6-point Bucks: The Giannis Antetokounmpo edition

The Milwaukee Bucks have rebounded nicely following some sloppy play last week. After mopping the floor with the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night, they absolutely whooped the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday 130-110 (the final score is a lot closer than the game really was).

In a budding tradition here at Dairyland Express, we are going to use analytics and film to further examine six observations from this game. This edition just happens to be mostly centered around Giannis Antetokounmpo who put up a triple-double (21 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists) for the third time this season.

Six observations about the Milwaukee Bucks’ dominant victory over division rival Indiana Pacers using both analytics and film.

Antetokounmpo’s passing

Antetokounmpo’s raw numbers may be down this season and, at the rate things are going, it’s unlikely he’ll win a third straight MVP as a result. Part of that is due to head coach Mike Budenholzer’s revamped offense that has placed a player in the dunker’s spot and part is due to defense’s continued approach of not allowing Antetokounmpo into the paint.

However, Antetokounmpo has also taken it upon himself to practice patience more often. To be clear, he’s far from perfect and has a lot of work to do, but we’ve seen him pick his spots a lot more carefully as the season has gone on.

The 5.7 assists per game he’s averaging so far is just off his career-mark, but I fully expect he’ll surpass his previous career-high of 5.9 before the season is over. Instead of running into the wall over and over again, he’s begun to figure out he can probe the wall in a gentle manner before kicking it out to open teammates. Below, you can see him perfectly read a double-team in the post before feeding Brook Lopez down low. In the second clip, he runs the fastbreak masterfully and dishes a no-look dime to Khris Middleton (who throws down an athletic dunk!). This passing is the key to unlocking the next-level Bucks.

Antetokounmpo’s three-point shooting

For the second straight game, Antetokounmpo didn’t take a single three-point shot. That’s the first time he’s failed to take a shot behind the arc in back-to-back games since March 7th and 9th, 2018 according to the game logs on basketballreference.com. In fact, he didn’t take a single shot outside of the paint…

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s shot chart

Below is a picture of Antetokounmpo’s shot chart. Lol. The dude didn’t take one shot outside of the paint and finished 7-for-8 from the field–all at point-blank range. He set the tone early with a fastbreak dunk and picked his spots beautifully. Anytime he saw a crack in the defense (or Myles Turner defending him) he glided on through and finished powerfully at the rim. It was a work of art.

Antetokounmpo’s free throw shooting

Wrapping up our Antetokounmpo portion is his free throw shooting. A lot has been made about his struggles at the line for years now, as he’s seen his percentage drop for four straight seasons. In what might just be a blip on the radar, he made seven of his eight free throw attempts tonight and looked smooth doing so. He wasn’t taking nearly as long as recently and appeared to be getting right down to business. This is an every game event to monitor and it switches on the regular, but we’ll continue to keep an eye on it.

Jrue Holiday steals

Off the court, Jrue Holiday is one of the most giving guys in the NBA. The Jrue and Lauren Fund is a non-profit organization that helps businesses and different communities across the country. On the court is a whole different story, however, as Holiday is one of the most dangerous defensive players in the NBA.

He has no issues bodying with bigger players, sliding his feet with guards on the perimeter, or picking pockets as he did to the poor T.J. McConnell in the clip below. Holiday entered the game tied for fourth in the league (with Kawhi Leonard) in steals per game at 1.9 and he recorded another three tonight. No balls are safe around Holiday.

Team passing

It appears the Bucks have really bought into team basketball and are doing a wonderful job of sharing the rock. Of their 48 made field goals tonight, 33 of them assisted with Antetokounmpo single-handily bringing that number down thanks to his aggressive attacking off the bounce. And of those 33 assists, a whopping 86 points were netted. In other words, Milwaukee averaged 2.6 points per assist.

It all begins with Antetokounmpo, but the rest of the Bucks’ offense has thrived while passing the ball as well. It doesn’t appear to be the same type of group that has failed to put up big points in the postseason the past two years.