Jrue and Lauren Holiday use their successes to help others
Jrue and Lauren Holiday's JLH Fund is making a difference for entrepreneurs in Black communities. Abby Wambach, grant recipients, share their experiences
The Milwaukee Bucks bounced back from the January doldrums in a big way on Thursday night with a 135-102 victory over the Boston Celtics at Fiserv Forum.
The Bucks entered the game losing four of five, but improved to 26-12 overall with an overall team performance in a game that was over by halftime. Boston fell to 29-9 after its third game in four days. “I’m just happy with the win, man,” Bobby Portis said. “We had a lot of trouble starting the year. We had nothing good going for us.
“It was nice to see our defense coming into action, the offense running, the ball bouncing and everyone having fun again. That's the biggest thing. You play this game and of course you want to be committed to the game plan, but that's what you do. “I also want to have fun and we had that tonight.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 24 points, had 12 rebounds and six rebounds in 26 minutes. Damian Lillard (21 points), Malik Beasley (16) and Brook Lopez (15) were the starters in double figures, while Khris Middleton had seven assists in 20 minutes. Portis had a team-high 28 points off the bench for the Bucks.
Boston's Jaylen Brown scored 10 points in 18 minutes of the first half. Green Bay native Sam Hauser had 15 points off the bench for Boston.
The Bucks focus and knock out the Celtics
Milwaukee has struggled with consistency at times this season despite boasting one of the best records in the league. And the worst of these inconsistencies – in a few areas – led to difficult periods right at the start of the season (5-4 record) and in the last eight games (3-5).
There were common themes in these sections:
- The start is slow and the team has to admit that they are not coming out of the games in a good mental state.
- Defensive rebounding holes allow opponents to score on second and third attempts.
- Be relaxed with the ball and give your opponent points if you lose the ball.
- Defensive mistakes in the game plan and not doing a certain thing.
- Leaving the ball hanging offensively and relying too much on individual scoring.
“I think at the beginning of the season we just had to try to find our footing,” Lillard said. “Everything was just so new.” I think now it's more of a product of the season. Sometimes there are just difficult periods where you just don't do things well, and I think some things that we haven't done well all season just looked worse in this period of the game. I do think it’s part of the season.”
But when the Bucks avoid these things, the result is a win in most cases. Sometimes it's record breaking. At least it can look very good over long distances.
BOX score: Bucks 135, Celtics 102
That was the case in the first half against Boston, when the Bucks effectively won the game by taking a 37-point lead into halftime, 75-38.
- The Bucks attacked early in the first quarter and didn't allow the Celtics to find a rhythm on either side, taking an 11-2 lead and not giving up when Boston cut it to three soon after.““The game became more and more urgent,” Antetokounmpo said. “I lost four of five games and lost 30 in the first half against Utah. “We saw the film and had to get better. We had to play better. (Wednesday) We had a great practice and talked about things we could do better. Boys were more urgent today. From the start of the game, Dame was very, very assertive. I tried to go downhill. Defensively we helped each other, we were in the passing lanes and deflected the ball. Obviously we knew they were playing an overtime game against Minnesota (Wednesday night), so we knew we had to come out energized, and we did.
- Boston only grabbed three offensive rebounds in the first half. Milwaukee highlighted this clearly by putting multiple players in position to find their man to box out and the ball.““When you play a team like Boston, you have to be extremely focused, just have a lot of different nuances when you never have the ball,” Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin said. “It could be 12 different types of coverages or different actions that you have to guard.” In one possession and one little mental slip-up can cost you. You have to have great concentration and great mental strength when you play against these guys because they are so elite.
- Boston ranked first in the league in three-point attempts (42.9 per game), goals made (16.2) and ninth in shooting (37.7%). They have three starters who have a hit rate of 40% or better, and two others have a hit rate above 37%. The Celtics were just 1 of 16 from behind the arc in the first half – including 0 of 8 in the second quarter. Of Boston's 16 shots, seven were dunks and three were layups. more into the color. Don't just give them an easy two-pointer or an easy layup, still make it difficult, but when you're playing against a team that wants to shoot 45, 50 threes, I think we did a good job.
