With their win over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, the Milwaukee Bucks guaranteed their spot in the NBA Cup semifinals for a second straight season. As the earliest quarterfinal game on the docket, combined with the league’s new tournament schedule, the Bucks have a far longer rest this time than they did in 2023.
Last season, the Bucks won their quarterfinal matchup against the New York Knicks on Tuesday night, flew to Las Vegas, participated in a practice at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Wednesday afternoon and then played the Indiana Pacers on Thursday afternoon.
This year, Milwaukee will not be in action again until Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks at 3:30 p.m. CT.
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The story of the greatest plays in NBA history.
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As we wait for the Bucks to take the court, let’s play some Ones.
One play: Damian Lillard fouled, not shooting
With 4:33 remaining in Friday’s 111-105 loss to the Boston Celtics, Damian Lillard brought the ball up against Celtics forward Jaylen Brown. As he had throughout Friday’s game, Brown played Lillard physically and tried to keep him from using the screens set by Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Eventually, Lillard gained an advantage to get downhill for a potential drive. As Lillard wrapped around Antetokounmpo’s screen, Brown grabbed his right arm with both hands and Lillard pulled up for a 3-point shot. But as Lillard pulled up, Brown pulled his hands away and no foul was called.
After the play, Lillard pleaded his case with the officials, and Antetokounmpo made a weak attempt at a steal. Jayson Tatum slalomed through the Bucks’ transition defense for an easy bucket on the other end.
It was the latest example of a problem Lillard has experienced during the last two seasons: He either believes he is fouled and doesn’t receive a call, or he draws a foul on a shot attempt, but officials say he was not in the shooting motion.
After last Friday’s game, Bucks coach Doc Rivers was reluctant to discuss the calls against Lillard in Boston. Rivers did note that Lillard is used as an example on league-wide officiating video when it comes to drawing fouls, similar to the situation in the clip above.
“If you’re on that video,” Rivers said. “you will never, ever get the call because there’s no official that wants to make that call and be wrong and then have to go (explain it).
“Dame was shooting. But I try to keep telling him, you’re the video child. They’re just not going to call it. The only one I didn’t like is you can’t try to draw one at the end of the game. And he may have been fouled, he may not, but end of a game with two minutes, they’re not going to call that and you can’t try to leave it and put it in officials’ hands. You gotta go get it.”
On six separate occasions, Lillard drew a foul against the Celtics. All six occurred while he had the ball and was attempting to make a move to get open for a shot, whether that would be a drive to the rim or a dribble to his side to create an open look for a jump shot.
Only twice — a made floater when Al Horford fouled him late in the second quarter and a finish at the rim through Neemias Queta — were those fouls deemed to be in the act of shooting.
“They haven’t really had an explanation,” Lillard said, when asked about regularly being denied shooting fouls. “They’re just saying, ‘Oh, that’s on the floor.’ And I’m telling them like, ‘I’m trying to go score. I’m picking the ball up to go score.’
“Even when I’m shooting 3s, I’m not jumping into guys. I’m paying attention to how I’m being guarded and I’m raising up knowing that they’re pursuing aggressively, so they end up making contact. And they’re like, ‘Oh, that was on the floor.’ Like tonight, there was one with Payton Pritchard.”
Here’s that play:
“He flew out at me, and I side-dribbled around him,” Lillard explained. “He just ran by me. And then he grabbed me as I was going up to shoot. But they kept saying, ‘You took a dribble.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, but he didn’t grab me until I went around him.’
“So, I think it’s just a tough play for them to call. I’ve tried to explain to them like stop calling it like I’m doing what everybody’s doing because I don’t. I raise up to make the shot. If they don’t touch me, I’m going to get a regular shot off, but a lot of these times, these are shooting fouls.”
Last season, as the league started to call fewer fouls midway through the season, there were games where Lillard would struggle with the new guidelines and get himself out of rhythm looking for fouls that just were not going to be called. For the most part, he has gotten away from that this season. Unfortunately, in one of the game’s biggest moments on Friday in Boston, Lillard went searching for a call and didn’t get it.
With less than 11 seconds left on the clock in the second quarter and 1.1 remaining on the shot clock against the Nets on Sunday, Khris Middleton tried to get his teammates set up for the inbounds play. There was just one problem.
“He called a play that we ran two years ago,” Antetokounmpo said. “Nobody knew the play. Well, I remembered the play because he always ran it for me.”
So, Middleton got to work. Once he put Antetokounmpo into position, he moved Bobby Portis to the right side and Gary Trent Jr. to the right corner. He shifted Lillard to the right wing. And then he stepped out of bounds to get Antetokounmpo the ball.
