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The Milwaukee Bucks disappoint in 122-113 loss to the Indiana Pacers



The Milwaukee Bucks disappoint in 122-113 loss to the Indiana Pacers

Hey what it do welcome to another new episode of lock on bucks on today’s show despite a triple double from jiannis out of the Koo the Bucks could not pull out a victory against the Pacers tonight losing 122 to 113 this loss to the Pacers snaps a 15 game home win streak

For the bucks we’re going to break down what we saw during this matchup take a closer look at the role that each team’s bench happened to play during this matchup as well as look ahead to Wednesday’s rubber match between these two teams all of that and more coming up next

Next you are locked on bucks your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day you are locked on bucks part of the lock on podcast Network your team every day I’m Camille Davis and you can catch me weekly on the technical file podcast

As well as cheese head TV’s carry the G and MK joining me is longtime voice of the Pod and found ER of brw hop.com Frank Madden we appreciate you for tuning in to the podcast and thank you for making locked on bucks your first listen every single day we are free and

Available wherever you get your podcast as well as on YouTube today’s episode was brought to you by prize picks the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize.com lockon NBA and use the code all lowercase locked on NBA for a first deposit match up to

$100 we’re going to talk a bit more about prize picks later on but first we got to get into this game because although there were less theatrics in this particular matchup against the Pacers and what we saw the last time it got a little chippy in the fourth

Quarter but regardless of that it ended with a bucks L it was too much Tyrese halberton and TJ McConnell down the stretch in the fourth quarter alone TJ had 12 points and four assists and then when Tyrese halberton came back in the game about that seven and a half minute

Mark he was able to drop nine points in that final frame to help tie the game up for the Pacers yeah and I mean I think this is probably the the best defense the Bucs have played against Tyrese halberton um this season and I think a lot of it goes

To the fact that you’re not seeing Brook Lopez on Miles Turner when the starters are in it’s Giannis against Miles Turner which means that they can switch the Miles Turner Halbert and pick and rolls which is the single most efficient pick and roll in basketball I was looking at

Some of the second Spectrum data today damis or fourth that pairing of of halberton and Turner have been first but you put Giannis on Turner and then you can switch the tyes Turner pick and roll um and we saw to start this game Jaylen Smith was the new fifth starter for the

Pacers and the Bucs were like cool go ahead shoot three-pointers he was shooting like what 60% from three or something on some really small volume and the Bucks said like that’s fine we don’t we’re not worried about you Brook Lopez you’re going to defend Jaylen Smith but really just kind of hang back

Back in the paint and um you know the the Pacers they have I mean they basically the first half of that first game in Indiana they shot the lights out and since then they really have not shot the ball particularly well from three at all and tonight they were horrendous bucks

For the past month have been the luckiest team in basketball as far as teams just missing wideopen three-pointers they follow we we follow up a six for 43 shooting fight from the Cavs on Friday the only reason the Bucks won that game was because the Cavs couldn’t hit the broadside of the barn

The only reason this game was close of all was because the Cavs couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn five of 35 so to go 11 of to have your opponents go 11 of 78 over a two game span and be I think slightly outscored by maybe a point or

Two whatever it was um not a good sign as far as kind of like you know you kind of look at the fundamentals of the bucks these last two games I guess you take one win I I mean you should have clearly won both games um so yeah I mean this

This the Pacers just with the you know the things you can control things you can’t control the things you can’t control are whether your opponents make open threes Pacers didn’t do it at all tonight and all the things that you can control uh the Pacers pretty much

Wrecked the Bucks in that department and you know you just look at the bench performances we’ve seen it all year the Pacers bench has wrecked the Bucks bench TJ McConnell you know I mean bucks couldn’t defend TJ McConnell when Drew holiday was on this team they certainly

Can’t defend TJ McConnell now um he hey he only had 16 points Camille it felt like he had a lot more than that um but he was a plus 31 in 22 minutes which is crazy crazy um and uh you know Tyrese albertt and what was he minus 21 or

Something like that or no I think he was he was he he brought it back a lot but y number yeah a lot of their starters were big negatives tonight um Turner was a minus 20 nard minus 21 he only played eight minutes and he was a minus 21

Before he left with an injury Jaylen Smith was minus 19 but halberton only minus five because again the bench units just destroyed the Bucs bench unit and um you know again it’s some some familiar themes certainly that we saw tonight um but yeah I mean again like

You had chance to win this game and you know ultimately I think the Pacers had a 116 offensive rating that that should be enough for a Bucks team that has you know had the second best offense in the league you should be able to especially against a pat team that defensively obviously has