- Even against a shifting and protracted Boston defense that tries to force one-on-one plays, the Bucks got the ball moving when a quick, clean attack wasn't possible. Milwaukee had assists on 17 of its 28 baskets in the first half. “It was amazing, the ball was moving. After I made that one three-pointer, I clapped because it was great ball movement,” Malik Beasley said. “We worked on something (Wednesday) where our top three guys would isolate and stagnate, slip out, and that helped a lot. I think we got a new identity and a new character for ourselves.”
- Milwaukee only turned the game over four times, and none gave Boston any points.
“The teams that don't give up and become mentally weak because things aren't going well, you get criticized and things don't look good, those teams fall away,” Lillard said. “I think the teams that just keep fighting accept the criticism that is there because sometimes it is right. And you also understand that you have to be better at certain things and if everyone is on the same page and committed to it, just keep going.” Fight that fight. In the long run, no one wants to hear it right now, but in the long run, in the end, everyone will come back and say, you know, we stuck with it and when we have a finished product toward the end of the season, we'll get to where we want to be. “It's nobody's business but ours. “We're the ones who are in it and I think a game like tonight shows that we keep fighting and keep improving. Now we just have to hold on and have performances like this more often than not.”
More: Giannis Antetokounmpo says the Bucks showed “no pride” in defense in their team’s loss to the Rockets
Bobby Portis and Andre Jackson Jr. play on the Bucks' bench
The entire team has been struggling since Christmas, but the bench in particular has been through a difficult phase. From Dec. 25-Jan. 8, when the Bucks were 3-5, the second unit topped 183 points.
Now there were a few extreme outliers that skewed this number:
Brooklyn was fined $100,000 by the NBA for violating the league's player involvement guidelines after benching four starters and resting others after the first quarter. Six substitutes played more than 20 minutes and scored 79 points on December 27th.
Indiana starting guard Andrew Nembhard was injured in the first quarter and played only 8 minutes, while starting forward Jalen Smith played only 12. Thus, two bench players (Ben Mathurin and Obi Toppin) effectively played starting minutes on the Pacers bench and scored 70 points Jan. 1.
And each Bucks bench player typically has multiple starters, so their scoring opportunities are limited even further.
Pat Connaughton is shooting 44% from behind the three-point line, but he's only shooting 3.4 of them per game per 21.5 minutes. Cameron Payne and MarJon Beauchamp are each shooting 36.8% on 2.7 attempts per game.
However, Andre Jackson Jr. only took 15 shots (and five of them) in about 80 minutes of action.
But if you acknowledge that – and if you wanted to exclude the games in Brooklyn and Indiana, then the second unit still outscored 104 points in the other five games. For a team that hasn't been able to score consistently on defense, it's almost necessary to score more consistently on offense.
“I mean (expletive), we don’t make shots — this is basketball,” Portis said after practice Wednesday.
“That’s how the game goes. Some days you do them, some days you don't. We had a tough seven days at the start of the year, but who can say how many days in the next seven to ten won't go so well? This is basketball. Put in the work, put in the time, make no excuses and you live with the results of failures or mistakes, but you still come to the gym and put in the work. We're not making fun of that. We just don't have a chance. But we'll do them here soon, especially me.
“I know I don't say fight because I don't call it fighting, I just call it failure. I take the same shots every day as I did in training, but I just didn’t take them.”
Did he ever do it against the Celtics?
Portis, who has been on a 36% shooting slump since Christmas — including 14.3% from behind the three-point line — was ecstatic. He made four of his first six shots in the first quarter – including his two three-pointers – for 10 points. He scored all 16 of the Bucks' bench points in the crucial first half as Milwaukee took a 37-point lead.
Jackson Jr. only took one shot, but the rookie made a big impact early in the crucial second quarter. He had three rebounds and three assists, including two highlight-reel offensive boards that turned into points for his teammates and kept the pressure on Boston's defense.
Portis finished the season with his first double-double (28 points, 12 rebounds) since December 23 and his sixth of the season. He was the driving force in a 25-0 run that spanned parts of the first and second quarters.
