Milwaukee desperately needed to pull even in the final game of the road trip in Memphis after some discouraging performances, but couldn’t save itself and lost 99-122. Giannis Antetokounmpo was the only real bright spot, dropping 37 points, 11 rebounds and four assists on 77% shooting. For Memphis, they had an even spread of contributors, with seven players scoring in double figures, led by Ja Morant, who posted a triple-double with 26 points, fourteen assists, and ten rebounds. Read our full game recap here and watch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast “Bucks In Six Minutes” below.

What have we learned?

There were a few key takeaways from this game. The positive is that they lost in a more “acceptable way” than before. There were bad moments, but the main problem was that they missed basically every third attempt, at 21% on 42 attempts. Prince, Trent, Lillard, Portis and Connaughton combined to shoot 3/29 from deep. You don’t win games with shootouts like that. Doc Rivers said this game may have been “the greatest make-or-miss night ever.”

“I don’t think anyone would complain about the threes we had. They were wide open. I thought we moved the ball and made great shots.”

However, defense was once again a problem. Memphis was up 40 points in the first quarter and Ja Morant was able to do just about anything he wanted, continuing the theme of pick-and-roll guards having great nights against the Bucks.

“Morant had free reign tonight as far as driving and attacking. Now it’s hard for everyone and probably even harder for us. So we need to do a better job of figuring out how to contain such guards.”

Three dollars

Andre Jackson Jr. has shown a lot.

After an inconsistent run through the first four games, Andre Jackson played nearly 20 minutes tonight. Doc talked about figuring out how the team can add talented guards. Well, I thought Jackson was pretty good in the department. He is one of the few Bucks with the speed and athleticism needed to keep up with Morant at the rim. Pat Connaughton continued his downward trend and played less than Andre tonight. We have to keep an eye on this in the future. But there seems to be a real urge from fans to just push a few buttons and try something different. Jackson could certainly benefit from this.

Damian Lillard was almost ejected from the game.

Lillard finished the night 1/12 and 0/6 from deep. The Grizzlies stayed up the entire game, pushing against Dame and forcing him all the way up the court. Notably, Dame only took 12 shots, which was part of Memphis’ game plan. After the game, Dame spoke about how this style of defense affected his rhythm.

“If two guys commit to me so I can’t get the ball… and we’re playing four-on-four… that should be to our advantage… if (Giannis) doesn’t score and we get good looks from three, then eventually they’ll be there.” come out.”

“But if we don’t make them pay, they’ll stick with it. So for me it’s harder to get into the rhythm because on the one hand I don’t want to fight it, but on the other hand when you look up there’s only four minutes left and I haven’t done much.”

Welcome to Milwaukee, Delon Wright.

Despite all the bad numbers, Wright still managed to lead the team with a +10 in 20 minutes of play tonight. He shot 3/4 from the field and 2/2 from three, along with a few assists. Hopefully this is the starting point for Delon to feel more comfortable on this team. In theory, the team desperately needs what Wright claims to offer, so tonight was a good start in that regard.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• I’ve written extensively about how Giannis needs to play differently for this team to win at the highest level. And even though the team couldn’t hit any shots, there were some nice moments of ball movement tonight. This example is beautiful. You can see Giannis directing the offense and making quick decisions with the ball, resulting in a baseline dunk. You love watching it!

• I think people exaggerate how much “walking the dog” really changes the outcome of games. But that didn’t exactly look good for a team looking to make a comeback:

• And to top it all off, Scotty Pippen Jr. threw some post-game shade at Bucks assistant Darvin Ham following their brief stint together with the Lakers:

• The headline to this tweet really says it all.

Next

The Bucks return to the friendly confines of Fiserv Forum for the first of two games against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night at 7:00 pm Central on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.

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