Bucks Snap 7-Game Skid, Dominate Nets at Fiserv in KPJ’s Return – Bucks Talk with Justin Garcia

Bucks Snap 7-Game Skid, Dominate Nets at Fiserv in KPJ’s Return – Bucks Talk with Justin Garcia

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What’s on tap with Sandy Max week nights at 6 on WTMJ. Now that the game is done, it’s our time to check in. Porter’s going downhill. Lobs up to catches it with one hand and sends it down on a beauty of an alleyoop. Bucks talk starts now. He’ll kick it out. AJ Green stops up and drills another three-pointer. Rinse and repeat. the Dairy Bird in the last two nights. And now live from Vice Serve Forum, here’s Justin Garcia. Well, it wasn’t the toughest competition here, but in many ways, this this felt like this was exactly what the doctor ordered for a team that’s on a sevengame losing streak. Playing some inferior competition in a team that was really banged up, especially with their top scorers. No Camp Thomas, no Michael Porter Jr. Bucks just needed a win here and they got it tonight big time game. They led by as many as 32. They ultimately win this one by 17. But a couple of things stood out in this one tonight. And now you just hope to bottle this and start a new trend in the opposite direction. 8556161620 is the siding unlimited talk and text line to join us tonight on Bucks Talk. Not to bury the lead. This also featured the return of Kevin Porter Jr. who hadn’t played since opening night when he lasted just 9 minutes before stepping on the foot of Bobby Portoris. He would miss some time with that ankle sprain and then during his rehab suffered a meniscus injury which which prolonged his absence even further, but we knew it was close. We heard last week from Doc Rivers, it’s a matter of days the first week of December had been thrown out there quite a bit. The Bucks in their initial timeline on KPJ had listed it as around a four-week absence we were looking at. Um I believe Monday would put us right at those four weeks here. And he he was everything you hoped he could be here in the two games that you’ve seen from Kevin Porter Jr. this season. He has been impactful. And I don’t want to take too much or make too much out of one game, good or bad, here, but this was exactly what you needed to see if you were one of those that kept pointing to the Yeah, but they still don’t have KPJ. And once Kevin Porter Jr. comes back, this team is going to look much different. I think they did with KPJ on the floor tonight. And it was a number of things that looked much different and obviously much better for this Bucks team. 855-6161620 is the signing unlimited talk and text line to join us tonight on Bucks Talk. And we start there with KPJ. The pace and the speed that he plays with that that he plays at this team just plays at a different level with him on the floor. They are looking to push the ball and run much much more frequently. If you want to avoid your offense getting stuck in the mud, for lack of a better phrase there, get out and run. You know, that’s a way to do it to to cause and create some transition opportunities. The Bucks were doing that with their defense. Kevin Porter Jr. was a big part of it, but actively engaging in transition and leaning into that. KPJ’s brought that with him dating back to last year after the trade deadline when the trade was made and you got to see more and more of what KPJ can bring to this group. He’s really leaned into it down the stretch of the season a year ago. And certainly in the small sample size of his two appearances so far this season, the pace and the speed that they played at with Kevin Porter Jr. on the floor was certainly notable tonight. And I think it’s it’s the recipe for this team’s success to get him out and running. He wants to play at that uptempo style. Giannis wants to do that as well. I am very very interested to see some, you know, additional lineups for extended minutes. When you think about Kyle Kosma and Giannis and Kevin Porter Jr. on the floor together, what that transition offense could look like, uh, that is one thing. Taking some of that load off of Ryan Rollins, another big piece, because last night in the return of Giannis, I I think you saw a pretty good defensive game from Ryan Rollins. So, not to say that he hasn’t been good this entire time. I don’t think some of his defensive impact had been quite as noticeable these past few games before the Knicks game. Easy to understand why when he’s carrying a lot of that offensive load. So, getting Yiannis back freed up more from Ryan Rollins defensively and now tonight getting Kevin Porter Jr. back I think did that on both ends of the floor. a different starting lineup to have KPJ and Ryan Rollins starting the game together. You may not be blessed with size as both of those guys are listed at 6’4, but they both have long arms and they’re both aggressive on ball defenders. Again, we can’t lose sight of the fact