Been bad all season right but they battled even without Bruce Brown their best perimeter Defender um you know they really battled I think um put pressure on Dame and you know Dame had a lot of good looks still and uh you know he just kind of laid an egg tonight kept

Shooting it down the stretch I don’t know if he hit a shot in the fourth quarter um and uh again I think they doubled Giannis enough to kind of take the ball out of giannis’s hands try to make other guys beat them and uh you know Chris had another pretty solid very

Solid offensive performance um but Dame three for 16 shooting again like on a night when you need to outscore the other dudes like that just wasn’t enough and again we can kind of go down the list of the bench guys who also just struggled and had another kind of car

Crash of a night from A plus minus perspective which I think was a a pretty accurate reflection of the game absolutely you mentioned the fact that we had a cold night from Dame three of 16 from the field you don’t want to see 13 points on 16 attempts from Dame one

Thing that was really interesting in his postgame comments he mentioned the fact that you know shot I was taking it felt good coming off my hand you know sometimes when you’re shooting you can tell like oh this is not going any it felt good and he mentioned that a

Problem when I should say the word problem but one thing that he’s adjusting to right now is just not having the ball in his hands as often as he is used to and he mentioned the fact that you know sometimes it’s a bit harder uh to get that natural Rhythm to

The game when you’re just playing off ball and you’re just doing catch and shoot uh situations rather than trying to make something you know with your own hands here and you saw in the first quarter when Dame the first quarter felt like a Dame quarter he had the ball in

His hands a lot believe he finished he was two or four in the first quarter had some assists was moving the ball around pretty well um and as the game went on the shots just were not falling for him he had some good looks but they just

Weren’t happen to fall for him so you hate to see that from Dame tonight and it does give me some questions about what changes we might see going forward in next matchup which we can talk about a little bit later but do want to shout out the fact that Giannis had a triple

Double tonight 30 points 18 rebounds 11 assists and it was interesting I was wondering how the Pacers were going to try to defend Giannis given the fact that he was coming into this Pacers game so far this season the previous three matchups averaging 51 points 12 rebounds

And 2.7 assists so I figured we’d see some different coverage around Yannis and the Pacers were far more aggressive trying to double team him turn him into a passer which he was willing to be and he was also able to still pick his spot still be aggressive um it’s just that as

You mentioned the three-point shot wasn’t falling super well for the bucks but luckily it wasn’t falling for the Pacers either yeah and I mean Malik Beasley had a great start to this game yeah he did um in terms of hitting the outside shots

And you know I I I’m I’m try I curious I haven’t looked in the Box Score gone through the play byplay but um you know he ends ends the game four for eight from three and and four for eight from the field over all in 37 minutes so I

Mean he played a ton he had five fouls um but he played a ton of minutes tonight and I’m curious how many shots he hit after the first quarter because it felt like pretty much all that stuff was coming in the first like 15 minutes

Or so of the game um so yeah I just felt like once Beasley’s kind of initial hot streak wore off um there was just very little you know going from from the Bucks in terms of three-point shooting and um you know I think one of the things that we saw especially in the

Fourth quarter uh you know the Pacers again we’ve seen them kill the Bucks in transition throughout this season that’s why they’ve won three out of four um and they’ve got a chance you know they’re going home they have a chance to make a four out of five right

I mean um Bucks have nine losses right now they could be a tenth and four of them if they lose this next game would be coming from one team right um so the Pacers you know you can’t come into this game after the kind of all the

Shenanigans from the last game you know Indiana wanted to win this game and send a message to the Bucks and so I think for the bucks to kind of lay an egg like this I mean it’s pretty unimpressive you know it’s a pretty bad loss given what we said about the three-point shooting

And you know the fact that you let them come into your building and just kind of take a game from you when you know obviously again kind of some of the the uncontrollable things kind of really went your way so pretty pretty unimpressed with with this Buc performance again coming back from a

Road trip you know always say oh first game back from a road trip blah blah blah whatever you know like you’re supposed to be better than this you won whatever it was however many straight games at home um and so I think a pretty you know pretty uninspired way to lose

The game and I thought they were they just looked deathly afraid of even trying to play with Pace in the fourth quarter because they just looked like so afraid of giving opportunities for the Pacers to get going and transition the other way so it felt like the Bucks felt

Like they had to slow the game down significantly and then again like the offense just really felt like it was in cement for periods there in the fourth quarter you know like they were barely getting Giannis was like barely getting the ball over the court you know off

