Bucks lose fourth straight, falling to Grizzlies, 122-99

VaselineNovember 1, 2024

4 8 minutes read

Bucks lose fourth straight, falling to Grizzlies, 122-99

MEMPHIS – The Milwaukee Bucks finished their first road trip of the season 0-3, losing their fourth straight game, 122-99, to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night at FedExForum.

Memphis (3-3), playing on the second night of a back-to-back and without several injured rotation players, went on a 19-1 run from the middle to the end of the first quarter to take control of the game . . From then on, they never looked back, sending the Bucks back to Milwaukee at 1-4 this year.

The Bucks host the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers (5-0) on Saturday.

MORE: Box score | Bucks schedule | NBA Rankings

“Losing is frustrating,” Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “But we are doing the right things. So we arrived in Memphis (Wednesday) evening and we got together as a team and watched a movie. Not like eight or nine guys playing. We watched film, we talked about: what can we do better? What we don’t do so well, let’s hold each other accountable. We do the right thing.

“I come into shootaround (Thursday) and talk about it, talk about our offense, talk about our defense. Everyone’s doing the right thing. I see it in everyone’s eyes. They’re willing to do the right thing to win games and sometimes it goes not your way.

“This is part of the season that it’s not going our way. But two losses, three losses, four losses, five losses, six losses in a row; one loss, it’s always frustrating. But then again, my dad always said, ‘why Do you whine if you don’t give up?’ So I’m not going to give up.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 37 points on 17 of 22 shooting, along with 11 rebounds. Brook Lopez (12 points) and Bobby Portis Jr. (11) were the only others in double figures.

The Grizzlies had seven players reach double figures while the regulars were in the game. Ja Morant had a triple-double.

“We’ll figure this out eventually,” Bucks center Brook Lopez said. “Obviously it would be better, it would be bigger, it will work out better for us in the end if we find out sooner, but we are In March I will be on a different team. Obviously we want this to happen sooner, but again, we know what we are capable of. We know who we are. It will simply remain imperative that we continue to come together, continue to collaborate and continue to trust.”

Bucks have no answer for Grizzlies

Not every game this year, especially not this early in the season, has to be a referendum on where the Bucks stand shall be at the bottom of the line. But the games are played and they count, and Thursday’s game in Memphis meant something.

Especially in the context of when the game was played, and by whom.

The Grizzlies were on the second night of a back-to-back and lost starters Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart to injury in a loss on Wednesday. Yes, superstar guard Ja Morant and 2023 Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. were available, but six players were not.

The Bucks had two days off and a practice since losing their third straight game in Boston on Monday, with every key player outside of Khris Middleton available.

With unsatisfactory losses to Chicago and Brooklyn on October 25 and 27 respectively, losing to a weakened and tired Memphis team would be far from ideal.

Unfortunately for the Bucks, the Halloween game was a chilling echo of February 15, which was a tough 113-110 loss to the – you guessed it – the short-handed Grizzlies in Memphis. That team was without Morant, Jackson Jr., Bane and Smart and still beat the Antetokounmpo and Lillard-led Bucks in Doc Rivers ’10^e game as head coach just before the all-star break.

This time, behind Morant and reserve guard Scotty Pippen Jr., the Grizzlies outplayed the Bucks. And being one of the few teams that could match Milwaukee’s size, Memphis was able to seal and rebound the many Bucks misses, allowing them to get out and run in transition. The Grizzlies also kept the pace high in the half court, making sharp moves off the ball.

“We knew they liked to attack from the slots, we knew they cut out the corners and it seemed like we were surprised by a lot of that stuff,” Bucks guard Damian Lillard said. “The pace they played at, how fast they moved, we were just a step too slow and they were like that all night.”

Milwaukee took more shots than Memphis (89 to 76) because the Bucks didn’t turn it over an abnormally high rate (7) and they weren’t beaten on the offensive glass (8 second-chance points) when the regulars were in – two big problems for the Bucks in previous to lose. But they just missed too often, which played into the Grizzlies’ speed advantage.

And there were even times when the Grizzlies launched the ball over the Bucks after a made shot and scored easily against a porous defense.

“It’s discipline. Period,” Rivers said of the Bucks’ failures coming back. “It’s up to us to demand more of it, to point it out more, whatever we do, and at some point there has to be consequences. Too often today they ran after us, again and again. I mean, big guys run after us for lobs. That just can’t happen. It’s not like we don’t do that every day. But we don’t work hard enough on it, otherwise they wouldn’t do it. Once again, I keep returning to myself. There’s something they’re not hearing me tell them, and I need to do a better job.

Buck’s cold three-point shooting continues

A week away from the Fiserv Forum wasn’t kind to the Bucks’ long-range shooting eyes, as they followed a 10-for-33 (30.3%) performance in Brooklyn on Sunday with an 8-for-31 (25.8%) shooting performance in Boston on Monday was an even more awful 8-for-38 (21.1%) when the regulars were present Thursday night.