of who the opponent was, and they’re going to give you some of those opportunities, but this was an aggressive defense, and this is a trend now of three straight games where for the most part, the Bucks have been much, much better, if not good at their on ball defense. And tonight, it was fantastic. It was like a shark smelling blood in the water and just going at the Brooklyn Nets to force turnovers and turn that into transition. So, I continue to be intrigued of what that pairing in the back court can mean for this Bucks defense. And can you become even more aggressive? We didn’t see a whole lot of fouls tonight from this team in free throw attempts. Granted, it’s not something that that the Nets do all that well, but can this aggression on defense and the length of Kevin Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins in the back court, can that lead to some stops, some steals, and some transition baskets? It it is one game, but in many ways it was everything that you needed to see. And now you got to see this bottled and moving on to a game on Monday night against the Wizards, who going into that game are going to have the worst record in the Eastern Conference with a sevengame skid. These two games were exactly what you needed against two struggling teams and two outmatched underman teams here in the Nets and the Wizards. So you checked off one, now you got to get the next. Rolling into a tough stretch of scheduling. 8556161620. The sighting unlimited talk and text line if you want to join us tonight on Bucks Talk and leave your thoughts on the performance tonight and the return of Kevin Porter Jr. Giannis scoring 29 points in just 19 minutes and of course the Bucks snapping this losing streak. So we’ll get to your thoughts. Also more clarity on the schedule and some more challenges the upcoming week. We’ll dig into all of that coming up next on Bucks Talk. This is Bucks Talk. 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Um, a very very bizarre scheduling quirk here for both of these teams. I get arena availability is uh the likely culprit here, but both the Bucks and the Nets played in New York last night. The Bucks in in Madison Square Garden against the Knicks. The Nets had a home game against the 76ers. Brooklyn didn’t get until Milwaukee until just before uh just after 1:00 a.m. The Bucks didn’t arrive back until just before 2:00 a.m. And then you play this game. The Nets are leaving as soon as this game is done. Now, they’re they’re on their way to the airport and back to Brooklyn. And the Bucks will leave tomorrow afternoon to go out to DC where the Nets are playing Monday night back at home on the East Coast. And now the Bucks are playing Monday night on the road on the East Coast. So a strange set of scheduled games here for the Bucks and the Brooklyn Nets. Nonetheless, this was, you know, I don’t want to say a must-win game, but when you looked at that schedule in front of you, we circled and and talked about the games that you thought would be opportunities even without Giannis and unfortunately, you watched those games slip by. You know, you started that stretch and you looked at Philadelphia should be a getable game and it was. it was there for the taking, but you just couldn’t close it out and could not win that game in uh in overtime. A couple of those games go your way. The Miami Heat game, you played well enough to win, but ultimately it was again another one of those games where the little things and just losing in the margins. Did you win? Uh the the Knicks game, same story, right? When you think about the way the Bucks started that game, hitting nine of their first 13 threes in the opening quarter, and yet it’s a close game, right? If if you’re shooting at that efficiency from the outside, you would expect to be up 15 or more points. But the Knicks got to the free throw line, and that was a trend that continued where the Knicks scored more at the free throw line than you did. The Knicks scored off of turnovers, the Knicks had second chance points. all three of those. You know, if you want to look at the Bucks losses this season, look at those three categories and they are going to be losing in those. You have to start to revert that trend here. And Doc was asked about it before the game um about some of those areas in the modern math of the league now these days where look, you just you need more possessions because teams are scoring much more efficiently on the offensive end. the Bucks. Another game where it’s at this point it’s just kind of whole home. Oh, by the way, the Bucks shot better than 40% from three. Hit a pretty decent volume of them. It’s become the norm for this team to be shooting 40% in the 40s% from three, low 50s or higher from the field. Overall, the struggle to win the games. It isn’t so much even the defensive side. It’s the fouls putting opponents at the free throw line, getting outsc scored at the