Pass midcourt um in time to beat an Nate second clock it seemed like that happened like every time down the floor and so you’re getting into your actions late um and again with Dame struggling um you know it was just tough and you Giannis again it’s like you know this is

Why Giannis is obviously Far and Away the best player on this team this is why he’s the MVP candidate of this team is why he’s the all NBA guy right like every night he gives you this this kind of effort and so I mean we got to give

Giannis a shout out he was 0 for six outside of the outside of the restricted area tonight and he still scores 30 points 18 rebounds 11 assists couple blocks and a steel um you know he he gives you such a high floor night in and night out and again a team like Indiana

Obviously like they don’t really have the individual guys to to stop him um but they doubled him a lot made him have to give it up he did and other guys you know for long stretches tonight did did punish opponents did punish the Pacers when they sent that extra help uh

Against Giannis um but this is why he’s obviously a much better player than Damen Lillard right because Dam’s done this pretty regularly he lays these eggs and as a guy who’s obviously dependent on his jump shot makes sense that it’s going to happen more often and so again

It just seems like you know when the Bucs lose obviously you know you we’re used to seeing kind of these games where Giannis night in and night out he’s the guy putting up the big numbers and then it really just depends on how much help he’s getting right um in terms of kind

Of like establishing how high the buck ceiling can go and we’ve seen when Dame and Chris are both playing well obviously the ceiling is super high tonight you know Dame lays an egg and you know you put up a whatever it was like a 108 offensive rating against one

Of the worst defenses in uh in basketball which again like that’s uh that’s just a too bad too bad so sad take the L here and now you got to go into their building and and try to turn it around when again you certainly don’t expect them to shoot as poorly as they

Did and yeah obviously the Bucs didn’t shoot well either 10 out of 40 um but you know again like that’s that’s on you right you still you still had a plus five Advantage from the three-point line um you know the luck was was in your favor

In that regard and kind of all the other phases of the game free throws they had took 38 free throws compared to 26 six um they only turned it over seven times bucks only had 11 turnovers felt like a lot more just G given the transition that we saw especially in the second

Quarter when things just really got out of hand with transition and and Indiana fought their way back into the game um but yeah I mean pretty much kind of all the other phases of the game offensive rebounding as well I think they had over 20 second chance points um 30% rebound

Rate offensively for Indiana again kind of a similar story to what we’ve seen all year right bucks just are no longer a good defensive rebound in team or at least not an elite defensive rebinding team so um you know whatever Advantage you had there from three-point line you

Just give right back with transition stuff free throws turnovers and the offensive glass right so again a lot of those issues that that we’ve seen kind of all season cropping up and you know again you got enough from from Giannis and Chris as well 21 points on 13 shots

You know again you you tell me you got we were going to get those numbers you feel like okay you know Indiana goes 5 to 35 feel pretty pretty good you’re going to be able to scrun out to win but then again I’m looking at the the bench

Unit and some of the plus minus numbers there and they crazy some of them are just I think it just reflected like how much more energetic and under you know both energetic and under control at the same time the Indiana bench was led by TJ McConnell our our old friend the buck

K the Bucks killer at this point uh just to add some additional Contex of some of those numbers the Bucs did give up 14 offensive rebounds tonight 24 Second Chance points and with both teams shooting poorly from three the Pacers more so than the Bucks it’s unusual to see that between these

Two teams because they are two of the better three-point shooting teams in the league both entered into the game top five three-point percentage field goals and indy as you mentioned went 14% from the three tonight while the Bucks went 25% both teams average about 38% uh from

Three so far this season so yeah a tough shooting night and as we’ve already already alluded to the Bucks bench came up short against the Pacers and that seems to be somewhat of a trend so far in these matchups against this team in particular and something we’ve seen with

The Bucks as well throughout the season so want to dive a little bit deeper into those numbers and trends that we’ve seen from the Pacers and the Bucks and the bench matchups right after this prized pick is the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America

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Can see our national shows that cover every league so make sure you head over to lockon sports today on YouTube and subscribe to that first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel now we mentioned the bench was in great production for the bucks tonight and that’s been the case in

Three of the last four matchups against the Pacers so that bench play went just beyond points but to look at the points first tonight the Pacers bench scored 70 points meanwhile the Bucks only had 16 and as I mentioned this trend continued the third game against these two teams

The Pacers had 61 from their bench the Bucks had 28 from theirs game two the Pacers had 33 from their bench the Bucks only had 13 and this is been a trend where when you’re not getting that production From the Bench it it can be tough selling for the bucks and in this

