In what will easily go down as the worst effort of the season, the Milwaukee Bucks got blown out by the Charlotte Hornets by a score of 109-138. There’s a nearly unlimited number of fingers that can be pointed in this one, but almost none are more apparent than a team-wide slow start from the tipoff.
Milwaukee Bucks Disastrous Start
The first quarter of this game couldn’t have been much uglier. The Bucks put up a respectable 28 points but forgot anything about how to defend and found themselves down 28-51 at the end of the first 12 minutes.
No, that’s not a typo.
Charlotte would slow down from their 200-point pace to score 84 points at half—a team record—leaving the Bucks with a 24-point deficit.
The Hornets have a team-record 84 points at the half 🤯
They lead the Bucks 84-60 👀 pic.twitter.com/oS1INnNrkn
— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 7, 2023
Plenty of fingers will point to Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s season-worst 9-point, 4-rebound, and 3-turnover performance as the sole reason for Milwaukee’s disastrous performance, but that would be taking the easy route. The simple fact is that the starters combined for 47 points in only 97 combined minutes of action. The direction of the game was clear, and Mike Budenholzer decided resting his starting five was more beneficial than attempting to keep the game within reach.
The Bucks will get the weekend off before travelling to the Garden for a matchup against the New York Knicks on January 9, 2022.
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