volume and than the ratio that the Bucks have been at the free throw line. But defensive rebounding, which which I suppose you can blend into your defense overall, defensive rebounding has been one of the bigger issues. And Doc was asked about that before the game about, you know, the modern math equation in the league where you just you need more possessions given how efficient these teams are offensively and this team especially when you surround Giannis with the shooters that they have this season. Maximize your possessions and if you get more cracks at it, you’re going to score more points. They haven’t been able to do that. You know, we mentioned those three categories specifically and say, hey, in the losses this season, the opponent is winning in those categories. The other one that the opponent is winning on routinely is they are getting more field goal attempts in games. And the way you get that is forcing turnovers and um and offensive rebounds. And you know, Doc talked about it before the game when he was started to be asked the question by Eric Name about offensive rebounding and and and said bluntly, you know, to paraphrase, I can tell the guys to go crash the glass, but part of offensive rebounding is you either have the guys to do it or you don’t. And for us, our guys that we know can be offensive rebounding, you know, guys. Two of them really that you would point to would be uh Jericho Sims and Andre Jackson Jr. We know those guys can be impactful on the offensive glass and say go get offensive rebounds. Who are you taking off the floor for them? And Doc, you know, specifically inest said, what do you want me to pull AJ Green to to throw Andre Jackson Jr. out there so we can get some offensive rebounds? That’s the issue with it. Our problem is on the defensive class. You know, we might not get the additional possessions, but the way that we’re going to have to win the modern math here and win those numbers is we’re not going to maximize uh the number of offensive reloads we get, but we’re also going to ensure the opponent isn’t able to do that. So, we’ve got to be much better on the defensive glass. And he called out, that’s something we’ve got to improve. you know, it’s it’s up and down the roster. It’s everywhere. That’s another area where again you saw Kevin Porter Jr. tonight just go get the ball. Uh this was a very good game on the glass for the Bucks as a whole. Not just defensive rebounding. They they finished this game with 12 offensive rebounds. It felt like Jericho Sims had many, many more than he was credited for in this game as the final tally for Jericho Sims was three offensive rebounds here, but he was around the ball. He created some of those opportunities with tapouts. He had three. Kevin Porter Jr. had two. Giannis had three offensive rebounds. Bucks turned those into 19 second chance points. But on the defensive glass, too. I mean, again, this was a game where both teams were pretty efficient. The Bucks shot 52% from the floor. The Net shot 47%. If you just look at the raw rebounding numbers, which I’ve I’ve told you many times, doesn’t tell you the whole story here, but if we just look at those raw numbers, the Bucks won, right? 43 rebounds total to 31 from the Brooklyn Nets. But, you know, the story is what the Bucks did on the defensive glass. An 84% defensive rebounding rate, which you don’t anticipate a number in the in the low 80s on a nightly basis, but just winning that battle will go a long ways in making this defense improved. Right. The the offense I don’t think there’s any questions about, especially now that you have all of your pieces back. You saw some market changes last night with Giannis back in the mix. And now when you add Kevin Porter Jr. and you’re able to stagger he and Ryan Rollins at times, he and Giannis at times, and keeping one of those guys at least on the floor at all times, ideally two, that puts your offense in a much different spot to have those guys out there to generate looks and and now I think in the case of all three of those guys, you can confidently say not only generate looks, take and make difficult shots themselves as well. So, I I think the offense is going to continue to be in a good place. It’s just a matter of how good can you get some of that offensive efficiency? What is the realistic expectation of where this group can finish in terms of their offensive rating? But defensively, how do you continue to push that number forward? because I I think coming into the season, uh, my expectations for this team when you when you examined what was on both ends of the floor for this group, the make of of the team, the shooting that you surrounded Giannis with here, I had very high expectations for this offense and felt like I think this is going to end up being a top 10 offense in the league because we are in for one of those seasons where Giannis is just a wrecking ball. And uh defensively, you