Game in particular where it was so strange given the fact that the buck starters just outplayed the Pacer starter so much and then the bench play was just so backwards between these two teams yeah and I mean again it’s like part of the story is is three-point

Shooting mean Bobby’s four for2 0 for four from three um campaign 0 for two Pat conon one for three so you know Banner that was pretty much pat pat season average terms of three-point shooting um but you know I think I think there’s probably I think understandably frustration you know Pat his three-point

Percentage this year has been kind of low 30s um you know I think Pat does other stuff um but I get it right especially on night like this you know we got Andre Jackson who’s like the king of like bad plus minus at this point

Like he was a minus 12 in five minutes TJ McConnell roasted him embarrassed him a couple times um you know I know we’ve been I I’d say like most Buck fans trying to say like hey can we get you know more more Andre Jackson looks um

You know I think at this point like he’s a negative night in and night out you know um so I don’t I I get it I get the the fact that he’s had a little bit shorter leash um because they’re just not good when he’s on the floor even

When he’s playing with with good players um but I think fair to ask you know where where marjon Bo champ was on a night like this um you know again just given that he does bring some athletic juice that the Bucks obviously you know especially with Andre struggling to to

Make a positive impact um to get somebody out there um I was I honestly wondered if we were going to see campaign at all in the second half of this game uh you know he was really good in Brooklyn last week he was terrible in the first half uh on Friday against the

Cavs had like three turnovers in like three minutes or something Cavs went on a big run and tonight he was really bad in the first half again and I thought like is this going to be another situation where Adrian Griffin says like all right cam you know short leash I’m

Going to run with you know basically the like Chris plus bench guys early in the fourth quarter and I’m just not going to play you at all when Dame’s getting rested in the first half of the fourth quarter um I think we did see him um a

Bit again he played 12 minutes minus 13 um but you know again like especially when the defense has been such a problem in the perimeter defense in particular um you know Cam’s got to be really good offensively to just ify like being out there and so again we’ll see I think

It’s an interesting question you know we’ll see kind of what happens in this next game obviously a quick turnaround you play the Pacers again um but uh yeah I mean I think you can point plenty of fingers in terms of the bench units and I mean hopefully when Jay Crowder comes

Back you know he’s going to be effective right away um because I think he does opens up some things in terms of how they can play uh defensively especially just you know the fact that they have not been been able to play small with Giannis at Center at all um since he’s

Gotten hurt and he does unlock some lineup potential there uh but it’s interesting you know when you look at who plays night at and night out I mean tonight it was a ninan rotation and okay so how is Jay Crowder getting minutes in this scenario I think you know obviously

We can say well Pat con maybe doesn’t play 24 minutes but probably the obvious thing would just be you know is Malik Beasley playing 37 minutes on a night like this uh when you’ve got you know more options that that you might trust more defensively and again not that

Jay’s playing shooting guard or something like that but um you know again I think one thing that I felt watching these last few games is we’ve obviously been focusing a lot on Chris Middleton’s offense and how much more comfortable he’s looked from a scoring and playmaking perspective um but I

Think defensively as well I don’t know he just seems to me to be moving better overall and um not that Chris is gonna be some kind of stopper or something like that but um I don’t I don’t have any quams playing Chris Middleton over Malik Beasley um

You know in terms of defensively I think Chris is certainly you know a higher IQ Defender than than bees and and he’s taller too which again even though he may be well I don’t know is Chris actually worse laterally than beastley Malik is not is pretty damn bad in that

Regard too um but at least GIS is taller um which you know in the grand scheme of the universe like when in doubt pick the tall guy uh especially on defense that’s generally a pretty good rule um in the NBA so uh so we’ll see we’ll see kind of

You know kind of if if we maybe get some different looks um in this Pacer game here coming up but um but yeah I mean again like the Pacers have outplayed them you know throughout this season series so far and you know fact that it’s 3-1 I mean I can’t really complain too

Much I think Indiana’s been a better team over these four games and it’s kind of like you know bucks need to look at the mirror a little bit and just figure out like you know okay how are you going to like get back on defense how are you

Going to rebound on the defensive end you know like do basic basketball stuff that you’re supposed to you’re supposed to do because if you do that then you’re going to have a you know you might actually start to win some games against this team that has a far worse record

Than you but um Unfortunately they uh they just have not looked like a team that’s been comfortable playing against the Pacers at all at all this year yeah they haven’t so this year and it was interesting coming to this game as well because Maran was a a scratch coming

