Through 30 games, the Milwaukee Bucks possess one of the NBA’s best records, primarily on the strength of their potent offense. Their defense, however, remains a work in progress.
The defensive issues were most recently on display for a Christmas Day national television audience. The Bucks hope to start correcting some of those woes Wednesday when their extended stay in New York concludes with a game against the Brooklyn Nets, who are coming off two challenging wins against the league-worst Detroit Pistons.
With 22 wins so far, Milwaukee heads to Brooklyn second in the league in scoring at 124.5 points per game, second in field-goal shooting at 49.9 percent and seventh in 3-point shooting of 38.0 percent.
On Monday, the Bucks scored at least 120 for the 19th time but took their second loss in those games in a 129-122 setback to the New York Knicks. That result came two days after Milwaukee earned a 130-111 win over New York.
The Bucks, who are allowing 119.1 points (23rd in the league), yielded 120 or more points for the 15th time and matched the second-most points they have allowed as their season-best, seven-game winning streak was stopped.
“We were trading baskets,” Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo said after finishing with 32 points and 13 rebounds in the loss. “We cannot trade baskets. In order for you to make a run, get back into the game, you cannot trade baskets.”
A significant cause of Milwaukee’s defensive woes is a lack of interior presence. The Bucks allowed 72 points in the paint on Monday after giving up 48 on Saturday. They are allowing an average of 53 points in the paint this season.
“I’d say it started with transition defense,” Milwaukee coach Adrian Griffin said. “I think we gave up 23 points in transition defense. It’s tough.”
The Bucks may have to search for defensive improvement without Antetokounmpo, who has missed only one game this season, a 16-point win at Toronto on Nov. 15. He is listed as questionable for the Wednesday game due to right calf injury management.
The Nets are returning home for a brief stay ahead of a four-game road trip following two wins over Detroit. After extending the Pistons’ losing streak to 26 with a 115-106 home win on Saturday, Brooklyn overcame a slow start to eke out a 118-112 win in Detroit on Tuesday in a game Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said he dreaded.
“I give our guys an extreme amount of credit,” Vaughn said, “to persevere throughout the course of the night and show composure to make the right plays at the right time and poise. Different individuals throughout the course of the night that made plays.”
The result gave the Pistons sole possession of the longest single-season losing streak in NBA history.
Brooklyn trailed by 14 a little over six minutes into the game but extended Detroit’s skid by doing enough in the fourth quarter to overcome a five-point deficit with eight minutes to play.
Cameron Johnson scored a season-high 24 points while Mikal Bridges added 12 of his 21 in the fourth quarter, when the Nets scored 13 straight points to pull ahead.
“We had a little bit of execution and composure down the stretch,” said Johnson, who is averaging 19.8 points in his past four games. “It didn’t always go our way, but we were able to pull it out.”
Milwaukee has won nine of the past 11 regular-season meetings with Brooklyn.
–Field Level Media
