Nothing out of the ordinary: Bulls 83 – Bucks 75
From tip to finish, there were virtually no surprises in Milwaukee’s 83-75 loss to the Chicago Bulls Saturday night. Both teams represented themselves well on the defensive end, as you’d expect the second and fifth ranked defensive teams in the league to do. Milwaukee shot under 40%, as they often do. Luol Deng played well against the Bucks, as he often does. It was a pretty run of the mill evening.
Until the game was over.
Post game, Brandon Jennings let loose with some of his frustrations after another subpar performance.
“It ain’t like last year,” Jennings noted after making just two of six shots in 28 fourth quarter-less minutes. ”I’m not the go-to guy like I was last year. When I get the ball, I guess I’ve got to do something with it, because I know I probably won’t get it back.”
Jennings statements didn’t seem to be made with much malice. Instead they were rather matter of fact admissions regarding things out of his hands that Jennings doesn’t appear to be thrilled with. And while things obviously aren’t like last year across the board, it’s worth looking into how much weight his words hold.
Milwaukee’s young point guard is having virtually the same exact season he had last year, having replaced last season’s flaw of terrible finishing at the rim (up to 50.4% at rim from 42.7% last season) with worse three-point shooting this season (down from 37.4% last season to 33.3% this season). He’s attempting less than a half a shot game less this season than he did last and has a nearly identical rate of possessions used (shots or turnovers per possession on court).
It’s after dramatic statements like the ones he made on Saturday night when it’s worth noting again that Jennings is 21-years-old. He’s being asked to play an important role on a team full of bad basketball players, and the results haven’t been good this year. His game hasn’t progressed as many hoped and the team has taken a big step backwards this season. He’s frustrated, just like everyone else and while he and his teammates have spent most of the season attributing blame internally first before unto their teammates, eventually players are going to start looking around, that’s only human nature.
And after a game in which Jennings failed to so much as attempt a three-point shot for the first time all year, he looked around. Most of Jennings threes come off drive and kicks from his teammates. There weren’t many kicks to be had on Saturday, possibly because of the Bulls defense, possibly because Milwaukee’s wings just didn’t think it was ever the correct play.
Saturday, Jennings certainly didn’t seem to factor into the game, but that hasn’t been the story this season. He’s often controlled the Bucks offense when on the court and it’s misguided to say the Bucks offense hasn’t run through their leading scorer this season. He’s had his chances. Saturday night was a frustrating experience for a 21-year-old searching for answers after another embarrassing loss, nothing more and nothing less.