Into the game like he I’m sorry I’m sorry like a later scratch Co illness okay right yeah with the illness so they scratched him from this game so I’m not sure if we’ll see him on Wednesday or not but you saw they they missed having another body to be able to throw out

There tonight and not having Maran it actually LED in my opinion to just more minutes for the starters which we’ve talked about before as well where we’re just not going to lean as much on the bench tonight we’re just going to give the starters more minutes and you see

That jannis played 37 along with Malik Beasley Brook Lopez and DNE both played 38 minutes tonight so you know it’s one of those things where you’re like hey the bench we weren’t getting too much from we had 12 minutes from campaign five from Andre Jackson Jr we’re just

Gonna ride our starters out and see how this goes and in this particular game the starters were giving more juice to the game they were giving you the best chance to win so I can see why Adrian Griffin would do that but again I’m seeing these high minute totals Brook

Lopez we know he’s been an Iron Man and everything of that sort but he’s an older guy at this point and I just it’s the minute load at this point in the season I would love to see that be able to come down I’m hoping that when we do

Get Jay Crowder back into the rotation another big to kind of throw in there do some more small ball combinations we might see those numbers continue to decrease for him as well but yeah tough game for the bucks tonight but at least you don’t have to wait too long to see

The Pacers again final regular season match up between these two teams is going to take place on Wednesday for the fifth time again normally it’s four games in the season but the End season tournament gave us an extra game with the Pacers so far this year so as we

Wrap up here today we’re going to look at if there are any other adjustments that the Bucks could make should make things we might want to see in the final regular season matchup against the Pacers on Wednesday right after this the NFL regular season is w wrapping up we are heading into the

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Indie on Wednesday as I mentioned listen the Pacers actually have clenched the season series Victory against Milwaukee already by this point this is the first time the Pacers have done this since the 2017 18 season when they won three or four against the buck so with this Fifth

And final match up coming up on Wednesday Frank is there any anything different you hope to see outside of the Bucks just like making more three-point shots in the upcoming game um you know like I mentioned I think the Giannis on on Turner adjustment that we’ve seen really the

Last couple games I think is you know probably the most single most important thing you can do just to try to slow down um the halberton Turner pick and roll like at least Force halberton to try to run it with somebody else um you

Know like I said I might try to put you know on halberton a little bit just to throw him some different looks um I think you know running running zone I think at times especially if the Pacers continue to shoot poorly from three um is is a totally fine you know thing to

To do just to try to um take away just sort of like the normal rhythms of them being able to attack and pick and roll and again because to me that’s like the most important thing with trying to contain Halton is just like how do you

Stop him from just being able to play his normal pick and roll game because we’ve seen it like you know when he gets to his floaters um or his little dump offs to Turner like you know that there’s a reason those guys are you know the the single best um combination in

Terms of of pick and roll efficiency so I think it kind of starts with that and then you know again we can talk about you know what we would do rotation wise to try to kind of slow slope the Pacers down a little bit um but you know again

Like I in general like overall this like the minute allocations rotation I haven’t had really that big of a problem with with anything that Adrian Griffin’s done you know I think we can talk about trying to get more Run for the young guys and and Andre and and

Marjon um which you know is fair but like I don’t think that’s a uniquely like Adrian Griffin problem like that’s pretty much what fans want from like every coach in every city coaching for every team right like it’s the same same story we always want to kind of see

Those younger guys get a little bit more of a shot so um so yeah I don’t know if there’s some again some like huge you know adjustment that needs to be made I am curious if um if the Pacers are going to start Jaylen Smith again or if they

Go a different direction we saw buddy heeld start the second half he heal 0 for six in this game benedi maon was great and heeld was scoreless so that was probably like the weirdest thing buddy heeld feeling very left out um of the bench brick Brigade uh in Indiana

Kind of running running Riot over the bucks so um so I I don’t know I think uh you know less campaign probably would make me feel a bit better but um you know that obviously requires you to kind of do some different things and play

Without a point guard uh a bit more and again I don’t I’m sure we’re going to see campaign get his normal run early in the second quarter on Wednesday um but I think especially if you can start to phase him out of like your fourth quarter like crunch time type you know

When the game’s actually close like not having to play him in the fourth quarters I think is probably something that that I would like to see CU again I just don’t see that being something in the playoffs that you’re going to want to be doing much in you know early and

Fourth quarters having campaign out there with you know the Bucs other kind of relatively poor perimeter Defenders so um yeah we’ll see play better right I mean best best ad judgment best adjustment you can make um try on defense run back and transition get off get defensive rebounds like you know

