The Bucks ended a 16-game road losing streak on Tuesday
night and beat the Indiana Pacers 87-81. Even though the Pacers were without
four of their starters from last years Eastern Conference Finals team and the
average fan wouldn’t recognize half of their current roster, a win is a win and
the Bucks won their first road game in three tries to start the season. After
losing to an Eastern Conference contending Wizards team that forced Milwaukee
into a season high 28 turnovers, Coach Kidd’s team needed to make some changes
in their first of three division matchups over a four day span. Here are a few
storylines I noticed:
- Points Off Turnovers- The Bucks scored 28 points off 19 Pacers turnovers while the Pacers were only able to score 4 points off 13 Bucks turnovers. As illustrated in Alex Boeder's article posted yesterday, this is the fastest paced Bucks team we have seen in recent years which is no surprise given Kidd’s coaching style. Look for this tempo to continue as long as the Bucks are able to force turnovers and get into the open court.
- Jabari’s Offensive Arsenal- Each game gives us a new opportunity to learn more about Jabari’s game and last night was no different as he was able to lead multiple breaks and find Brandon Knight in the corner for a wide open three as well as an easy assist for a Knight layup. During the third quarter, he was given the call for multiple post up opportunities with a smaller Soloman Hill guarding him. Expect these situations to be match-up dependent but it’s hard not to get excited about the possibility of seeing Jabari in transition, on the wing and in the post on a night-to-night basis.
- Second Unit- The Bucks second unit combination of Bayless, Mayo, Middleton (formally Ersan), Giannis, Henson and Zaza have been able to erase leads in their first few games and extend Bucks leads in others. There is a perfect mix of veteran leadership led by Mayo and enthusiastic youth from Giannis and Henson that we can only hope will continue as the season goes on. Last night proved to be no different as the bench shot 19-33 FG (58%) compared to the starters 18-50 FG (36%). The discussion regarding the Bucks starting lineup will have to wait for another post.
- Larry Sanders Stat Line- 0-4 FG, 10 RB, 3 BLK, +9. At first glance, it would seem like Larry had an off night but he was all over the court, affecting shots and disrupting plays like he does best. As long as he continues to notch double-digit rebounds and multiple blocks per game, you won’t see too much complaining from my end.
- Free Throws- The Bucks need to find a way to get to the line. No team should shoot seven free throws (made six) during the coarse of a game and that would only indicate that the Bucks weren’t attacking the basket hard enough. The team has been out shot from the stripe in every game this year (83 attempts vs. opponents 106).
