Milwaukee Bucks fans watched the fourth quarter against the 76ers wondering when Myles Turner was ever going to check back into the game. Finally he did with 2:24 remaining, for about 90 seconds of action before Doc Rivers waved the white flag and subbed in the reserves for the final minute of a 116-101 loss. Turner finished the night with 19 points in 23 minutes.
Why did Doc stick with Bobby Portis and Jericho Sims in Turner’s place down the stretch?
Rivers’ explanation does little to justify Turner’s absence
“Just Bobby was playing well,” Rivers told The Athletic’s Eric Nehm postgame. “We wanted a roller. We could have easily played Bobby and Myles together, which we’ll do at times. We just felt like we needed a roller to create shots and Bobby was playing well.”
The roller, Sims, didn’t do much in his second start of the season. In 30 minutes on the floor, Sims scored two points and grabbed three offensive rebounds (nine total).
Portis, on the other hand, led the Bucks in scoring with 22 points on 9-16 from the field. Nine of those points came in the final period.
To Rivers’ point, Portis played well, and he has been better in general. His buckets helped the Bucks keep pace in the fourth quarter, winning the period 24-23 to keep the game from getting out of hand. Unfortunately, trading blows was far too little far too late to overcome a halftime deficit of 20.
Although he laid out his reasons, Rivers’ reluctance to play Turner is a growing concern. The Bucks didn’t hand him a $109 million contract to be an accessory. No, Turner hasn’t played up to snuff, but he was productive on Friday night. He doesn’t have a chance to improve his numbers if Doc doesn’t trust him.
Turner has been absent from the Bucks’ late-game or closing lineups multiple times. It speaks to his subpar performance, yes, but also to Rivers’ apparent lack of trust. Leaving Portis in the game wasn’t the issue; he earned his spot on the floor. But when Sims is the alternative to Turner – and he gave them nothing on offense all night – giving him priority is a perplexing choice to say the least.
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