Bucks Stock Market: The Bucks beat down the Heat in a battle of depleted squads
Both teams were down significant players, but Milwaukee prevailed in a big way.
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.
It’s been a wild ride for the Milwaukee Bucks over the last few days. We learned Brook Lopez will be out indefinitely after undergoing back surgery between some wild down-to-the-wire games on back to back nights, Wes Matthews was signed and Georgios Kalaitzakis was waived, and then on Saturday news broke that Giannis Antetokounmpo was not just resting against Toronto, as he missed the Bucks game against the Miami Heat as well. As did Grayson Allen and George Hill, with an illness and a knee injury respectively.
The Bucks were without six total players, all of them expected to play real rotational minutes this season, and they responded by beating the brakes off of a similarly depleted Heat team without Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo. (They didn’t get upstocks, but bonus shoutout to Milwaukee’s two-way players for stepping up and handling real rotation minutes in the 124-102 win.)
Khris Middleton 📈
We have been hard on Khris Middleton at times this season — he has floated too often in some games when the Bucks needed more. Khris was not guilty of that on Saturday, though, as he took on plenty of the scoring and playmaking load with Giannis out of the lineup. Khris was in All-Star form and ended with 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists in less than 30 minutes of action.
Jrue Holiday 📈
The nights when Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton both play well tend to be good nights for the Milwaukee Bucks. Jrue was assertive early, scoring a game-high 12 points in the first quarter, and he ended with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and a block. Defense plays into the upstock here — Miami’s starting backcourt of Kyle Lowry and Tyler Herro combined to shoot 8/29 and score just 25 points in more than 60 combined minutes.
Pat Connaughton 📈
After a cold night (fittingly taking place in Toronto) Pat Connaughton bounced back in a big way, leading all Bucks with 23 points while shooting 8/15 from the field and 7/13 from deep. He also chipped in 4 rebounds (2 offensive) and an assist. It’s becoming less controversial every game to call Pat an elite role player.
Bobby Portis 📈
Bobby’s rebounding next to Giannis was a big storyline in Milwaukee’s earlier win streak, and he kept on cleaning the glass against Miami. Bobby accrued a whopping 16 rebounds in just 29 and a half minutes, plus 19 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. In addition to the boundless energy he tends to bring, Bobby really produced in a huge and necessary way with so many players missing for the Bucks.
Next up are the Cleveland Cavaliers, who the Bucks take on Monday night at 7 pm in Milwaukee.