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The Midrange Misadventures Of The Milwaukee Bucks

By Peter Myhrer

Apr 23, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Jared Dudley (9) celebrates after making a basket during the second quarter against the Chicago Bulls in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 23, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Jared Dudley (9) celebrates after making a basket during the second quarter against the Chicago Bulls in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports /
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Even with a Herculean late game effort by Khris Middleton,

a missed free throw from Derrick Rose, and two overtime periods, the Milwaukee Bucks could not win their first playoff game since 2010.

After 58 minutes of basketball on Thursday night, the Chicago Bulls were finally able to put away the Bucks, 113-106.

Even with the missed free throw that sent the game to overtime, Rose scored 34 points, his first 30-point playoff game since 2011.

Both coaches played their starters heavy minutes with Giannis Antetokounmpo playing a career-high 51 minutes and Jimmy Butler playing 53. Fortunately for both teams, they have Friday to recuperate before Game 4 on Saturday.

There’s a lot of ways that the Bucks lost Game 3, but I want to first start out by giving the Bulls credit where credit’s due.

While part of it is due to a lack of off-ball movement by Milwaukee, Tom Thibodeau and the Bulls’ defense has down an incredible job of locking down the paint in the halfcourt offense.

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It’s been very frustrating watching the Bucks shoot so many jump shots this series, but jump shots are the only option when a team can’t work the ball into the paint. Milwaukee has only managed to get 9.3 shots per game from the paint (non-restrictive area), per NBA.com.

The Bulls’ game plan has been to sag and crowd the paint. This has been a major cause for the Bucks’ inability to get into the paint, but so has been a lack of off-ball movement. Milwaukee could learn a lot in this area from the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs, who are averaging 24.0 attempts from in the paint during the playoffs.

To be fair, the Bucks have taken a fair amount of shots inside of the restrictive area. They have been able to get out in transition off of Bulls’ misses and take close shots before Chicago can set up its suffocating defense. The Bucks are averaging 32.7 attempts from this part of the floor and it’s their second most active zone of the floor to shoot from.

Unfortunately, it’s not good enough to just get a lot of close looks at the basket. It’s crucial that you make them as well, something the Bucks are failing to do. Give credit to Thibodeau’s stingy defense for altering the Bucks’ shots and holding Milwaukee to only 46.9 percent from inside the restrictive area.

Not surprisingly with Bulls’ defenders playing their man for the drive, the Bucks have had to shoot from further out. Through the first three games of the series, the Milwaukee Bucks are averaging a playoff leading 34.3 midrange attempts per game. That is the most of any playoff team by quite a large margin with the next closest being the Wizards at 26.5.

To put it more bluntly, the Bulls’ defense has forced the young Bucks into taking the least efficient shot in basketball, more than any other team in the playoffs. There can be games where a team is hot from midrange and there’s certain individual players who are moderately effective from this zone, but as shown by the Bucks’ 35.9 percent field goal percentage on these shots, it’s not going to win a best of seven playoff series.

Earlier this week, I wrote about how the Bucks need to shoot more three-pointers starting in Game 2 moving forward. Considering the Bulls were making it so tough to score in the paint, shooting from further out seemed logical. Surprisingly though, the Bucks haven’t found the same affinity for three-pointers as they have for the midrange shot.

A whopping 81.5 percent of Milwaukee’s shots in the playoffs have been two-pointers, leaving only 18.5 percent of their shots behind the arc.

Again, I have to give props to the Bulls’ defense for this. Their perimeter defenders have been running Bucks’ shooters off the three-point line and their big men have been an intimidating line of second defense to keep players like Giannis Antetokounmpo from finishing in the paint. The open area of the court that this leaves for Bucks’ players to shoot from his mid-range and the Bulls will sleep easy at night knowing that.

Milwaukee was flawed in many ways on Thursday night, as well as in Game 1 and 2, but there’s an intensity in each player’s eyes that gives me hope. Even though the team is down 3-0 in the series, it’s not because they haven’t flipped the switch to playoff mode. The players will improve, the coaches will improve, and they will be back with more talent and the same energy and intensity.

The Bucks surprised the whole NBA by even being in the playoffs. Sure it would be nice to see them win a series (still not ruling out this series!), but like Coach Jason Kidd reminds his young players, the only important thing right now is getting better.

Next: NBA Awards Watch: Final MVP Pick For 2014-15

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