Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from Game 2 vs. Celtics

2. Milwaukee is being outpaced beyond the arc

When looking at the box score for Game 2, it will probably leap off the page that the Milwaukee Bucks scored at an efficient rate all night. Giannis Antetokounmpo shot 13-of-17, Khris Middleton went 10-for-14 — even center John Henson chipped in 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Yet they lost by double-digits in a game that was never in doubt over the final 40 minutes.

Mark is right — it isn’t easy to do. While the Bucks ended up at just 59.7 from the field, they were a late shot or two away from clearing that 60 percent mark — a rare feat in a loss. In fact, ESPN Stats & Info lays out how infrequent that particular feat is:

The problem is not that the shots are going in, it’s where those shots are coming from. The Bucks aren’t playing modern basketball — they are feasting inside so they are ignoring the outside. That may not seem wrong on the whole, but a 3-pointer is worth more than a 2-pointer and the Bucks feel behind in that category quickly.

For the game, the Bucks took just 17 3-point attempts, 22 percent of their possessions. While they made a solid percentage of them — 41.2 percent — they could not keep up with the Celtics. Boston shot 13-for-31 from deep (a similar 41.9 percent), getting up 14 more attempts and scoring an extra 18 points from beyond the arc.

Milwaukee should continue to leverage its advantage inside, and score easy baskets when it can. But the change it needs to make is to then play inside-out and get up more 3-point shot attempts. Allowing a strong paint game to open up shots outside is the mark of a successful and sustainable offense.

Milwaukee has the shooters, from Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton to Tony Snell and Malcolm Brogdon. Now it just needs to give those players the green light and set them up with open shots. If they don’t, sheer math may simply overwhelm them.