“I just feel it,” Portis said of the stretch in which he scored 13 points. “Going to the gym for the last few days. It was great to have a few days off, get some rest, but just go to the gym in the evenings and get back to basics. That's all we needed. Me and my two OGs (coaches Marcus McCarroll and Vincent Mays) we do what we always do: go to the gym and trust our work and go out and shoot the same thing. We always shoot shots. And today they just walked in. I'm happy to see the ball go through the net a little bit.
Did you notice?
Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla ended his starting lineup after halftime as Kristaps Porziņģis (21 minutes), Jrue Holiday (19), Jaylen Brown (18), Derrick White (17) and Jayson Tatum (16) were eliminated for the day.
Brown scored 10 points on 5 of 14 shooting, while Holiday went 2 of 9 for six points in his return to Milwaukee. Tatum was 2 of 6 and scored seven points.
Mazzulla used five substitutes at the start of the second half and went down to the last few players in the squad towards the end of the third half.
Playing its third game in four days, Boston earned an overtime victory over Minnesota at TD Garden on Wednesday night. The Celtics are 3-3 in their last six games.
More: Bucks' Jae Crowder ready to start five-on-five practice: 'I'll be a lot better off than before'
Five Pay
5-2 Boston's record for the second night in a row. Their only loss was a three-point loss on the road on November 20 in Charlotte.
17-4 The Bucks' record in home games is the second-most in the Eastern Conference behind Boston (18-0). The Bucks are 17-3 at Fiserv Forum. Milwaukee's in-season tournament loss on December 7 in Las Vegas counts as a home game. Boston has the best home record in the league at 18-0.
19-2 Bucks record when they shoot 50% or more.
25-0 The Bucks' run began at the 1:55 mark of the first quarter and continued until a basket by Brook Lopez at the 8:04 mark of the second quarter. It extended the Bucks' 8-point lead to 33 and brought the game to a halt.
50% Three-point shot (4:8) for Bucks guard Malik Beasley against the Celtics, who came into the game leading the league with 47.7% of his shots from distance. He was 2-3 in Milwaukee's November 22 loss in Boston.
Jrue Holiday plays his first game in Milwaukee since the trade
While the Bucks players and their former teammate caught up on and off the court for the first time since the Sept. 27 trade that brought Lillard to Milwaukee on Nov. 22, this will be Holiday's first game in Milwaukee.
More: “I think Milwaukee is a very special place”: Jrue and Lauren Holiday have had a profound impact on the city they had to leave behind
He took out a full-page ad in the Journal Sentinel thanking fans, and the organization recognized his impact on and off the field during his three years with a video tribute. Holiday received a standing ovation when he was reintroduced, and during the timeout Holiday glanced at the video and his teammates watched before and after Joe Mazzulla addressed the team in the huddle. After it was over, Holiday waved to the crowd.
“It was great,” Holiday said. “I had a great time staying here and really enjoyed it. I had some great memories and they shared some of those memories on the jumbotron, so it was kind of cool to see that. The fans here have always been great. She “I've always supported myself, my family and the team here, so it was definitely fun to play here.”
Giannis and LeBron lead NBA All-Star voting
The second fan vote for the NBA All-Star Game is just around the corner and Giannis Antetokounmpo is the No. 1 voter with 3.4 million votes. He, of course, leads all players in the Eastern Conference. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is No. 2 among voters with 3.09 million.
Damian Lillard is the No. 3 overall guard in the Eastern Conference. Oshkosh native Tyrese Haliburton is No. 1 (2.1 million) and Atlanta guard Trae Young is No. 2 (1.44 million). Lillard is third with 1.41 million.
The NBA will return to the traditional East-West format for the Feb. 18 game in Indianapolis, and the top two guards will start along with the top three frontcourt players.
Adrian Griffin is on track to coach the Eastern Conference All-Star team
The Bucks are currently in second place in the Eastern Conference behind Boston. However, since Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla and his staff coached in the All-Star Game last year, he cannot do so again this season. So if the Bucks hold onto their No. 2 spot through Feb. 4, the Bucks' first-year head coach and his staff will be in Indianapolis.