In their first two games of the new season, the Milwaukee Bucks produced almost identical point totals while getting productive showings from stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
The differences from their season-opening road victory over the Philadelphia 76ers to a loss in their home opener against the Chicago Bulls occurred in other ways, leaving the Bucks to rebound from their first defeat when they visit the winless Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.
Milwaukee opened its first full season under coach Doc Rivers by getting a combined 55 points from Lillard and Antetokounmpo in Wednesday’s 124-109 victory at Philadelphia. In the opener, the Bucks had six players score in double figures, shot 53.8 percent, hit 16 shots from 3-point range and allowed 41.8-percent shooting against a team missing stars Joel Embiid and Paul George.
Lillard and Antetokounmpo combined for 66 points Friday, but the Bucks absorbed a 133-122 loss to the Bulls by struggling in the second half. Milwaukee was outscored 70-58 after halftime when Lillard and Antetokounmpo combined for 34 points.
The Bucks shot 49.5 percent for the game as Antetokounmpo and Lillard were a combined 26 of 44 (59.1 percent), but both players struggled in one key area. Antetokounmpo was 8 of 16 at the free-throw line and is 17-for-32 (53.1 percent), so far while Lillard went 3 of 12 from 3-point range Friday after hitting six in the season opener.
“It’s funny,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said after the Bulls made 21 3-pointers. “We scored 122 and shot almost 50 percent and we didn’t play offensively the way we should play. I thought a lot of that leaked to the other end. That wasn’t the same ball-movement team you saw the other night (in Philadelphia). I think it leaks both ways.”
Said Lillard: “We didn’t stick to the script, I guess, and trust what we’ve been doing completely. I think we had moments of it, but I think we just got away from what we were doing last game. It’s early and you just gotta continue to build those types of habits, even when it’s not going well.”
The Nets return for Jordi Fernandez’s home coaching debut while trying to avoid their first 0-3 start since dropping the first seven games of the 2015-16 season.
Brooklyn is hoping to avoid following the same script of committing too many turnovers and fouls, like it did in its two losses at Atlanta and Orlando.
The Nets opened with a 120-116 loss at Atlanta on Wednesday when it committed 19 turnovers and 32 fouls and then had 19 giveaways and 31 fouls in Friday’s 116-101 loss at Orlando when they were outscored 53-36 in the final 17-plus minutes.
The fouls resulted in the Nets allowing 56 free throws on 79 attempts while the turnovers led to 42 points.
I think it’s getting used to playing at this level of physicality and pace,” Fernandez said. “Once we get there, (that’s) when you don’t make that many mistakes because you’re tired and so forth.”
The Nets’ Cam Thomas scored 24 points Friday after getting 36 in the season opener. Dennis Schroder added 20 against the Magic, but Ben Simmons committed five fouls for the second straight game and has 10 turnovers so far.
Milwaukee has won the past five meetings and is 9-2 in the past 11 regular-season meetings since its overtime victory in Game 7 of the second round at Brooklyn in the 2021 playoffs.
–Field Level Media