Another bad loss where the Milwaukee Bucks had immense trouble scoring in the second half, but against the Atlanta Hawks—who have now tied their season series at a game apiece—defense was probably the larger issue. With 21 games remaining, the Bucks fall to five games back of the Hawks for the East’s 10th seed. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.

26 minutes, 24 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 10/15 FG, 4/8 FT, -24

Looked great early, having little difficulty slicing his way through Atlanta’s interior, and even got a middie to fall. But as we’ve seen throughout the year, he got frustrated with the way he was being officiated again, throwing the ball off the stanchion in the fourth and receiving a tech. Defensive engagement was just ok. Postgame, Rivers talked about how he’s forcing things a bit during his early-half shifts, knowing he has 0nly five minutes on the floor due to his minute restriction.

22 minutes, 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 0 blocks, 3/6 FG, 2/5 3P, -18

Again, Turner isn’t getting minutes commensurate with his contract and talent level, though Jericho Sims is outplaying him on defense and on the boards right now. The offensive scheme just sends him to the corner every time, so he’s neither in the best position to succeed in terms of physical location on the floor, nor in an appropriate role, being relegated to a spot-up shooter only.

35 minutes, 13 points, 8 rebounds, 12 assists, 1 turnover, 3 steals, 4 fouls, 4/11 FG, 2/7 3P, -22

Resuming his starting backcourt spot with KPJ out, Rylo had nine first-half assists and no turnovers, the latter a welcome sign after recent issues. Sneakily close to a triple-double and had some good on-ball moments when the game was still close.

24 minutes, 7 points, 3/9 FG, 1/6 3P, -21

Kept getting switched onto larger Hawks, and even if he stayed with them, they had no trouble scoring over him. Beyond the bad three-point shooting, Green drove to the rim multiple times for some reason, resulting in missed layups and a turnover. He oddly clogged up the floor near the nail a couple times too.

28 minutes, 14 points, 4 rebounds, 0 assists, 3 turnovers, 6/14 FG, 2/7 3P, -25

10 of those points came in Dieng’s opening shift with the starters before picking up an early second foul. The jumper looked good again, but he was pretty anonymous as the game wore on.

24 minutes, 13 points, 4 rebounds, 4/8 FG, 3/6 3P, +0

BP provided some desperately needed scoring punch in the second and third as the Bucks tried to claw back into the game. Across this losing streak, he’s surprisingly been a life preserver from the bench after the starters struggle (and struggle they have).

22 minutes, 16 points, 7/8 FG, +2

After his first career DNP-CD on Monday, Kuz threw down a nice driving one-handed jam for his first points. He also made hay inside, but few of his buckets felt helpful, if I’m being honest.

18 minutes, 11 points, 3 assists, 3/9 FG, 4/4 FT, +10

Got to the line and made a tough three, but foul-baited a little bit too. Not a terrible game by any means, though.

23 minutes, 4 points, 11 rebounds, 2/2 FG, -1

Great on the glass during his first-half shift on his way to his fourth double-digit rebounding night in his last six outings. Five of those were offensive boards. But Doc Rivers highlighted one of his defensive miscues in the second half which led to an open Atlanta three:

“Jericho had a young moment. He got switched on McCollum and went to trap off of McCollum.That’s just a young big learning the game.”

14 minutes, 3 points, 1/1 3PA, +1

Saw first-half minutes after a nice second-half showing on Monday as Rivers went 10 deep, but didn’t do much with them.

Two things stuck out from Rivers’ postgame comments: first, when acknowledging all the open threes the Bucks allowed in the second half, he thought they simply needed to play bigger players. Rotation changes ahead, perhaps? Speaking of changes, he also mentioned they’ve changed defensive schemes five times this season. Seems like a lot.

Garbage Time: Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Andre Jackson Jr., Gary Trent Jr.

Inactive: Alex Antetokounmpo, Kevin Porter Jr., Taurean Prince, Cormac Ryan

Kevin Porter Jr. was a late scratch this afternoon with right knee swelling. That’s the knee in which he underwent meniscus surgery earlier this season, and it sounds like it could keep him out again. Here’s what Doc said pregame:

“They’re gonna do more stuff tomorrow to check, but it’s a lot of swelling and then you have concerns… it’s been bothering him the last couple of weeks… but it just hadn’t swollen up the way it has, so there’s some concern there.“

The Bucks get two days off at home before facing the Utah Jazz for the first time this season on Saturday evening at Fiserv. Tip is 7 p.m. Central on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and the following local stations:

WMLW & WYTU (Milwaukee)
WISC (Madison)
WMEI (Green Bay)
WECX (Eau Claire/La Crosse)
WYOW (Wausau)
WQAD (Davenport, IA, Rock Island/Moline, IL)