know, what’s the realistic expectation of where can this team sit? Can they be just a little better than league average and in that like 12 13 or so range knocking on the door of the top 10? So far through your first 21 games, they’re ranked 21 in defense. And the offense has had these moments where it has been a top 10 offense. It’s fallen back quite a bit. Now, a lot of this this representation here in the offensive figure is the four plus games that you played without Giannis and how much that really plummeted your numbers, but you’re 21 in defense, 18 in offense. Certainly not good enough. The month of November especially was not kind to the Bucks. And I I just keep going back to again, I know it’s a very small sample size, but looking at this same group without Torian Prince, obviously this same group against some very difficult competition, when you look at games like the Knicks and the Warriors and the Toronto Raptors, your second game of the season, those first five games, the only one you would look at and say, “Well, that wasn’t a good team.” was opening night against the Washington Wizards. Other than that, in those five games, the Bucks go 4- one. Their offense was the sixth best in the league. Their defense was the ninth best in the league. So, again, it’s only five games, but against the competition they faced, it shows you it’s in there. So, how do we consistently pull this out of the group? Health is the biggest part. You have to have your best pieces out there to keep things moving offensively and avoid some of those ruts that this team has just had a tendency to fall into. But everything else that we mentioned about what Kevin Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins together specifically can do with their on ball defense. That’s the other thing to keep an eye on here. So, we looked at October was good. The November numbers, which we’ll share in a second here, not great. December. You got to have a good month in December and you’re going to have some tough competition in there. That’s going to be a big tell for this team. So the November numbers 21st in offensive efficiency and defensively 21st a minus 6.2 net rating during the month of November uh which was 22nd. So, you went from one of the better teams, again, five games versus 16 is what we’re comparing here. I get that. But a minus6 net rating versus a plus 6.8 from October to November. That’s the difference, right? That’s why we see a sevename losing streak and again know Giannis is a big part of it, but that was what we saw plague this team for large stretches of the month. And really, it’s not just the absence of Giannis, the absence of Kevin Porter Jr., too. I I don’t think we’re being hyperbolic when we say how important he’s been to this group now since he was acquired and you really leaned into utilizing him. 85561620 deciding unlimited talk and text line as the Bucks snap the losing streak, beat the Brooklyn Nets tonight and now look for back-to-back wins as they head to DC to take on the Wizards. I mentioned there is clarity to the schedule, so we’ll update you on that. the two added games for the Bucks. We now know the opponents, the dates, and the times. 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These exclusive partner deals won’t last long. What’s on tap with Sandy Max keeping you updated on culture and creativity. The Wisconsin film office. We can say it out loud. It’s going to happen. Academy Award winner John Ridley. So, I’m glad that Wisconsin is getting in the game. I hope they stay in the game. Wisconsin is great because it has so many different looks. It has so many different places. It has places that are untouched. It has places that are incredibly modern. What’s on tap with Sandy Max, week nights at 6 on WTMJ, the Round Ball Report returns. This is Bucks Talk. [Music] 116 to 99 final tonight. Bucks beat the Brooklyn Nets. They now get the Wizards. This is a much much needed twoame stretch of scheduling that you got to take advantage of in both cases. Uh the Wizards have the worst record in the Eastern Conference. I believe the worst record in the league. So that’s how you get Monday night. It’s your first matchup against the Wizards since opening night. And that was um that was one of the interesting wrinkles here that we mentioned. You knew KPJ was close. I I think we were all pretty anxious to to get our first peak at the injury report this afternoon when the Bucks submitted it and see okay is Kevin Porter Jr. going to be listed as questionable is that going to follow the same timeline as Giannis is he’s close he’s questionable for a game doesn’t play in that game and then returns on the road in DC. It would have been interesting if Kevin Porter Jr. started the season playing nine minutes against the Wizards and then misses uh what would have been what 19 games uh 20 games if that were the case before returning against the Washington