In this set-up, Middleton would typically throw a lob to Antetokounmpo in the lane, but the set-up (and the shot clock) gave that potential play away. So Middleton stared at the spot he’d normally throw the lob, faked the pass and then found Antetokounmpo on the baseline for a jumper.
Moments such as those are what make Middleton special. He will never be the most athletic player on the floor or blow people away with his ballhandling ability, but he will put his teammates in the right spots and intelligently manipulate defenders to create opportunities for himself and others.
“He’s a big organizer,” Portis said. “He’s a big leader. He has a big-time voice that everyone respects. So when you play on the court with him, you can’t help but to be organized.
“He’s gonna get you organized. He’s gonna call you out when you’re not doing your job. I think he came back at a great time to where now we can really trend in the right direction to see what works, what lineups work and things like that and just keep getting better day-by-day.”
Against the Magic, Middleton only attempted two shots. It was the first time in his career that he played at least 20 minutes in a game and did not score. Still, his teammates raved about how impactful he was because of how well he could read the game and make plays for others. Those reads weren’t just the correct swing of the ball to a teammate; he dished out eight assists on Tuesday. Seven of his eight helpers went to Antetokounmpo, and five of those seven ended up getting the two-time MVP a dunk.
It is still early in his return, but the Bucks have scored 134.9 points per 100 possessions and allowed 115.7 points per 100 possessions with Middleton, which makes his lineups plus-19.2 points per 100 possessions in 63 minutes. Also, that success is occurring with Middleton really struggling as a scorer in his first three games, knocking down just 25 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from 3.
Middleton has much to prove in his return, but the Bucks have been undeniably successful with him playing thus far.
One trend: 3-point shooting
As he has carved out a consistent place in Rivers’ rotation, AJ Green has turned into one of the NBA’s best shooters. He has averaged 21.5 minutes per game primarily off the bench this season, so he might not have the same volume as some of the league’s most dangerous long-range shooters, but his 47.5 percent from deep puts him fifth in 3-point accuracy.
While he has finally had the chance to show off his skill in a bigger role, that role has also meant teams have a better understanding of what he can do, and they do their best to keep Green from firing off 3-pointers. Green has taken three or fewer 3s in three of the Bucks’ five games in December. That decrease in volume has little to do with the third-year shooting guard’s willingness to shoot.
“Yeah, I would say so,” Green said when asked if he believes defenses have started to treat him differently. “Not helping as much. Maybe off DHOs or certain things, guys are up at the level a little bit more helping. That’s all part of it.
“It’s just continuing to find ways to get shots off and then make plays for others, like that’s going to open up a lot for other guys. So continuing to just have that communication and interaction with Bobby or Giannis that I’m involved with a lot and just continue to talk through it and figure out what’s next, how to keep attacking, keep playing.”
Because of Green’s deadly 3-point shooting and his rare, but also effective, shooting on 2s — he’s 6 of 12 inside the line — the undrafted Northern Iowa product is the league’s most efficient player. According to Cleaning the Glass, no shot in the NBA is worth more this season than a shot by Green.
With that in mind, does that mean Rivers and his coaching staff believe the Bucks should be prioritizing getting Green six or seven 3-point attempts each night?
“It doesn’t matter to us (how many Green takes) as long as our number is high,” Rivers said. “Like, we don’t care who. If we shoot 40 3s or whatever amount of 3s, we’re not going to say, well, we’re upset because AJ only had two. As long as we’re getting the attempts, we’re good.
“When that number is low, meaning team attempts, we know we didn’t move the ball. It’s just pretty clear. And when it’s not, it means we did move the ball. And I thought, especially the other night (vs. the Nets), the ball movement in the fourth quarter was as beautiful as you’re going to get.”
For Rivers, part of the lack of focus on getting Green, specifically, a certain amount of attempts each night stems from his belief that the Bucks have a strong group of 3-point shooters.
“It also means we have a lot of shooters on the floor,” Rivers said. “And when you come down the floor and you have Gary Trent, you have Brook (Lopez), you have Dame, you have Bobby Portis, you have TP (Taurean Prince) who’s leading the league. You got a lot of guys that can make 3s, so you have a lot of choices.”
And while those responses sound nice, the Bucks aren’t a particularly high-volume 3-point shooting team.
According to NBA.com, they are taking the 16th-most 3-point attempts with 36.5 attempts per game. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Bucks have the 13th-highest 3-point rate, based upon the percentage of their shots from 3 taken in non-garbage time settings. So, whether it’s getting Green more open looks or just shooting more 3s in general, the Bucks should start letting it fly a little bit more often if they want to keep up with the league’s volume shooters.
(Photo of Payton Pritchard, Damian Lillard and Neemias Queta: Bob DeChiara / Imagn Images)
