Bucks Slump Comes At Worst Time
The Milwaukee Bucks are coming out of dropping three straight games, losing on average by 17 points. Does that bode badly?
Milwaukee Bucks fans woke up feeling really good on Sunday, April 2nd. Their team was a season-high four games over .500 and they were sitting in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. A playoff spot looked to be all but guaranteed.
The Bucks were playing their best basketball of the season. They had won six of their last seven games, including a win over the then first place Celtics. The victory even came at The Garden no less. This hot streak had catapulted them from seventh place just two weeks earlier. The Bucks players and fans thought the team had finally clicked.
In the span of three games and three losses, things changed. The aura surrounding the Bucks quickly went from excited to gloomy. Losing three out of their last four, two of them in blowout fashion, left them with a lot of question marks. Fans in Milwaukee were even wondering if the Bucks would make the playoffs at all.
In the past week, the Bucks lost by four at home to the Mavericks, by 31 at Oklahoma City, and by 16 at Indiana. It is hard to determine which loss was more embarrassing.
Losing at home to a Dallas team who had been eliminated from the playoffs and had nothing to fight for? Getting destroyed on national television while putting up zero fight against the Thunder? Or losing by double digits against the Pacers when a victory would have clinched a playoff spot? I’ll let you be the judge.
As the season wound down, the Milwaukee Bucks went from fighting for playoff positioning to fighting for their playoff lives.
The Bucks’ woes begin and end with Khris Middleton and Greg Monroe. With Jabari Parker out, Middleton and Monroe are supposed to be two of Milwaukee’s three best players. They haven’t been playing like it.
Middleton missed most of this season with a torn hamstring. He made his season debut on February 8th against the Miami Heat. He was slowly reintroduced into the lineup and had an early minutes restriction.
As the minutes restriction was lifted Middleton slowly returned to form. He reminded everyone why he was their best player last year. In his first 24 games after he returned from injury, he had an Offensive Rating of 112 and a Defensive rating of 105.2, giving him a net rating of 6.8. He also had a true shooting percentage of 58.9 percent. It was starting to look like Middleton had returned to last season’s form.
Here is his shot chart from February 8th, 2017 through March 31st, 2017:
Middleton was shooting at or above league average all around the three-point line. He was knocking down the outside jump shots that made him so valuable to a team who lacked outside shooting.
While Middleton appeared to be playing fairly well until the past week that isn’t the case. In truth, his struggles go back a bit further. However, he has played even worse the past three games which is why I will only highlight this past week.
Throughout the last three games, Middleton’s Offensive Rating has dropped to 100.9 and his Defensive Rating has risen to 113.5. That gives him a net rating of -12.6. His true shooting percentage also dropped to a nasty 42.9 percent. That is eighth-worst in the NBA among players who played 30 minutes or more per game since April 2nd.
To compare against his previous shot chart, here is what it looks like from April 2nd, 2017 through April 6th, 2017:
Middleton’s basically struggling from all over the court, especially from downtown. This past week, he is only averaging one made three-pointer a game on 4.3 attempts. He was previously making 1.6 three-pointers per game on 3.5 attempts. Less makes on more attempts is obviously a bad trend for Middleton.
The highly rated wing hasn’t been able to consistently find his rhythm on his jump shot. As a result, he looks more irritable than the past. He will sometimes argue with the referees over a non-call instead of getting back on defense. This has put the Bucks in four on five situations, leading to baskets for the opposing team. That is a different Khris Middleton than Bucks fans are used to.
Middleton isn’t the only one failing to carry his load. Greg Monroe is also playing some of his worst basketball of the season. When Monroe came to Milwaukee he said he was “starving for the playoffs.” Yet, the Milwaukee Bucks find themselves in the thick of the playoff race and Monroe is nowhere to be found.
During the first 75 games Monroe played in this season, he had an Offensive Rating of 110.9 and a Defensive Rating of 105.9. That gave him a net rating of 5.0. His assist to turnover ratio was 1.39 during that span as well.
Over the last three games, Greg Monroe has completely fallen apart. His Offensive Rating is a lowly 95.5 and his Defensive Rating is 124.4. That gives him a horrendous net rating of -28.9. Monroe’s assist to turnover ratio also sits at 0.14. That means he is basically averaging as many turnovers as assists.
The big man’s struggles are different from Middleton’s. Where Middleton was struggling to knock down shots, Monroe is struggling to take care of the ball.
He has however developed wicked chemistry with both Middleton and Malcolm Brogdon. He is constantly finding them for back-cuts and spot ups for open shots. With Middleton struggling and Brogdon missing time due to a back injury, it leaves Monroe in a vulnerable situation. He is no longer able to look for his go-to guys and is having to force the issue.
The good news is that these problems the Bucks are having should be fixable. With three games left in the season, the Milwaukee Bucks still have time to turn it around. It begins and ends with Middleton and Monroe. These two veterans will need to right the ship if the Bucks want to sail off into the sunset that is the playoffs.
