Bucks’ supporting cast struggles to help Antetokounmpo in series-opening loss to Pacers
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo delivered another trademark playoff performance Saturday.
The rest of his Milwaukee Bucks teammates were reeling. Again.
After revamping the roster at the trade deadline, getting a full season and offseason to learn the nuances of coach Doc Rivers and producing the league’s top regular-season 3-point percentage, Game 1 looked like more of the same postseason struggles — and possibly a third straight first-round exit.
Antetokounmpo did the heavy lifting with 36 points and 12 rebounds, but no teammate scored more than 15 points. Kyle Kuzma, one of the key acquisitions in February, became the sixth player since 1974-75 to play at least 20 minutes and record no stats — the first in a decade — according to Sportradar.
Kuzma missed all five of his shots and both of his free throw attempts while recording no rebounds, no assists, no steals and no blocks. He did, however, draw two fouls in the 117-98 loss that put the Bucks in a 1-0 home in the best-of-seven first-round series.
“It’s hard to score when you don’t touch the ball,” Rivers said. “I mean, no offense, Kyle got two shots in the first half, both with two seconds in the shot clock. Kuzma can play, but we’ve got to involve him, and we’ve got to make sure we keep him involved.”
Kuzma’s ugly stat line certainly stood out, but he was hardly the only one struggling Saturday. The four starters other than Antetokounmpo combined for 14 points and Taurean Prince, like Kuzma, also was shut out of the scoring column.
The Bucks went 2 of 16 on 3-pointers in the first half and finished 9 of 37 after making 38.7% from beyond the arc through their first 82 games. And then, after cutting a 28-point deficit to 107-95 with 5:24 left in the game, it happened all over again. Milwaukee managed only one more basket — a meaningless 3-pointer with 25 seconds left.
The result: From the moment Indiana took a 10-8 lead, it never trailed and in the second half, the Bucks never got within single digits.
“We made a big run. We got it to I think 13, 12 or something like that, and it was a game,” Kevin Porter Jr. said after scoring 12 points. “But we can’t allow it to get to that point. We’ve got to come out fast, and we didn’t do that today.”
Worse yet, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle didn’t even think his team’s defense was good enough, especially in the second half.
“Giannis got the to the basket way too much,” Carlisle said. “We’re trying to build walls and he’s still getting there. He’s a great player and great players cause collateral problems, so it’s not a surprise. But we’ve got to look at that and we fouled them a lot.”
Both teams now have two days to make the needed adjustments before Game 2 in Indianapolis on Tuesday night.
The good news for the Bucks is that help could be on the way.
Nine-time All-Star Damian Lillard has spent the last month recovering from deep vein thrombosis in his right calf. He was cleared for basketball activity earlier this week and has ramped up his workouts in an effort to be on the court Tuesday night.
Lillard scored 31.3 points per game and Khris Middleton, who was traded to Washington for Kuzma, averaged 24.3 points in last year’s first-round series, which Antetokounmpo missed with an injured calf. Indiana advanced with a 4-2 series win.
Lillard also averaged 18.3 points in this season’s four previous matchups.
How much Lillard’s return might help remains unclear, but after Saturday’s sluggish start, getting him back certainly couldn’t hurt.
“I feel like everybody’s trying to do the right things, everybody has the right intentions,” Antetokounmpo said. “We’ve just got to be better having patience and just trusting one another.”
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