Wizards. But um I think the big thing to just wrap up that that discussion from the last segment, let’s just monitor some of the Bucks metrics in the month of December because if if you can stay healthy, let’s see how this group looks then. And it may be how we have to view this this season as a whole and just say look November was a bit of a disaster for this this Bucks team. Obviously with those metrics that we pointed to in um in terms of their offensive rating and defensive rating to be in the bottom 10 in both of those and net rating is uh to put it mildly suboptimal. to go five and 11 in that month. Very, very discouraging. I get it. But you didn’t have Kevin Porter Jr. for all but uh what 14 games in that month. For for all 15, I beg your pardon. Uh for 15 you missed. You had one game in November with KPJ. You didn’t have Giannis for four and a half, five and a half when you factor in that that Wizards Wizards Hornets loss as well. So those were some of the reasons why we saw those offensive and defensive numbers fall quite a bit. Now, the goal from here on out is just postwinning months and let’s track some of these Bucks numbers from I don’t know if we want to go with this game, but especially December 1st onward and say, “Hey, from December 1st, this team was much different when they were healthy, when they had all three of those guys in Giannis and Ryan Rollins and and what he’s become so far this season and Kevin Porter Jr. You know, even hearing Giannis the other night talk about never seeing a player up close through as much growth as Ryan Rollins has. And and think about that coming from Giannis and the journey and the growth that Giannis has has gone through in his career to go from the kid no one knew anything about other than, oh yeah, that’s the guy from Greece when the Bucks drafted him to slowly and gradually seeing, okay, there’s something here, something here. Hey, this guy looks like he’s a starter. Wow, this guy might be an all-star caliber player, too. All of a sudden, this guy’s one of the best players in the league. To go on that type of trajectory, to hear Giannis say what Ryan Rollins is doing. I’ve never seen that. To be a guy that was a two-way player two years ago, show you some signs last year and say there’s there’s definitely something here and we leaned on him when we needed him to now what he’s doing, arguably the second best player on your team. That’s a big piece that we talk about the silver linings that Doc Rivers references. That may be it from that rough five and 11 month of November of look, you didn’t have KPJ. You didn’t have Giannis for about half of the month. You found something in Ryan Rollins, even more than I think the staunchest of Ryan Rollins supporters would have thought was there. So, how does this make us better long term? Uh, the schedule clarity that I mentioned before as well. So again, for the last three years now, uh, every team enters the season with 80 games scheduled, and there’s two open spots on the calendar for everyone. So you know what 80 of your games will be. the other two games are either going to be played in the uh tournament format of the NBA Cup or if you don’t qualify, well then you’ll just play two games against other teams that also did not qualify. And obviously the last two years the Bucks didn’t have to worry about that. They were taking part in the tournaments and last year they played an 83rd game. This year that’s not the case. Even though you got every scenario you needed to happen on Friday night, save for you beating the New York Knicks. Uh you knew though, hey, if there’s one benefit to come from this, it’s going to be a lot of off time because that’s another thing that we’ve heard Doc Rivers talk about with this schedule here. It’s one of the things he and he’s not alone here isn’t as much a fan of with this NBA Cup format in that, you know, you’re kind of cramming all of these in and it makes for some awkward scheduling once you get into the month of December. So, how it works and and why I said you knew you would have a decent amount of time off is everything halts after next Saturday where off time is built in for teams. So, you knew if you did not qualify, you weren’t going to play again until at least December 11th. If you did qualify the quarterfinals, and they do this every single year of here’s the two dates the quarterfinals will be played, here’s the date the semifinals will be played, here’s the date the finals will be played. The makeup games are going to be sandwiched in between those. So, the quarterfinals are the 9th and the 10th, Tuesday and Wednesday. That is one week from this upcoming Tuesday. Uh the semifinals are that Saturday, December 13th. Then of course the finals one weekish later, Tuesday, December 16th. So the makeup dates for the teams not in the tournament, December 11th and 12th and December 14th and 15th. The Bucks got their draw late last