Milwaukee Bucks: 3 observations from Game One loss

The Milwaukee Bucks came away from game one scratching their heads after a frustrating 115-104 loss to the Miami Heat and here are three observations as to why that happened.

There was a lot of anticipation leading up to this series for the Milwaukee Bucks as this was their first series of the playoffs that would be competitive. They came out strong, winning the first quarter 40-29 and then slowly fizzled, losing every other quarter of the game.

The Bucks did have some good moments and Khris Middleton bounced back from an abysmal series against the Magic, shooting 50 percent from the field and from three-point range while scoring 28 points.

Brook Lopez was the hot shooter, going 8-10 from the field and 4-6 from beyond the arc. On nights like that for him, he needs to be more involved. For starters, he only played 27 minutes and in much of that time, he was a non-factor on offense, doing a lot of standing in corners. His post prowess, especially in spurts when Giannis Antetokounmpo and Middleton are out, can be a huge asset to this team, but they opt to not use him in that way very much even when he’s having a great night on that end of the floor.

There were solid contributions made by some players, but still, no one did enough that the team was positive while they were on the floor. The only Milwaukee Bucks’ player with a positive plus/minus in game one? Frank Mason who played two minutes and didn’t record a single stat. Donte Divincenzo and Marvin Williams were both only -1 when on the court, but negative nonetheless.

The defense was also suspect as the Bucks allowed the Heat to get into the paint at will at times which has been what they’ve been so good at preventing. Jimmy Butler was the poster child for paint scoring and getting to the line and his whole game was extremely impressive.