Bucks Talk: All of the Studs and Duds for the Bucks vs Knicks (12.23.23)
The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the New York Knicks (130-111). The game never really felt close.
Milwaukee had a nice halftime lead. (62-54) and a nice lead heading into the 4th quarter (100-87). The Bucks never looked back. Now, on Christmas day the Bucks will take on the Knicks. While it is tough to beat a team two times in a row, Milwaukee seems to clearly have the better team.
The Knicks really, really seemed to miss Mitchell Robinson. He provided a good low-post presence and many of the intangibles they seemed to lack in this game.
Three Studs (Plus One)
Khris Middleton
As the game went on you could just sense Middleton was gaining confidence and improving. He ended up with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists but really started to control the tempo in stretches of the game. His four defensive rebounds came at key moments.
Middleton had a great shot to start the 4th quarter that was vintage Khris. He crossed over RJ Barrett, creating a shot that he nailed.
With his conditioning almost there and as he gets his legs back, it is starting to feel safe again to assume he will be that preferred 3rd scoring option.
Middleton is a calm, cool presence for a team that has this personality where they play calm, cool, and collect.
Malik Beasley
Beasley had 13 points in the first half. He was 3-6 from 3. He finished the game with 19. He also had 6 rebounds. (Milwaukee outrebounded New York 53-40.) He really looked like he could score “at-will”.
It certainly can be argued that Beasley is not the best fit as Milwaukee’s primary defender. But he seemed to perform fine this afternoon. Jalen Brunson played well at times but he did take 26 shots. That is a pretty high volume.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Giannis can pretty much be on the “stud” list every time he plays. He is the best player on the floor. He needs, and deserves, the ball in his hand.
The only remotely controversial aspect of his play today was that he was in for so long into the game. But with a day off tomorrow the Bucks coaches must have felt they could stretch the starters.
Giannis ended with 28 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
+1 Jalen Brunson
We usually try to stick to Bucks guys for our “studs” but Brunson really carried the Knicks today. He had 21 points in the first half and seemed like he was New York’s only scoring option.
Again, he took 26 shots. As a point of comparison Giannis took 16 shots. Brunson felt like he was all the Knicks had. For the Christmas Day showcase game he’ll continue to be the Knicks number one option.
Related: Bucks Trade Targets
Two Duds
“Flopping and Arm Holding”
At the end of the first half Jalen Brunson did the old “grab the defender’s arm” trick. On the next sequence Julius Randle basically did the same thing to Brook Lopez. The officials seemed to let them play.
There seemed to be a lot of flopping in this one. That always is a “dud” move. Multiple times Knicks defenders tried to draw a charge against Giannis. Giannis has developed he game to simply slip around all that.
Brook Lopez
Lopez finished on 1-7 shooting in a match-up where he felt like he could get most any shot he wanted. He was 0-2 from 3 and only had 3 rebounds. On Christmas against the Knicks he needs to play more “bully ball”. Square up Harentstein in the post and “play big”. Lopez and Portis are such better big men that what the Knicks have. That gives them a huge advantage they need to exploit.
Happy Holidays!
Follow me on Twitter at @authorrudylb and check out my other writings at www.rudylb.com. Follow us at @WiSportsHeroics! For all things Wisconsin sports, click here! Also, check out our merch store for some amazing WSH merchandise!
