Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways From Loss To Cleveland Cavaliers

The Milwaukee Bucks were handed their second straight loss by the Cleveland Cavaliers last night, losing 113-102. With that, we take a look at what stood out the most for them in the loss.

Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

In their second game of their home-and-home series, the Milwaukee Bucks lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers last night 113-102.

Their second straight loss to the defending champs in as many nights, the Bucks followed in the footsteps of how their first two meetings with the Cavs started, as Cleveland took control of the game early on, led by both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

Aside from a hot start from Jabari Parker, the Bucks were without many contributors to keep pace with the Cavs as the first quarter dragged on. That continued into the second quarter as the Cavaliers kept the lead out of reach of the Bucks, leading as much as 16 midway through the period.

But thanks to LeBron getting some much needed rest, the Bucks gradually stormed back, thanks to their own stars in Parker and Giannis Antetokounmpo and decreased the lead to 5 at halftime.

The Bucks would continue to make things uncomfortable for the Cavs in the second half, bringing the lead down to as low as three points late into the third. However, the Bucks’ offense would stall not long after and as was the case throughout the night, they had no answer for slowing down the Cavaliers’ leading duo.

The Cavaliers would only continue to put their foot down on the gas pedal, forcing Bucks head coach Jason Kidd to wave the white flag early by pulling rotation players at around the 8:26 mark of the fourth.

So with that to set the stage, let’s take a deeper look at what did and didn’t work for the Bucks in their loss last night.

Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

His Greekness Is Strong

For the second straight night, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s start against the Cavaliers wasn’t what we hoped for.

Giannis was quiet to start the night, the opposite of his running mate Jabari Parker, and didn’t register his first points until late in the first quarter. But that was where his quiet start would end as he made his presence known on both ends of the floor.

Similar to the previous night, the bulk of Giannis’ scoring came from the free-throw line, making 13 of his 14 attempts from the charity stripe. Of course, Giannis would add in his usual dazzling finishes in transition and he even hit one make from deep out of four attempts, making that four straight games where he’s made at least one three-pointer.

Defensively, Antetokounmpo was consistent, whether it was altering shots around the rim or playing the passing lanes to make interceptions like a free safety in football (like the famed defensive back, Chris “Galloping Greek” Farasopoulos).

Finishing the night with 28 points (on 13 shots), five rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block, Giannis continued to add to his long list of at minimum, solid performances on the season. Unfortunately, it just didn’t come with a winning result.

Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Duking It Out

Not far behind Giannis’ footsteps last night was the team’s other cornerstone, Jabari Parker.

The 21-year old came out firing to start the contest and was the team’s main source of offense for the first quarter (Parker’s 11 first quarter points made up half of the Bucks’ 22 points in the period).

Following his seven minute rest on the bench, Parker picked up right where he left off upon returning the game to build his point total to 19 by halftime. Once play picked back up after halftime, Parker’s offense, specifically back-to-back three-point makes were key to drawing the lead down as low as the Bucks did midway through the third.

Unfortunately, that’s where Parker’s scoring would finish for the night, despite playing additional minutes until Kidd ushered in the garbage time players (name idea for an acting troupe). But scoring 27 points on 20 shots and going 4-of-5 from downtown certainly goes down as one of his better scoring nights of the season so far.

With Parker’s scoring consistently hitting well over double digits at this point, hopefully it’ll be a matter of time until his high scoring nights come with other high marks in support as well.

Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Humble Moses

With Giannis and Jabari leading the way, the Bucks were searching for anyone to join them to give the team a spark. Most wound up not answering that call, but a lone exception, however, was Malcolm Brogdon.

Brogdon continued to add to his steady rookie campaign last night and provided solid minutes primarily playing from the point guard position off the bench (Brogdon did share time with Delly at one point in the third quarter).

Whether it was scoring, playmaking or being a factor defensively, Brogdon did a bit of everything for the Bucks as he has for the majority of the season. As a result, it’s hard to pick one area that stood out, but this play shows exactly how Brogdon plays under such control, even if it looked like it might have spiralled out of that at one point.

In total, scoring 11 points, hauling in five boards, dishing out seven assists and grabbing three steals was all in a day’s work for the now 24-year old. The jack of all trades, master of none approach Brogdon displays on a nightly basis couldn’t suit the Bucks better and it’s certainly been a refreshing change, considering how depleted the Bucks were of key bench contributors last year.

It might not have come in a win, but Brogdon’s performance last night further reinforced how much of a gem the Bucks found early in the second round of the draft just six months ago.

Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Wayward Night For The Pine

As mentioned a few times earlier, the Bucks were without much firepower off the bench, at least when the game was in the balance. Brogdon notwithstanding, key members of the bench brigade, the ones that have helped improve the tire fire that was last year’s unit, were largely nowhere to be found, at least when it came to contributions.

Whether it was a three-point specialist like Mirza Teletovic or Jason Terry, who both failed to hit from three-point range (or in Terry’s case, fail to have a single attempt) or a player such as Greg Monroe, the Bucks were in need of someone to step up outside of Giannis, Jabari or Brogdon when the game mattered the most.

The best contributions from the reserves didn’t come until well after the game was more or less decided, the most notable being Rashad Vaughn, who scored his first points in over a month for the Bucks (Vaughn scored eight points, six of them coming from deep).

Being without Michael Beasley for four straight games is likely an indirect result for the bench’s disappearing act and we often saw how limited the Bucks were in trying to create something when it wasn’t in the hands of Giannis, Jabari or Brogdon.

Whatever the case may be, the Bucks can’t afford nights like this in the future and hopefully Beasley can help be that spark, that is if he were to return the next time the Bucks take the court.

Speaking of which, the Bucks will look to bounce back Friday night once they take on the Washington Wizards at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.