And so ends the shortest preseason you could ever experience, with the Milwaukee Bucks falling 127-113 in front of the New Orleans Pelicans to put a bow on their winless preseason. If you missed the first quarter of the game tonight, then I’m jealous, because the Bucks without Giannis Antetokounmpo laid an egg while the pelicans ran to catch a 35-20 lead. For anyone preparing to start second, you were greeted with a much better game, as the Bucks spun around in New Orleans leading until they reached just two at the break, 57-59. They fired only 26.9% (7-26) from behind the arc. The Bucks team led the Pelicans to regain a bigger lead to finish third, with Milwaukee entering 98-90 recently. The fourth quarter saw Bud empty his bench and the cleaning crew could not get a winning victory.
Khris Middleton took over the weakness of the goal in Giannis’ absence, pulling out his usual range of cross-moves before forcing jumpers directly into people’s grills. He finished with 29 points in just 26 minutes, at 9-16. Jrue Holiday and Donte DiVincenzo added 15 and 14, respectively.
The Bucks got their first chance to face their former teammate Eric Bledsoe. Bled won 14 points in shooting 5-11, so practically one night Bledsoe. Zion Williamson, for some reason, played until the final buzzer, finishing with 31 points and nine tables.
Milwaukee gives up the regular season against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, December 23, at 18:30 on TNT.
Bonus Bucks Bits
The Bucks gave Giannis a well-deserved rest for the last pre-season game after signing his super max this week, with Bobby Portis getting the start in his place. They listed him as having back pain. DJ Augustin was also out with a calf sprain.
DJ Wilson will probably be a pumpkin in the real season, but it was encouraging to see him look decent, ending up as a man in the role. On the first night, he had a solid ending through contact. He had a bit of chemistry similar to Middleton in the second period for a lay-in.
Even though his deep ball didn’t fall at all, it was encouraging to see Donte DiVincenzo take advantage of every offensive opportunity he offered him in the second period in a complete lineup (apart from Brook Lopez). It would have been nice to see him try to initiate a little more as a game player, but one last pre-season game is as good an opportunity as any to try to adjust your jumper in the form of a regular season. . Hopefully he got some bugs out of his system.
Sam Merrill got the second quarter of the minute in this game, along with a range of Holiday-Middleton-Wilson-Portis. I wondered if that could predict something to come … then I saw Thanasis get the second quarter. However, whether Jordan Nwora or Merrill could be on the spot as a pure shooter in the regular season could be something to monitor. Merrill calmly knocked down two triples during that period.
Bud won his coach’s challenge tonight, canceling an offensive call on Khris Middleton. Bucks returned him immediately.
We all know that Donte is one of the best dollars in terms of screens. Well, he met tonight with Steven Adams; In the third quarter, Donte threw in the Kiwi and was stopped standing, while Lonzo Ball was free to hit an elbow kick from the bench.
When Adams and Zion shared the word, Bud opted for his Brook Lopez center to match the former Blue Devil, rather than letting Williamson see what chaos he could do to Portis Jr. It’s not so surprising. , given Portis’ defensive reputation, but still tells you everything you need to know, given that Bud felt better with his center against Zion’s leg fleet. FWIW – Zion won that match tonight, even though Brook had this notable block.
Jrue Holiday received more of an offensive role in this role and in one place he had the chance to shine: in the block. Several times this evening he sent his defender and, on the third, he found his way to the charity and missed a bit of fadeaway on the other. We’ll see if this wrinkle takes its place in the offense when Giannis plays.
I received Nik Stauskas’ first (and probably last) viewing for this pre-season in the fourth quarter. He didn’t waste time losing his first shot! We also received our first extended look at Mamadi Diakite, the Virginia debutant who scored his first NBA Cup on a return.
The Bucks only shot 10-40 deep tonight. In the three pre-season games, they shot only 31-111 (27.9%) overall, while opponents shot 51-121 (42.1%).