They were just 4-for-26 from beyond the arc by the time they trailed by 22 points at 80-58 with 7 minutes, 28 seconds left in the third quarter.

“That might be the biggest make-miss night ever,” Rivers said. “I mean, I don’t think anyone would complain about the threes we had. They were wide open. And I thought we moved the ball and got some great shots.”

Damian Lillard didn’t get going at all and finished the game 0-for-6 from deep. Fellow guard Gary Trent Jr. went 0-for-7 from behind the three-point line that night and Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis Jr. combined to hit 4-for-11 from distance.

“We’re going to take a lot of those looks every time and we’ve got the right guys shooting them,” Lopez said. “Most of our guys are also the right guys to shoot them, but they just didn’t go in. And that’s how it is sometimes. Obviously we always have to stand up defensively and take care of the transition. That’s something we’ve been focusing on all year.” keep hammering. But I thought we played the right way offensively for most of the night.”

Some of those 30 misses weren’t even close either, with air balls being sprinkled with misfires on the front and back of the iron.

That problem brings another problem, as the frequent misses — and the long rebounds that followed — helped the Grizzlies get out and make a run to beat the Bucks back in transition.

“But the defensive transition was still terrible tonight,” Rivers continued. ‘And that is my responsibility. Everything is my responsibility until we get it right. We have to solve this.

“I thought we played with the right spirit. We didn’t score and you will have nights like that, but on those nights we have to find a way to stop. I don’t know how many times they went ahead with the pass and beat us the floor. They probably did it eight to 10 times on the few (shots) we made tonight as far as driving and attacking being able to keep control.’

5 numbers

4: Straight losses for the Bucks. They lost four straight from April 2-7 last season under Doc Rivers and December 21-28, 2022 under Mike Budenholzer. The last time the Bucks lost five straight was February 10-18, 2021.

4: Points for Bucks guard Damian Lillard, on 1 of 12 shooting. It matched the lowest point total in a game for his career, which he did three times in Portland (twice in 2013 and once in 2021). One of the game’s all-time leading scorers, it was only the 17^e Each time in his career he has been held below double figures in scoring.

Lillard: “It’s hard because I mean my whole career I’ve always been someone that if I can do one thing, I can take over. I can take over a game. I think I’ve joined a new team and my situation is different and I understand that it is different, so I have to try to find a way not to just go back to what I’ve always done, because it’s probably not always necessary, or probably not necessary at all The hardest part is when things seem to get out of hand or things get tough, I can get a little bit more of a handle on it. I think it’s a little bit harder not to really be in that role. It’s more of a process that I have to figure out for me. ‘

3-for-8: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s ball from the free throw line. The Bucks star has started the season in somewhat of a rut, as he has made just 55% of his charity attempts.

26-14-10: Points, assists and rebounds for Memphis star Ja Morant. It was his first triple-double of the season and the twelfth of his career.

19-1 and 12-2: The Grizzlies’ first-half lead saw them take a 70-48 halftime lead. In those stretches, the Bucks went 1-for-12 from the floor and committed three turnovers. They were the turning points in the match, as Memphis led 17-16 when the first started and 51-44 when the second started.

What channel is the Bucks game on?

The game, which starts at 7 p.m., will air locally on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin, with Lisa Byington, Marques Johnson and Melanie Ricks in conversation.

Does Giannis play?

Yes. The MVP candidate has likely been playing with tendinitis in his right kneecap since the start of the season.

Bucks starters

Guards: Damian Lillard, Gary Trent Jr.
Forwards: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Taurus Prince
Middle: Brook Lopez

Khris Middleton, out (surgery on both ankles)
Giannis Antetokounmpo, probable (right patellar tendonitis)

Grizzlies injury report

Memphis has Ja Morant back healthy, but he is one of the few for the home team playing on the second night of a back-to-back.

Desmond Bane, out (right oblique strain)
Marcus Smart, out (sprained right ankle)
Luke Kennard, out (left foot muscle strain)
GG Jackson, out (right fifth metatarsal repair)
Vince Williams, out (left tibial stress reaction)
Cam Spencer, out (sprained right ankle)
John Konchar, doubtful (right quad bruise)

Bucks vs. Grizzlies odds, top/bottom

Milwaukee is a 6.5-point favorite over Memphis, and the over/under is 227.5 points.

VaselineNovember 1, 2024

4 8 minutes read

Bucks have no answer for Grizzlies

Buck’s cold three-point shooting continues

5 numbers

What channel is the Bucks game on?

Does Giannis play?

Bucks starters

Grizzlies injury report

Bucks vs. Grizzlies odds, top/bottom

Vaseline

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