What’s the difference between me and you? You talk a good one, but you don’t do what you supposed to do. – What’s the Difference, Dr. Dre
Recap/Box Score/Enemy
Tuesday night, in their 118-107 loss to the Lakers, Milwaukee absolutely did not do what they were supposed to do.
Against a team as talented as the Lakers, Milwaukee would have had to play one of their better defensive games to win, and, despite being the number one rated defensive team in the league coming in, they didn’t. It wouldn’t’ be so bad if it were a case of the Lakers coming in and knocking down one difficult shot after another. Kobe Bryant certainly did his fair share of that throughout the night, but that’s just something you expect when the Lakers are in town, that wasn’t the issue.
One wide open shot after the next? Those were issues. Repeatedly in the fourth quarter, Shannon Brown sunk open threes, either shaking off a closeout that was far too hard or soft or catching on skip passes with no defender rotating over.
After a stunning offensive start (Bucks shot 63.2% in the first quarter), it was unrealistic to expect them to continue to play so well on that end of the court. An eventual defensive surge was expected, but never came. One game after holding the Warriors to 72 points in four quarters, the Bucks allowed 118 to the Lakers, the first opponent to score 100+ points on them in regulation this season.
As much as Milwaukee’s offense faltered in the third and fourth quarters (they shot just 35.7% in the second half) and for all the points they left on the free throw line (Milwaukee missed 11 free throws, eight of them from Andrew Bogut), it was their defense that really let them down.
For once, the Bucks just couldn’t get stops when they needed them most. Read more…
