The Milwaukee Bucks came away with their fourth loss in five games Thursday night, this time falling to the Memphis Grizzlies by a score of 122-99.
Memphis’ All-Star guard Ja Morant dominated against Milwaukee, registering 26 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists. On the other side of the point guard battle, the Bucks’ Damian Lillard faltered.
Lillard shot just 1-for-12, finishing with 4 points, arguably the worst game of his tenure with the team. His 0-for-6 night from the three-point line also contributed to the team’s overall 21.4% shooting from distance for the game, though the shooting was not necessarily the biggest problem for Milwaukee.
After the contest concluded, Lillard took an opportunity during the post-game media scrum to look outside of himself and elaborate on the group's visible lack of intensity and hustle.
“Sometimes we shoot and we think it looks like Giannis (Antetokounmpo) or Brook (Lopez) might get it, so we’re waiting around,” Lillard told the media Thursday night. “There’s guys running out and getting behind us.”
Lillard’s main gripe had to do with transition defense and their proclivity to jump the gun when anticipating a rebound or turnover, leading to the other team having a numbers advantage if they retain possession.
“I think we’ve had that problem over these first five games, and each time that it’s happened we’ve gotten hurt by it…Just the undisciplined plays and decisions that we make and give a team an advantage.”
It could be inferred that Lillard’s summation of the game is entirely accurate, as Milwaukee’s 10 total turnovers is not a number that typically equates to losing. Instead, their lack of intensity and game awareness in their transition defense opened up plenty of opportunities for the Grizzlies’ main offensive threats to get out and run.
The high-flying guard Morant took advantage of the Bucks’ sluggish transition defense, turning plenty of fast break chances into baskets through slick passing and precise finishing at the rim.
Though the pitiful effort from the Bucks’ defense could be cited as a key factor to the loss, Lillard’s efficiency from the field still did not assist the club in making the game competitive.
For Milwaukee to have any chance at competing in the Eastern Conference, they’ll have to see both a collective improvement in decision-making and an efficiency jump from their legendary point guard, who has knocked down just 41.3% of his shots through the first five games.
