, but Giannis Antetokounmpo was undoubtedly the best Buck once again last night.

Coming off his 31-point night against the Hornets, Giannis was once again back to his scoring ways versus the Nets, going for 21 points on 10-of-18 shooting. He didn’t deliver anything out of the ordinary (i.e. three-pointers), but he reeled off highlight after highlight to make the Nets pay.

Along with his solid scoring line, Giannis added in 11 rebounds to tally up his first double-double of the season.

Defensively, Giannis was much more of a factor than he arguably was in the opening game. He regularly disrupted plays, bothered shots and came away with 2 steals as well as 2 blocks to show for it when it was all said and done.

It was just another all-around performance that we’ve come to expect from Giannis and it’s not a stretch to say that it won’t be long before we something similar in the future.

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Matthew Dellavedova: All-State Spokesman

As the great actor, former television president and All-State spokesman Dennis Haysbert once said, “You’re in good hands with Matthew Dellavedova.”

Okay, I can neither confirm nor deny that he said that, but what I can confirm is that the Bucks are in good hands when Delly is on the floor.

Playing a team-high 36 minutes, Delly played his part leading the Bucks on both ends of the floor, tallying up 14 points (on 5-of-10 shooting) as well as racking up nine assists and three steals. Where he didn’t dominate the game like Giannis did or play to a shocking degree like Vaughn did, Delly did what he does best last night by providing a steadying presence when he saw the floor.

Offensively, he was looking to create for others and was not shy to unleash his patented floater driving down the lane. But if you were looking for a Delly effect in last night’s game specifically, it would be on the defensive end.

Similar to how Giannis was crucial for the Bucks offensively in the team’s first two games, Delly is the same on the defensive end. In just the 12 minutes he was off the floor, the Bucks were 40.4 points per 100 possessions worse defensively compared to the 36 minutes he saw in action last night, per NBA.com/stats (surprisingly, not the biggest drop off for the Bucks).

Very small sample size, I know, but only two games in to the Matthew Dellavedova experience so far and it’s been pretty much everything we expected it to be.

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Miles Plumlee’s Disappearing Act

Going from an enjoyable experience to an unenjoyable one, it’s time we talk about Miles Plumlee.

Once again getting the starting nod at the center position, Plumlee delivered an eerily similar performance to what he did Wednesday night against the Hornets. Plumlee only saw the floor for 8 minutes, where he garnered one rebound and had a plus-minus of -11.

Again, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves regarding Plumlee and what this means going forward, but it’s another sign of a growing concern with where he stands within the center rotation.

With how well Monroe and Henson have looked, at least in this one game instance, Plumlee’s play in the first two games of the season is making what we thought would be a challenge for coach Jason Kidd seemingly easy so far.

It’s not time to panic yet, but it feels safe to say that without a difference in performance for Plumlee fairly soon, changes could be made eventually by Kidd.

We won’t have long to see whether we’ll see a change in Plumlee or the Bucks in general as they’ll take on the Detroit Pistons tonight in Auburn Hills.