After Saturday night’s loss to the Indiana Pacers, Jason Kidd challenged his team to be better in numerous aspects, and on Monday night, the Milwaukee Bucks answered the call.
The Bucks had lost three straight on the road, including an ugly defeat to the Pacers, but the rebounded spectacularly back in the comforts of the BMO Harris Bradley Center. All five starts were in double figures, while the Bucks shot 51.8 percent and only logged 12 turnovers in a dominant 109-88 win over the Detroit Pistons.
“It’s good to see guys respond. The guys, give them the credit, they responded,” Coach Kidd told the media. “I think we all knew we didn’t play well on the trip and we didn’t end the trip on the right note. Those guys in that locker room get a lot of credit.”
The Bucks had to contend with one of the rising stars of the NBA in Detroit’s Andre Drummond. He has averaged an incredible 18.1 points and 17.6 rebounds for he season, but the Bucks did a solid job at limiting him to 15 points and 15 boards.
Thanks to that effort, the Bucks lost the rebounding battle, but by just three: 48-45. They also owned the paint offensively, where they held a 58-36 scoring advantage.
“He’s a talent. He’s having a heck of a season and he does a lot of things for that team, blocking shots, being able to rebound the ball, giving them second or third opportunities. That’s just the year that he’s having, being able to dominate the boards,” J-Kidd said of Drummond. “I thought the guys did a really good job team rebounding tonight. When we asked our smalls to come and help us rebound and also our bigs, so again, I thought that was a big thing that we concentrated on. We didn’t win that war but we stayed close.”
Coach Kidd liked the effort from all of his guys, but three players in particular caught his eye: Greg Monroe, point guard Michael Carter-Williams and shooting guard O.J. Mayo. Monroe for his tenacity, MCW for setting the tempo and Mayo for his toughness and energy.
Monroe, who joined Milwaukee from Detroit this offseason, won the medal for tenacity on the night, contending with Drummond. The former Piston got the better of the one-on-one battle, going 9-of-19 from the field with 20 points, 13 rebounds, while supplying a plus-28 scoring advantage while on the floor.
“I think for Greg he’s getting a lot of good looks and I think the nice thing is that he’s not being bashful or turning down the ones if he’s missed one, he’s staying with the game and being aggressive,” Jason said. “I think his teammates all believe that he can make those shots. I thought he was aggressive on both ends, defensively and offensively he was good.”
MCW was commended for setting the tempo against the Pistons. He was 60 percent from the field (6-of-10), finishing with 12 points and a game-high eight assists and three steals. He was also plus-13 in his 26 minutes of play. He also tallied a big block on Reggie Jackson and held his counterpart to just 3-of-11 shooting.
“Michael for the Indiana game, take out the positives, he set the pace. And, I thought he did another great job. We talk about pace but also defensively I thought he did a really good job in keeping the ball in front and made Jackson take some tough shots and make some tough shots,” J-Kidd told the media. “You give a lot of credit to Michael, again setting the tone on both sides of the ball.”
Mayo earned praise for his toughness and energy. He is and has been a key part of the Milwaukee bench, though injuries have limited his impact early in the season. Last night though, the vintage O.J. was plus-eight for the game, totaling six points and three rebounds in 19 minutes.
“I thought he
[Mayo] set the tone tonight. He was aggressive. He was very talkative and I thought he got his guys going on the floor and we need that,” Jason said. “He’s one of our toughest guys. Won’t back down from a challenge. And, I thought he competed at both ends and his teammates followed.”
Coach Kidd spoke to the media about the bench as a whole stepping up against Detroit. The bench was one of Milwaukee’s strong points last year, but it has been inconsistent most of this season.
It was excellent against Detroit. In addition to Mayo’s strong night, guards Jerryd Bayless and Greivis Vasquez were on fire. They combined to go 9-of-16 for 24 points with 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Jason talked about his second unit’s early struggles, and how they’ll only get better going forward.
“In preseason, that group played extremely well for us and then once the season started it struggled a little bit. But, now you can see that they are playing. The big thing on a lot of things for us is that we’re young and we’re new and so we’ve got to get used to each other. And, Greivis being the point guard, he has to get used to his new teammates,” Coach Kidd told the media. “It’s not going to happen in 10 games, it’s not going to happen in 20 games, so they have to get used to each other and you can see that they’re starting to get used to one another.”
In their last game in Indy, the Bucks allowed their opponent to shoot 50 percent from downtown and 51.6 percent from the floor. There was a drastic change on Monday night. Detroit shot just 21.4 percent from three and 34.1 percent from the field.
“It starts with effort and energy and we made a conscious effort of getting back on defense and being ready. That’s where it starts for our defense. We felt it wasn’t so much the threes that we were giving up but we just weren’t ready,” Coach Kidd told the media. “It starts with sprinting back and those guys did that tonight.”
Milwaukee also coughed up 23 turnovers in that loss. That led to 29 easy points for the Pacers, which spelled a major difference in the game. This time around, the Bucks gave it up just a dozen times, which yielded only 15 points for the Pistons.
“We would love to bottle that up. Understanding taking care of the ball, I thought again, the ball was moving, it was not just one pass and then one shot. We had guys driving the ball, touch paint, the ball touching the paint and good things happen,” J-Kidd told reporters. “Again, we’re not a team that’s going to shoot a lot of threes. And, it showed tonight that you could still score 100 points when you don’t shoot a lot of threes. And, that’s by getting the ball in the paint and also converting and also getting to the free throw line.”
NEXT UP
The Bucks (6-8) host the Sacramento Kings (5-10) Wednesday night.
They’ll face another outstanding big man, DeMarcus Cousins. He has been a force for the Kings, averaging 27.9 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, though he has been dealing with some back issues of late.
Injuries have kept the Kings from getting in a rhythm lately. They’ll also be on the final leg of a five-game Eastern Conference road trip when the roll into town Wednesday night.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT from the Bradley Center, and the game will be broadcast on FOX Sports Wisconsin.
RELATED ARTICLES
