SI:AM | Bucks Halt Skid But Still Have Serious Issues

They’re a long way from championship contention.

Milwaukee has really fallen behind in the East to start the season. / Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I can’t believe Louisiana’s governor stepped in to find a live tiger mascot for the LSU football team.

In today’s SI:AM:

😡 Controversial TNF finish
🏈 Loaded CFB slate
🏎️ NASCAR’s finale

They need to start getting hot

The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Utah Jazz on Thursday night, 123–100, to snap a six-game losing streak and pick up just their second win of the season.

It’s been a terrible start to the season for the Bucks, who are now 2–6 on the year, with their only wins coming against the 1–7 Jazz and the 1–6 Philadelphia 76ers. Milwaukee’s six-game skid, which began on Oct. 25, was the team’s longest losing streak since 2015, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s second season in the league.

The Bucks’ biggest problem is obvious: Veteran wing player Khris Middleton has yet to play this season after undergoing surgery on both of his ankles in July and remains out indefinitely.

“I feel good, just not good enough to play, that’s all,” Middleton said on Oct. 31. “That’s really all I can say at this point. And just working to get back on the court. I’m feeling better and better each day, just not good enough to play yet.”

With Middleton sidelined, the Bucks are missing a capable scoring threat (third on the team last season with 15.1 points per game) and a solid wing defender who has been critical to their success for the past decade. The real issue, though, is that no one has stepped up to fill the hole in the Milwaukee lineup left by Middleton’s absence. Taurean Prince has taken the spot in the starting lineup that otherwise would belong to Middleton and is averaging 7.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. But when a player goes down with an injury, the next man up is never expected to be a one-for-one replacement. Everyone else has to pitch in and pick up the slack.

That’s not what’s happening with the Bucks. Instead, the offense has become increasingly reliant on Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. Last season, those two players took 36.5% of the Bucks’ shots. Through eight games this year, they’ve taken 42.3% of Milwaukee’s field goal attempts (even with Antetokounmpo missing Monday’s game). Bobby Portis is still a dependable player off the bench, but other key contributors from last year’s team are either underperforming or playing elsewhere. Malik Beasley started 77 games last season and made more three-pointers than any other Bucks player, but he signed with the Detroit Pistons as a free agent. Cameron  Payne and Jae Crowder are also no longer with the team. Brook Lopez has struggled to find his shooting stroke (he has a .384 field-goal percentage this season, compared to .485 last season) and has been a non-factor offensively. The Milwaukee offense has taken a step back as a result. Last year, the Bucks ranked fourth in the NBA with 119.0 points per game. This year, they’re 20th (113.1 per game).

Getting Middleton back will be a big boost, but will his return be enough to get the Bucks back on the path to playoff contention? Lopez’s struggles are a concern, as is the Bucks’ ability to integrate a new supporting cast after the departures of Beasley, Payne and Crowder. Gary Trent Jr. was signed to replace Beasley as the new starting shooting guard, but he was benched Thursday in favor of second-year player Andre Jackson Jr. Coach Doc Rivers has also given more playing time recently to sharpshooter AJ Green, who has made the most of the opportunity and has hit 11 threes in his past two games.

The Bucks’ ability to right the ship will depend heavily on Rivers, who took over late last season after Milwaukee made the surprising decision to fire first-year coach Adrian Griffin despite a 30–13 start. The Bucks went 17–19 after Rivers took over and then bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. The decision to hire him already looked foolish—and it’ll seem even worse if Milwaukee can’t dig out of this early hole.

A Ravens-Bengals thriller was marred by officiating controversy Thursday. / Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

The best of Sports Illustrated

• The Ravens won a thriller against the Bengals on Thursday Night Football, but Matt Verderame thinks it showed why Baltimore has fatal flaws that could prove troublesome in the playoffs.

• Like so many others, the game was marred by brutal officiating. The league’s referee issues are so pervasive that Conor Orr thinks the league simply isn’t interested in fixing them.

• Albert Breer polled NFL executives and asked them to make their midseason awards picks.

• Saturday’s BYU-Utah football game was always expected to have College Football Playoff implications, but as Bryan Fischer explains, the roles have been reversed for the Cougars and Utes.

• Zach Koons ranked this week’s 10 biggest college football games.

• Pat Forde has some good reporting on potential collaboration between the Big Ten and SEC.

• Ja’Marr Chase’s big night against the Ravens was one of the 10 biggest fantasy performances by a receiver in NFL history.

• The NASCAR season ends on Sunday and Mark Beech has a preview of everything you need to know about the championship-deciding race in Phoenix.

The top five…

… things I saw last night:

5. No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini’s second NHL goal. (The assist from Mikael Granlund was the best part of the play.)
4. Jerami Grant’s futile attempt to block a Victor Wembanyama three.
3. Alex Newhook’s coast-to-coast goal.
2. Joe Burrow’s throw over two defenders for Ja’Marr Chase’s third touchdown of the night. The play came with 38 seconds left in the fourth quarter and the Bengals could have kicked the PAT to tie it. Instead, they went for two and failed to convert after a pair of controversial missed penalties on the Ravens.
1. Lamar Jackson’s tightrope scramble to the 1-yard line.