There’s my my killer Insight sorry guys but uh you know sometimes it’s just just got to play better yeah and the lineup thing that you mentioned about the Pacers is interesting as well the Bulls game I believe it was last week they made a lineup change moving buddy Hill

And Obi toppen to the bench in order to bring n Smith and Jaylen Smith in to try to get a little bit more defense into that starting lineup we’ll see if they continue rolling that out against us on Wednesday I would assume so uh given the fact that this is how they’ve been

Playing the last couple of games but it’ll be interesting to see if they do make any changes but having buddy Hill moved to the bench Brigade you mentioned that he was 0 of six tonight you don’t expect to see that from Buddy Hill too often so that’s something that you can’t

Count on gotta make sure that you’re playing smart there but for me one thing in particular uh the only the only thing I would say too is like I felt Giannis was holding on of the ball a little bit too much when some of the doubles were

Coming like you know and again like I’m not going to complain too much I mean Giannis of all people was not the problem tonight obviously by any stretch but you know and he had 11 assists obviously he was passing um but I think there were times where he held onto the

Ball a little bit too much was trying to do a little too much when you know out on the perimeter there were a couple turnovers he had um where it felt like you know if he just gives the ball up and just you know have faith that you’re

Going to get it back and G to get opportunities um that probably would have been better off uh a better thing for the bucks offense but anyway sorry Camille no you’re good uh because I want to talk about his running mate his old school running mate Chris Middleton you

Mentioned how we’ve gotten used to seeing that Chris with bench lineup and to start the second quarter I assume like Hey we’re going to get more of the bench plus Chris but we didn’t see it to start the second we saw it in the fourth

To start but not in the second and I think those are also minutes where if you can just have Chris Middleton out there with those bench units those bench heavy units it can help stabilize just a bit more uh than than not having him out

There so I would love to see a little bit more Chris with those bench lineups going forward on Wednesday and I mean like you said just just play a little bit better um one thing that Malik Beasley said after I believe it was the Cavs game that was really interesting to

Me but he mentioned like hey if you look at the stat sheet and I I only have like four or five shots like the ball wasn’t moving enough on offense and I was I agree with that Malik and we saw tonight he had I believe eight three-point shot

Or attempts tonight um they weren’t falling but just continue to see the ball move for the bucks in the next game would love to see that keep shooting keep doing what you do just play a little bit tighter I did enjoy the switching um that they were doing for a

Bit on defense tonight but yeah just play a little bit better because you can’t expect the Pacers to come out again and shoot this poorly from three so you got to tighten up be ready to go and the Pacers came out playing physical tonight as well so be ready to match

That on Wednesday since they probably saw that last game where jiannis had 64 and Bucks were the more physical team saying hey we’re gonna come out establish ourselves as well so looking to see how that physicality lines up as well during Wednesday’s matchup but one

One stat to throw at you Camille on the topic of Chris and kind of the bench unit so Chris plus Brooke but without Dame and Giannis um plus 6.4 um net rating this year and it’s offense is not been good with with that that group but the defense has been very

Good so you know again like pretty much anything like anything you can do where you can stay afloat without Dam and Yannis I mean again typically you want to be able to stagger those guys pretty much most of the game and and not have to you know kind of play any extended

Stretches without them I think Giannis came back pretty early in the fourth quarter in this one um but uh yeah I mean I think becomes less of an issue in the playoffs where those guys minute loads are kind of higher and higher but um you know still have more than half a

Season left here so you got to get there first and obviously kind of figuring out how you stagger guys and kind of paper over um things is is important and you know you mentioned Brooke I mean he’s he’s playing now 31 minutes a game that’s even higher than he played last

Year which was the most that he played in the butt era um you know I don’t think I don’t think Brooke has missed a game this year uh which you know again is remarkable that he’s been healthy enough and durable enough that he’s continued to be able to do this night in

And night out three point percentage has been a bit down after pretty good start to the year um so again we can kind of like speculate right is does he need a a lower workload to maybe help his efficiency a bit um that could be something to to think about because

Again he’s he’s having to defend the rim more than than ever he’s averaging I think 15 contested two yeah which is like four more than Chad holgren who’s number two so I mean he’s it’s he’s just been kind of under assault um in the paint and again we saw

It again tonight like just big paint numbers um from the other team and again I think that’s a perimeter defense problem that’s not a Brook Lopez problem but um you know again it it puts a ton of pressure on him he had four blocks tonight but um you know it’s all his

Blocks you know in a way are probably indicative of the fact that he’s just having to do so much defensively right if he was at two blocks a game maybe that probably be a better sign in some respect that he wasn’t having to contest as many shots but it’s this is kind of

