The Milwaukee Bucks lost convincingly to the Brooklyn Nets 115-102. Cam Thomas and Dennis Schröder led the Nets with 32 and 29 points, respectively, with Thomas taking off in the second half when the Bucks’ defense faded. Giannis and Dame led the Bucks with subdued totals of 22 and 21 points.

NBA.com Box Score

Game review

Fittingly, Nets-era Brook showed up early in this game and made two shots in the paint. Otherwise, Giannis took the lead, mostly for worse (turnovers, poor flow) than for better (early foul for Ben Simmons and the Nets). Dame took over more effectively in his absence, but the overall offense was sloppy: the Nets applied pressure and had active hands, so there were seven Bucks turnovers down the court. On the other hand, Brook looked good inside, but Brooklyn enjoyed a second chance at points in his absence. The Nets also generated good looks from deep (often from the offensive boards), with Cam Johnson putting a few balls into the net. Brooklyn used a nine-point run to build a lead, but the Bucks sank a pair of threes and trailed just 27-25 after one point.

Dennis Schröder notwithstanding, the Bucks fared better defensively early in the second round, highlighted by good one-on-one defense against driving nets from players like Delon Wright and AJ Green (which didn’t last). But the offense was tough and it was difficult to score points. Against this background, the Bobby Buckets special was launched, with good success. A little more Dame Flame and Nets Ice gave the Bucks the lead a little more than halfway through the quarter, but that was short-lived as Schröder made two consecutive three-pointers (he finished the quarter with 11). Just like the first time, the Bucks sank a few three-pointers to make things more respectable before halftime, but fell behind 48-45.

At the start of the second half, both teams were able to score, but the Nets scored even more, with balanced shots from Schröder and Cam Thomas. Milwaukee was often in the washing machine and was outrebounded in rebounds (…and in general). On offense, the Bucks continued to suffer turnovers at the start of the quarter, but these stopped for the remainder of the period. A nice series of plays from Gary Trent Jr. and sharp shooting from Brook helped the Bucks even things up. Giannis, Dame and Bobby continued to drive the Bucks offensively in the middle of the quarter, but Noah Clowney (from deep) and Cam Thomas (from anywhere) had answers to keep Brooklyn in the lead. The Bucks trailed 83-78 after three games.

One team continued to score points early in the fourth period, and it wasn’t the Bucks. Various bucks found Bobby for buckets, but that was it. Cam Thomas stayed hot and his teammates collected more offensive rebounds as Brooklyn extended its lead to fourteen (!) with a ten-point run. During this run, Pat Connaughton dared to do his best by catching a loose ball and was penalized with a flagrant foul. The Nets made more banked-in threes than the Bucks made shots. Doc Rivers cleared the bench with more than three minutes left. You can blame it so much on tomorrow’s SEGABABA game against the Celtics, but Milwaukee had no plans to return to that game. (Even as their Garbage Squad halved the 22-point deficit with an 11-point run — thanks to two steals from Ajax, who was able to slow the other but not himself — MarJon made sure the Nets’ starters stayed sharp Bank.)

Statistics that stood out

I want to highlight the Nets, who made 17 more shots to feed three birds with a scone. First, the Bucks shot better from the floor than the Nets (though not from deep), which is usually a recipe for success. However, the Nets had more offensive rebounds (12 to 7), which they converted at a good pace. And thirdly, the Bucks had more turnovers (18 to 12), especially in the first half. Taken together, that’s not the whole story, but if your opponent fires 17 more shots, it’s going to be a tough fight.

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