6-point Bucks: Milwaukee’s defense comes to play against Trail Blazers

After a difficult road trip, the Milwaukee Bucks returned home on Monday night and hosted Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers. After an up and down first quarter that saw the two teams combine for 15 made three-pointers and 82 total points, Milwaukee’s defense took over the rest of the game and allowed the Bucks to pull out a dominant victory.

With the game officially in the rearview mirror, let’s use analytics and film to take a peek at six observations from the dominant victory.

Six observations about the Milwaukee Bucks’ dominant victory over the Portland Trail Blazers using both analytics and film.

Three-point defense

Portland started out the game hot from behind the arc, knocking down seven of their 14 three-point attempts in the first quarter. That had a lot of fans thinking we were in for another record-setting performance by the opponent. And rightfully so after all the trauma they’ve recently endured watching the Bucks’ opponents successfully bomb away from behind the arc.

In the following clips, you can see D.J. Augustin (guarding Gary Trent Jr at the top of the arc) get completely turned around off-ball, leaving Bobby Portis on an island. That never ends well for the Bucks and Trent knocks down the trey. In the second clip, Torrey Craig approaches the three-point line as his man, Carmelo Anthony, sets a ball screen for Anfernee Simons. As Simons approaches the arc, Craig backpedals just a bit too far and gets caught with his hands below his waist. Easy shot for the up-and-coming youngster.

The good news is the Bucks righted the ship and locked down the three-point line over the next three quarters with Portland only making eight of their 28 attempts (28.6 percent). There were plenty of examples of prime three-point defense, including in the first quarter. Overall, this was a great rebound performance by a three-point defense who actively defended above the arc.

Bucks’ three-point shooting

Speaking of three-point shooting, the Bucks made eight threes in the first quarter and only slightly slowed down from there. They finished the game making 21 of their 42 attempts (50 percent) which is the fourth-most all-time for the Bucks. Of the 20 most threes made in a single game in franchise history, this year’s squad already appears on the list seven times. And they’ve only played 20 games.

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s three-point shooting

One guy who did not play a role in the Bucks’ record-setting three-point performance was their lead dog, Giannis Antetokounmpo. For the first time this season, Antetokounmpo didn’t attempt a single shot behind the arc. That also marks the third time in five games where he’s taken two or fewer three-point attempts. Instead, he focused on attacking the basket and applying pressure on the rim before kicking it out to his teammates, recording six assists in just under 26 minutes of gameplay. He also only had one turnover, matching a season-low.

Dominant defense

Getting back to defense, Milwaukee flexed their muscles after getting ripped apart by the fans and questioned by the media so far this season. Portland entered the game with the sixth-highest offensive rating in the NBA at 113.9. They saw that rating drop .8 points after the Bucks held them to 98.7 points per 100 possessions according to Cleaning the Glass. 

Milwaukee abandoned their infamous drop pick-and-roll coverage from the start and moved Brook Lopez and other bigs up near the level of the screen. This prevented Damian Lillard from getting into his groove and hopping into pull-up threes. They also did a fair amount of switching like screens (screens that were set with players of similar height and position) which also helped deter Portland from getting open shots.

The Bucks defense didn’t only extend to the three-point line, however, as they locked down the paint with the Trail Blazers only converting 12 of their 23 attempts within four feet of the basket.

Jrue Holiday’s defense

Jrue Holiday’s fingerprint was all over this game, most notably his individual defense on Damian Lillard. Holiday has had past success against Lillard so it was not necessarily a surprise to see him win the one-on-one matchup once again. As a Bucks’ fan, however, it’s still very impressive to see Holiday rise to the challenge and really up his game when he’s defending some of the best players in the NBA.

Holiday spent almost all of his time defending Lillard (70.8 percent of his time, to be exact) fighting over screens, forcing him into the help defense, and clawing for any advantage he could. And it worked. There’s no stopping Dame Time, but anytime you can slow him down to the tune of 6-for-13 from the field for 17 points and 7 assists, that’s a highly successful night.

Bobby Portis–Sixth Man of the Year candidate?

Lastly, it’s about time we begin to make some noise for Bobby Portis as a Sixth Man of the Year candidate. After putting up 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting and eight rebounds, he’s averaging 11.2 points and 7.5 rebounds on the season. He’s shooting a scorching-hot 46.3 percent from downtown and can score from all three levels. He’s the clear lightning-rod for Milwaukee’s bench and it’s about Portis time we start his campaign.