night. Their first game is at home against the Celtics on December 11th. Their second game is on the road against the Brooklyn Nets on December 14th. So, what that means is after you play the Pistons this upcoming Saturday, one week from today, you get four days off before playing the Boston Celtics at home. So, you’re going to be back in Milwaukee Saturday night, uh, leaving after that game against the Pistons, late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, I should say, and then are home all the way until you leave that following Saturday, the 13th, to go to Brooklyn for one game. After that, you get three days off before playing the Toronto Raptors on Thursday, December 18th. and that’s at home. Then you get another two days off and you embark on a week plus long road trip right around Christmas leading into your final home game of the calendar year. So those road games, December 21st in Minneapolis against the Timberwolves. December 23rd in Indiana against the Pacers. December 26th in Memphis against the Grizzlies. Then the 27th in Chicago against the Bulls. And then the 29th in Charlotte against the Hornets. You wrap up the calendar year at home against the Washington Wizards on December 31st. So I know that’s a lot that we throw at you. Once you get through this week where it’s another week of four games and a backtoback is in there. Once you get through that week, you have four days off before your next game and then two days off before your next game, then three days off, then two days off. You have four stretches after this upcoming Saturday. Four separate stretches in the month of December where you have at least two days off in between games. And not only that, the schedule in December will have some challenges, right? The Pistons, you get twice. The 76ers, see if you can extract some revenge. Let’s hope and assume you’ve got not only Giannis, but also Kevin Porter Jr. for the second go round. You’re going to get the Toronto Raptors. Granted, it is a home game. You’ve already played them your two road games. Uh so those will be challenges. The Timberwolves on the road will be a challenge. Pacers have gotten better. Same with the Memphis Grizzlies. Those are still two games that you feel like if we can start to turn this around, build some momentum, get things clicking, we should be favored in those games. Bulls have started to take on some water. They’re now below 500. Hornets, you’ve seen that’s a that’s a frisky team, but at full strength, you should be able to handle them and and then wrap up the month against the Washington Wizards. There are a lot of winnable games here. I think the big thing for the Bucks in December, stay healthy, build that momentum, and carry those results through the month of December because once you get into January, it picks up once again. Warriors on the road, Lakers on the road, Nuggets on the road, Timberwolves, Spurs on the road, Hawks on the road in that Martin Luther King Jr. day. You got Thunder. I’ve already mentioned the the Nuggets. You got both of your Denver Nuggets games in the month of January. A road game against the 76ers. So January is going to be a difficult month for the Bucks. Same for February as well. Two games against the Magic. The other game against the Thunder. That’s on the road. Heat Raptors, Cavs, Knicks, all in that month. So December, especially the back half, that is your opportunity to start to build some momentum and uh and propel yourself here if you’re the Bucks. But a lot of rest. That is the other big thing here. A lot of off days for this team after everything was just crammed in there. And that’s, you know, the last point. I think that’s the one bit of feedback that just about every coach has provided of, you know, look, we’re playing a lot of backtobacks early in the calendar year. We’re playing a lot of every other day type of schedules. That’s basically what the Bucks had. They did have two sets of two days off here in the month of November, but outside of that, everything was backtoback or every other day. They had what, three out of four weeks where they were playing a Friday, Saturday backtoback as well. And the reason for that is the NBA Cup that you have to build in those extra off days for travel to give teams off days leading into the quarterfinals and the semifinals. And then the big hold up too that you know we’ve heard Doc Rivers talk about is, you know, once the cup finals end, you’re just thrown right back into it. and had the Bucks qualified and let’s say advanced to the finals once again. Same deal as last year where you know you won, you beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on that Tuesday and then you’re right back at it two days later playing the Cleveland Cavaliers. Well, this year the Cup finals are that Tuesday, December 16th. The Bucks are playing two days later, December 18th. Now, it doesn’t impact them this year, but that’s how