Where they are right now yeah we can only do what we can at the moment so that that’s the situation that Brook Lopez finds him in at at the moment but like we mentioned I hope that the minute loow can come down for him eventually uh

Because I I’m I just that’s what makes me the most uncomfortable it’s just the the workload that’s been on his back so far but we’ll leave it here for today make sure that you go check out lock on sports today on YouTube and subscribe again the first ever National Sports 247

Streaming channel so you might as well go and check that out after we close here for Frank and myself we’re going to catch you later take care and happy New Year everybody

Despite a triple double from Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks lost to the Indiana Pacers 122-113. This loss snaps a fifteen-game home win streak for the Bucks but luckily…the Bucks won’t have to wait long to see the Pacers again.

What went wrong for the Bucks? How big of an issue was the Bucks bench production? Are there any changes that the Bucks can make during the fifth and final matchup between these two teams? Camille and Frank discuss all of this, and more, on today’s episode.

0:00 Intro
1:29 Both teams cold from three – what other stats tell the tale of the game?
17:16 Poor bench production from the Bucks
26:34 Looking ahead to Wednesday’s rubber match

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36 Comments

  1. Damian Lillard 🥱🥱. This is exhausting. Bro, if Giannis had played this bad Frank would blast Giannis for eternity. I don't wanna hear about Dame until this team wins a championship. I just feel like crying.

  2. Where are the young players? Once again, Jackson playing 4 minutes? We need an infusion of youth and athleticism. Once again Griffin's rotations are not good! Lillard, Beasley and payne are horrible defenders! And for some reason he likes to play Lillard and payne together. Who can figure this out?

  3. Unfortunately, as a Dame fan, I have to say: 1) He's not really had any clutch moments this season. 2) He still hasn't had one of his torch the court, unstoppable type games yet this season, where you think if he touches the ball it's going it. He's just been so inconsistent. When he shoots the 3 well, he misses everything else. Other games, he misses every shot beyond the arc, but manages to salvage it by drawing 8 FTs.

    Aside from just shooting percentages, and how Curry plays off the ball so well, another reason why Dame will never be as good as Curry is because of his streakiness. During hot streaks Curry gets arguably as hot as Dame, and while both Curry and Dame both go on cold streaks, Curry digs himself out of those so much faster. They're both sharpshooters, but you'd see Dame shooting air balls sometimes, but you'd rarely ever see Curry air ball one. Honestly, Curry would be Giannis' perfect duo partner because of his consistency (not just %) and ability to play off ball.

  4. Closing in on the hallway point and this team is a disaster. They've failed to even be competitive with middling to good teams, let alone getting spanked by the elite teams we've played. I'm about ready to cut bait on Dame, otherwise we have to drastically restructure the roster to cover up his defense, I'm talking about trading for a new starting SG and SF both of whom need to be elite of the elite in terms of defense, if we cannot do that I'd look to trade Dame for someone who is actually good enough.

  5. I gotta say Dame's stock for me has plummeted. No way he's a top 75 player, hell I don't even think he's a top 30 player in the league today. We bit on an expensive chucker from a bad team, and he has a lot more to do with them being bad than anything else.

  6. While it's great we've got a team that can "consistently" score 130 points, I think this is a team that will make it very easy for any playoff team to average 140 plus PPG in a playoff series, meaning I think this team could EASILY be swept 4-0 first round.

  7. same old bucks, can't have tons of confidence going against Indiana, Miami, Boston or maybe Philly in the playoffs something just missing with this team

  8. 😡. I'm so 😡 we loss this game, this isn't the way i wanted the Milwaukee Bucks to start off the New Year 🎊 2024. 😡😡😡.

  9. The one thing that does annoy me is this team seem soft … ever since pj left its just bobby with his crazy eyes . They got punked in the 4th and just let it happen .

  10. Pods: Bench played like trash. Dame played trash. Kmid played good, ONE crucial turnover. Giannis played great, should not have shot that ONE three.

    Haters: DONT YOU DARE BLAME THIS ON GA OR KMID (which btw pods are not blaming). ITS SOLELY DAME'S FAULT, NOONE ELSE, SHOULD HAVE NOT TRADED FOR HIM. IF HE IS NOT HITTING WHAT DOES HE EVEN DO.

    you called out who needs to be called out, praised who needs to be praised, is it a mortal sin to point out one play of good performers for this game?

  11. Why, oh, why does Griffin keep playing Pat??? Cam played half the minutes as Pat, yet had about the same numbers. Frank Cam plays better than Pat.

