It got interesting at times, but the Milwaukee Bucks mostly dominated the tanktastic Memphis Grizzlies, 131-115. As Deolu put it in his rapid recap, this was the Bucks’ their first win against Memphis since January 2022, which is crazy to think about. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast, Bucks In Six Minutes, below.
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Player GradesKyle Kuzma
22 minutes, 4 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 turnovers, 2/3 FG, -4
Made some nice reads out of the short roll in the first quarter, and shot efficiently on extremely low volume, but the turnovers were still too high. Also got out-rebounded by smaller players on a few occasions.
Grade: C
Pete Nance
23 minutes, 5 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2/4 FG, 0/1 3P, +23
Pete did most of his best work in the second half as a connector, making a few great passes in tight quarters to cutting teammates.
Grade: C+
Taurean Prince
23 minutes, 19 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 7/8 FG, 5/5 3P, +20
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Rain, hail, or shine, TP remains one heck of a shooter. I mean, some of these three-point attempts were not easy, and he just nails them. Given his skill set, I think this might have been his best game of the year.
Grade: A+
Ryan Rollins
32 minutes, 24 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 10/16 FG, 4/7 3P, +0
Rollins was clinical, getting to his spots, working in the pick-and-roll, and taking what the defence gave him. He also had some ridiculous ambidextrous finishes around the rim. Can’t say enough about his development this year.
Grade: A-
Myles Turner
21 minutes, 19 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 6/13 FG, 1/4 3P, -3
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Finished around the rim decently (as he should, considering he was the biggest and tallest player out there by some margin). Also got four O-boards because of that height, along with four stocks. Great production on those fronts. Still, got exposed a few times moving his feet on the perimeter against fringe NBA players.
Grade: B-
Ousmane Dieng
31 minutes, 17 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 turnovers, 6/15 FG, 1/4 3P, +8
Not the best game from Ous, who failed to make much of an impact. He certainly had moments of brilliance—such as his full-court outlet pass to Cormac Ryan—but failed to put it together from a scoring standpoint. You want to see him succeed with the ball in his hands to be a long-term player for this team.
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Grade: C+
AJ Green
26 minutes, 6 points, 1 assist, 4 turnovers, 2/7 FG, 2/7 3P, +0
A nothing game from AJ. You wish he’d be more impactful against a team of G-Leaguers.
Grade: D
Jericho Sims
26 minutes, 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 6/7 FG, +19
Sims mostly did his job by playing off others, but he showed signs of savviness we hadn’t seen earlier this season. For example, he had a play where he faked the DHO and kept it, leading to the massive slam. Great to see that development.
Grade: B
Cormac Ryan
29 minutes, 21 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 steals, 7/8 FG, 3/4 3P, +19
Another great game from Cormac, who just keeps showing out. He made threes from both a standing start and on the move, but also did great work inside the arc; he spun for a dipsy-doo fadeaway, and also cut backdoor for the reverse layup. Also showed his stuff as an instinctual defender, racking up five steals.
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Grade: A+
Doc Rivers
Thought Doc did a solid job coaching. I’ll echo Finn’s sentiment about Rivers getting the team to “play the right way,” which has been evident over the past two weeks, and honestly, really refreshing. No agendas, just a bunch of dudes playing for each other. Now, the opponent was tanking to a significant degree, but all Doc could do was put guys in position to succeed and get them to play in the way that best helped the team, and I thought he did. The Bucks won a game they should have won, and Doc played a key role.
Grade: B+
Garbage Time: Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Alex Antetokounmpo
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Inactive: Kevin Porter Jr., Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, Gary Trent Jr.
Bonus Bucks Bits
Doc said that although the team is out of playoff contention, these games are meaningful for a lot of guys.
On Cormac: “Great cutter, great IQ, better with the ball than we thought… and his hands have been everywhere. Very impressed with him.”
Rivers highlighted how Ryan Rollins is doing his work “in the game flow” and not forcing anything.
Ousmane Dieng, Rayan Rupert, and Adama Bal all grew up together in France and shared an NBA court in this one. Pretty cool moment.
Up Next
The Bucks are back in action on Tuesday night against yet another tanktastic team, the Brooklyn Nets. Catch the game at 6:30 p.m. CDT on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.