all teams schedules are set up because you got to build in those off days leading into the uh the cup, the tournament format. So, the way to do that is to load up games earlier in the schedule. Doc’s point was, can we just build in some off days leading into and coming out of as well, or you know, can we just prolong this thing? And I do wonder the NBA Cup itself, it’s not going anywhere. I think it’s been a success. You can criticize the courts and everything else, but it brings a different feel, right? You you see the level of competition in those games. It’s definitely there. So, it has been a success that’s here to stay. I do wonder if you expand this and if it becomes more than just four group play games that you’re playing. If you if you increase it and drag out uh the timeline here, if this becomes something that stretches, you know, from uh early November all the way through the month of December. And Doc’s thing is, can we just play the cup finals all-star weekend and and basically make that the event where that’s it and then the guys get the week off and you come out of it, everybody gets, you know, some rest. It would be a bummer for the teams that are playing in it where everybody else gets the full time off, but that may be the best way to handle it. Regardless, it’s not going anywhere. And I I just wonder if the big thing is does it get pushed further down the road? They don’t want to move it too far because this is coming at the sweet spot in the schedule where we want things coming late November into early December where college football is starting to wind down in the NFL. We can find some spots on the calendar to throw in there. uh and there’s not quite as much attention cuz we know our interest in our sport picks up once we get into February postallstar break going into the postseason. So how do we capitalize November December in those time periods and I think it’s been a success but what tweaks are available and do you do you spread this out even more I think is something that a lot of coaches and players would certainly sign off on. Washington Wizards. One interesting thing about this team that the Bucks are going to be taking on on Monday. Same story as the Brooklyn Nets. I don’t think you can call this a must-win game, but it is definitely a game you go into expecting to win. We’ll take a closer look at the Wizards coming up after this on Bucks Talk. The Hardwood Homalies continue after this. This is Bucks Talk. Matt Lee for Steinhoff. Steinhoffles is a proud partner of Wisconsin Athletics. 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Let’s push ahead and we’ll make life here as great as it can be. Visit freigher.com to find out how. As we approach a new year in Wisconsin, it’s that time to recognize the people who made an impact in 2025. Those whose work and energy left a mark across the state of Wisconsin. The men and women who stood out. Starting Monday, December 8th, Wisconsin’s Morning News will unveil the WTMJ Standouts of the Year, or as they are widely referred to as the Soties. It’s the Wisconsin’s Morning News Standouts of the Year, only here on News Radio WTMJ. This is Bucks Talk. [Music] 116 to 99 final score tonight. Bucks take down the Brooklyn Nets. much much needed win for this team to snap their sevename losing streak. Um we mentioned the two games that were added. I don’t know how to word it. They’re not additional games. You come into the season with 80 games scheduled and you know two are either going to be during the tournament of the NBA Cup um or made up against other teams that that did not qualify. The Bucks found out late last night, early this morning, their two games are against the Brooklyn Nets and the the Boston Celtics. And that’s the other thing is Boston’s around 500. Um I’m still curious to see what the ultimate goal is for that team this season. They do have their first round pick, so they have an incentive to say, you know what, maybe let’s not be as competitive uh down the stretch here and see if we can get a better pick. They’re not going to do that December 11th though, but they’re not the Boston Celtics of the last couple of years. So that’s the other thing is, you know, we talked about the the days off that this team has and that month of December getting easier, especially after your first week of games. These games help, too. That you’re going to play one home and one road. Well, your road game is against one of the worst teams in the league. And that home game is against a team that, you know, is is a 500ish team. And that’s the other benefit of uh already having four games scheduled against a team like Atlanta that missed out. Uh Cleveland missed out. They’re in your division, so you’re not going to add an extra divisional game against them that Bucks really made out here with those other two games that were added. Now, up next is the Washington Wizards. So again, as we said, it’s too early to call any game on the schedule a must-win game, but it is an expect to win game that they’ll have against the Wizards. And our old friend Chris Middleton, who had a big night on opening night against the Bucks. It’s been a much, much different story since then. We’ll take a closer look at this Wizards team, what to expect, and the season from Chris Middleton as we wrap things up after this on Bucks Talk. This is Punch Talk. 