Are the Milwaukee Bucks destined for a disastrous end in 2021?
The Milwaukee Bucks fell to the Charlotte Hornets over the weekend. While a loss at the quarter mark of the season is frustrating, it showed a fundamental problem with the Bucks. They are playing nowhere near close to playing at the level that they were playing last season.
Many would say that is obvious because their record so far is only 11-8, but those 11 wins are mostly from beating up on the bad teams. Anytime the Bucks have faced a legit contender they find themselves falling short. With losses to the Lakers, Nets, and Celtics so far this season.
The wins the Bucks have accumulated are not remotely impressive; a pair of wins over the Pistons, a 50-point blow out to an undermanned Heat team (only to lose the next day to that same squad), a win over the Hawks (without Trae Young), a win over Golden State (without Draymond Green), and a close win over the Mavericks (without Kristaps Porzingis).
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These are not the Bucks from last year and it seems some of the pieces they let go of might be the downfall to this team. Basically, the Bucks re-did their entire bench after moving on from Wesley Matthews, Kyle Korver, Robin Lopez, and George Hill in OKC.
To say they have felt their absence is an understatement. Milwaukee’s bench has struggled this season and is only ranked 19th in scoring. In comparison, the Bucks had the NBA’s 8th highest scoring bench a year ago.
The Bucks allowed a 25-3 run to the Hornets Saturday night. Even though they were able to claw back into the game late in the second quarter, they still came up short. The Bucks allowed LaMelo Ball to do whatever he wanted and Gordon Hayward to look like his former All-Star self. Both Ball and Hayward poured in 27 points each and shot the 3 particularly well.
The Bucks levered the future to keep Giannis Antetokounmpo happy when they traded Eric Bledsoe and a myriad of first-round picks for Jrue Holiday. While it is still too early to say if this was a poor trade, those picks could have been used to fortify the bench.
The Bucks may have been a force last year, but it looks like they can’t stop a nosebleed if the opposing team has two guys who get mildly hot during a game. If a Milwaukee team, that was a dominant offensive and defensive force last year lost in the second round of the playoffs, where does this team’s season end?
Because of the way they have started this season, there are serious doubts about the Milwaukee Bucks. Could this team be worse than last year’s?