Bucks Stock Market: Milwaukee punishes the Pacers even without Giannis and Khris
The Bucks were down seven players on Wednesday night, but chose to produce a win instead of an excuse.
The Bucks Stock Market is a fictitious market run by the GSPN crew that tracks player stock “movement” following the conclusion of every game. Here’s the spreadsheet logging the game-by-game results.
The Milwaukee Bucks needed a boost on Wednesday, as they’d gotten nothing but bad news over the last few days. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Donte DiVincenzo both entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, joining Wes Matthews there; Khris Middleton missed about half of the Bucks’ loss to the Boston Celtics with a knee injury that also held him out of Wednesday’s game; DeMarcus Cousins was out for personal reasons; and Brook Lopez and Semi Ojeleye remained out due to their injuries. With a full seven players unable to go, the Indiana Pacers seemed to pose a serious problem to the Bucks’ limited big man depth. Luckily the Bucks solved that problem with ease and won 114-99 after a dominating fourth quarter performance. The stocks tell the story:
Jrue Holiday 📈
Without Giannis and Khris, Jrue Holiday is pretty obviously the Bucks best player, and he sure played like it from opening tip onward against Indiana. Jrue dominated Malcolm Brogdon, taking him to the paint whenever he felt like it while creating shots for others and playing his typical stifling defense. He posted 26 points, 14 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal, and shot 12/18 from the field. Jrue set the tone early and proved why it should be constantly celebrated that he’s a Buck for life.
Bobby Portis 📈
Bobby Buckets brought the energy as usual, and added much-needed scoring and shooting to the Bucks all night long. Bobby ended with 20 points of his own on 8/16 shooting, plus 9 rebounds (three offensive!), 3 assists, 1 steal and no turnovers. Outscoring both Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis despite those two having a clear size advantage is impressive stuff, and speaks to Bobby’s impact.
Pat Connaughton 📈
This was a true #RaftersGame for Pat Connaughton, who casually shot 7/9 from the field and 4/5 from deep on his way to his fifth 20 point game of the young season. If you’re looking for easy proof that Pat has seriously leveled up his game this season, here it is: he had three 20-point games across his first six NBA seasons combined. He’s going to double that total this year alone by the All-Star Break, and it’s awesome to see.
Jordan Nwora 📈
Nwora the Scora was back in action, at least within the arc, as he helped Milwaukee seal the win by converting a ton of tough layups in the fourth quarter. Nwora ended the game with 15 points on 7/15 shooting, although he made just 1 of his 5 threes. The second-year forward did add 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, and 1 block as well, and ended up having a very positive impact in his first start of the season.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo 📈
Thanasis’ box score makes this look like a wild upstock, but if you watched the game you know: he absolutely destroyed Indiana in the fourth quarter. The Bucks aggressively doubled ball-handlers with TA, and it led to the Pacers not being able to function on offense — Milwaukee generated tons of turnovers and fast break opportunities they turned into a big lead. The Pacers scored 5 points over the first 10 minutes or so of the final period, and the Bucks used that lockdown defense to put this thing away. This was about as good of a game as you’ll see for a player who made no shots and scored 2 points, although TA did add 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 GORGEOUS block in his 21 minutes.
Grayson Allen📉
Grayson Allen has been cold for a while now, and despite his attempt to shoot his way out of it on Wednesday he remained cold. Grayson looks tight again, as if he’s lost his feel for playing with this Bucks team, and it led to a 2/13 shooting performance and just 6 points against the Pacers. Hopefully Grayson can snap out of this rut soon and find his way back to the dynamic shot-maker he was earlier in the season.
The Bucks are back in action on Friday, as they take on the New Orleans Pelicans on the road to kick off a back-to-back before taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers the next night.