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Start your search at adamm.com. Welcome back to Bucks Talk. [Music] Bucks knock off the Nets tonight. So, the sevename losing streak is no more. It was funny hearing Giannis say, you know, I can’t remember having a losing streak like this. And um it it’s because the last time he was on a team that did, it was his rookie season. That same Bucks team that was coached by Larry Drew and won 15 games. That was the last time they lost seven in a row. They came close last year with a six-game losing streak in games what, two through seven to open up the season. But you got to go back more than 10 years since they had last done this. It is obviously not something you want to see happen with regularity. And we talked about the standings overall. It’s still way too early to do a standings watch as we’re a quarter of the way through the season now. But you don’t want to be in the company that you’re in right now in the bottom five in the Eastern Conference. So, taking care of business against the Nets, doing the same on Monday against the Wizards, and then using that to build momentum and propel yourself through a tough week, like you got four games, you would love to go three and one. Two and two is the baseline. And even that, like at some point, you got to start to piece together consistent winning that you can’t just shoot for 500. So 3 and one should be the expectation this week, especially with a road game in DC and then two home games in those four games. Even if it’s against one against the Pistons and one against the Sixers, you got your pieces back. So you should now be expecting to win these games. You should definitely expect to win that game Monday night against the Wizards. 6:00 tip. Um, it’s a Wizards team that frankly has not been good this season and I think we saw some of that on opening night. But one of the more uh interesting parts to this season for the Wizards is we heard so much and I I I get it and we you know we were all caught up in the moment and saw the the tribute video for Chris Middleton and his return. Uh we heard so much and man I I just wish this team still had Chris Middleton. Can you bring him back? Can he be a buyout? And you know what? Who knows? Maybe uh when we talk about finding guys that can take and make shots and facilitate the offense and even help you out a little bit on the glass, Chris Middleton can still do all of that. The issue the Bucks ran into is now 34 year old Chris Middleton is what realistically can you expect from him on a nightly basis and on both ends of the floor? What kind of player is Chris Middleton at this state in his in his career? He had a fantastic night opening night against the Bucks. 23 points that he scored against the Bucks. Did so efficiently as well. Nine of 14 shooting. It was a special night for Chris. And I’m sure he he approached that game with a lot to prove and remind the team as well. Uh three of five on threes in that game. Six rebounds, three assists. Since then, Chris Middleton’s played in 14 of the Wizards 18 games this season. Um, he has scored in double figures in six of them. And he did get there in the final the the most recent two games with 10 points and 12 points, but he’s got eight games this season scoring single digits. The other nine against Toronto, played 24 minutes, scored two points, scored four points against Cleveland in in 23 minutes of action. six points in back-to-back games against the Magic and the Thunder. All these teams that we’re talking about, good defenses. Dallas right now, the number two defense in the league, Dallas, nine points against them. Those are where the struggles are going to come from. And as we mentioned, if you’re healthy, I think you can present those challenges as well. So, get the defense on track. look for the offense to continue to to score efficiently as they’ve done even when they’ve been battling injuries, but now especially that you’re healthy and just start with a clean slate December 1st onward. That should be the directive here for this team. Monday night 6:00 tip from DC for the Bucks and the Wizards. 5:30 is when our pregame coverage begins on WTMJ. And as always, be sure to stick around after the game for Bucks Talk. We will talk with you Monday night. Hey fellas, are you feeling off of your game? If you feel like something is holding you back, connect with the medical professionals at Game Day Men’s

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