  12. Giannis can NEVER be a game manager he needs to be secondary ball handler never primary he takes momentum away from the offence. He can average the same numbers without handling the ball every other possession.

  13. Lillard is pissing me off he has not been good on offense and defense. The 5th always seems like it is only Khris they give him the ball most of the time. And Griffin STOP PLAYING PAT and get rid of him. What is these coaches obsession with him. Griffin rotation is horrible. Pat,Bobby,Malik,Payne,hell even Khris get rid of them to get better people.

  14. We need to add Jackson to the finishing lineup – we need energy and you are trying to play in June – get him the reps now even in losses and experience – or even Pat – dame Giannis Khris Pat and Jackson or if you play Brook add some speed – also why do we let Halliburton hide on defense whoever he is guarding needs to be in 30 -40 pick and rolls where he is getting bumped all night it’s logical you have to make him guard – go 🦌

  15. Dame lillard played bad tonight, but gotta give AG some of the blame as well. the rotation was awful and Idk why he doesnt give AJJ minutes, especially vs a young energetic team like pacers. we needed his hustle over PC's non productive minutes.

  16. Dame is being rightly criticized but the offense doesn't make sense to me sometimes.Dame's quote he isn't wrong.I have to check the play-by-play to see if he's in the game sometimes lol.He'll go hella minutes w/out shooting or being passed the ball and everyone else brings the ball up at times.Diverse offense is important and when he's doubled other players should make their shots.Dame seems to go so long without shooting and with how he requested his minutes I'm wondering how he's getting any rhythm.

  17. The bench is awful so I guess some of them need to go if Bucks really want to win a chip again.

  18. It's great to see khris rounding his game into shape offensively but his inability to move laterally and/or play any semblance of defense is going to cost MKE in the playoffs. This team is high powered on offense but their defense is really poor and they continue to have issues with rebounding and in transition(ie hustle and effort). At this point i think the Bucks are what they are. I don't feel good about how they match up with BOS. MKE is steam rolling some bad teams but in the games against contenders they haven't shown much.

  19. Disappointed in Same and I'm getting really really nervous about this defense, it's inexcusable, it's time to shake it up , this loss hurt

  20. Don't like how Frank's talking about Dame.I know he played bad but he's really not involved in the offense at times.He'll shoot great one quarter like last night then barely taking shots the others.

  21. Dame was not good and the bench contributed very little. None of yhe guards can guerd CJ?cam Payne erratic, the youngguys Ajacks, Beauchamp contributed , noting. Whats wrong with PC.?

  22. Play Better. I like it. Also, stop complaining about not getting a foul after you miss a shot then the other team runs in transition and gets an easy bucket.

  23. This was a disappointing loss. We truly need some changes.
    PC and CP are not doing what needs to be done for this team….

    Obviously the issue was that dame was horrendous. It won’t be often that dame shoots 18% or whatever that was.

  24. The bucks will be alright. Yes it was a bad loss, yes dame had a bad game, but we can anticipate some bolstering to our bench by the trade deadline along with jae crowder back, who was playing some good basketball at the beginning of the season. No time to alip into pity party at this point in the season, lots of basketball yet to play.

    Take some positives, the 2 man game between giannis and dame is surfacing, we are still 2 in the eastern conference, and we disnt get taken into OT by the flailing pistons. Its gonna be just fine

  25. Bucks so far seem to be able to win a lot but not the games that matter?..

    Dame seems …sad? Uninspired? Homesick? I bet he misses his fam.

    Giannis is more mature and fierce than ever. It would be a real shame to end up empty handed yet again….

  26. I needed to rant:

    – I love Bobby, but MAN, if he's not having a good game offensively, he's useless.

    – Why do we keep putting Pat out there? He has missed so many open 3's, it's ridiculous. He's supposed to be a "shooter." If he can't hit open shots, what is his purpose?

    – I hate to jump on the "poor coaching" bandwagon, but there were so many instances in last night's game where the coach should have stepped in and made some changes. Ex. When TJ McConnell scored like 3 or 4 straight buckets in crunch time, THAT'S when the coach should step in a makes an adjustment.

    – The Pacers flat out played harder than us last night (ex. The loose ball at the end of the game. If Middleton would have hustled and got to the ball, we could have saved the possession. Instead, McConnell busted his ass to try and get the ball and got the foul called in his favor.)

    – We are missing out on an opportunity to let some of the young guys develop (specifically, Andre Jackson, AJ Green, and Marjan).

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