Milwaukee Bucks’ tough defense will be tested by Sacramento Kings

The Milwaukee Bucks have been one of the best teams in the NBA so far this season, but will have their defense tested when the scrappy Sacramento Kings come to town.

With the 2018-19 NBA season came a new version of the Milwaukee Bucks‘ defense. Following a 2017-18 campaign where the Bucks were in the bottom half of the league in defensive rating, Milwaukee’s defense is now shaping up to be one of the best in the NBA.

Currently, the Bucks have the second-best defensive rating (100.2) and are giving up the fifth-fewest points per game (105.8) of any team in the league. The improved defense is a large reason why Milwaukee has jumped out to a 7-1 start in the 2018-19 season.

However, the defense will have its hands full Sunday afternoon when the Bucks take on the Sacramento Kings. Sacramento was supposed to be continuing its rebuilding effort this year, but that hasn’t been the case through their first nine games.

The Kings have are 6-3 to start the new NBA season, mostly due to their offensive prowess, which has made them a top-three scoring team. With both teams coming off a day of rest, the matchup between the Bucks’ stingy defense and the Kings’ hot offense will be fun for everyone.

The bulk of Sacramento’s offensive production has come from the perimeter, which is where the Bucks will have to focus their defensive efforts. The Kings’ offense runs through second-year point guard De’Aaron Fox, who is second on the team in scoring with 19 points per game.

Fox is a crafty isolation scorer, but what he really brings to the table is his ability to facilitate. He is leading the Kings with 7.8 assists per game and his teammates are able to get great catch-and-shoot opportunities.

These open shots are being taken by Buddy Hield and Nemanja Bjelica, both of which are executing them at a high rate. Hield, who is the team’s leading scorer at 19.8 points per game, is corralling in almost a quarter of Fox’s passes and is shooting an incredible 62.1 percent on standstill 3-point shots. Bjelica is doing even more of the same, shooting 37 percent of his shots on catch-and-shoot looks, hitting those 3s at a rate of 57.6 percent.

Duties for stopping these two will be Bucks’ starting frontcourt duo Eric Bledsoe and Malcolm Brogdon. Opponents are shooting just above 46 percent against both Bledsoe and Brogdon. Bledsoe is holding to defenders to only 35 percent on shots greater than 15 feet and will need to force Fox into those type of shots.

Brogdon will match up with Hield in the hopes of holding him closer to the 36 percent he is holding opponents to on 3-point shots this year. Either way, the entire Bucks defense is going to need to focus on locking down the Kings’ explosive offense.