Milwaukee crushed Detroit for the return of the Giannis/Middleton duo

After their break in Paris last week, the Pistons is back in business, coincidentally in Michigan, to meet bucks completely! In fact, this match marked the return of Giannis Antetokounmpo (29 points, 12 rebounds) and Chris Middleton (8 points, 4 assists), absent in two and five weeks respectively.

The recovery of the All-Star tandem of Milwaukee accidentally went off without a hitch, as Wisconsin’s franchise quietly crumbled Detroit on his floor (150-130), the night when the late Bob Lanier – who went through two teams – was honored.

A meeting in which the defenses remained in the locker room, but dominated head and shoulders of the visitors, who were never led to the score and counted up to 33 points ahead on the scoreboard.

WHAT YOU SHOULD REMEMBER

— Roaring return for Giannis Antetokounmpo. It only took a few possessions to continue his onward march. After eight minutes of the first quarter in which he dominated this meeting, the “Greek Freak” already had 20 points (6/6 on shots, 2/2 on 3-pts and 6/7 throws.. .), without giving. the impression of forcing anything. He was more withdrawn, due to the collective strike force of the Bucks, but this recovery certainly reassured the fans of the 2021 champions. And to think we haven’t seen him play in two weeks…

— Nonexistent suspense. 49-24 after twelve short minutes was enough for the Bucks to take shelter. Unstoppable in the first quarter (75% on shots, 58% on 3-pts, 12 assists and 7 interceptions…), the Wisconsin franchise rolled over these poor Pistons, crushed by the power of this collective that already -sublimated by Giannis Antetokounmpo. Too easy, Mike Budenholzer’s players were therefore never worried and, upon arrival, they caused a real correction in Detroit, without losing their goal: to win, if possible in the way, to mean ready they break everything a second time. half of the season.

— Khris Middleton, “the other” returning. In the shadow of Giannis Antetokounmpo, “Khash Money” is also returning to the competition. Used fifteen minutes, happened to be outside the bank, he took advantage of the opponent’s weakness and this Free to slowly regain trust. Despite wasting the ball in hand (6 turnovers), the All-Star winger scored a few baskets and did the bare minimum on offense, to feed the Bucks’ score without forcing it. All that remains is to hope that this recovery will not be cut short like last month.

TOPS/FLOPS

✅ All of Milwaukee. What else can we say that hasn’t already been said, except that the Bucks tore up the Pistons all night long? In addition to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, discussed previously, any player who played on the Milwaukee side took advantage of the Pistons’ Gruyère defense to improve their stats. Like Brook Lopez (21 points), like Bobby Portis (18 points, 10 rebounds), like recent player of the week Jrue Holiday (16 points, 7 assists) and like Jevon Carter (18 points), to name a few …

✅ Bojan Bogdanovic. The visual impression is, of course, terrible altogether, but it is still impossible not to underline the new good performance of the Croatian. Unstoppable tonight (33 points), finished as the game’s leading scorer, he floated from start to finish, lining up baskets with surprising ease (11/15, including 6/7 on 3-pts, and 5 /5 in throws ). It’s clearly not this type of performance that will lower his NBA rating and make his leaders want to keep him beyond trade deadline…

⛔ Detective Defense. You only have to look at the stats to see that the Pistons were inept offensively (thanks Milwaukee), playing without pressure for a good portion of the night. But defensively, what an ugly sight to watch from Dwane Casey’s men… Last on all possessions, unable to put up any resistance against Giannis Antetokounmpo’s teammates in the paint and regularly getting punished behind the 3-point line or behind them on cuts in the circle, Michigan’s players did the “honor” to their status as the penultimate NBA defense.

THE FOLLOWING

Detroit (12-37) : reception of Brooklyn, in the evening from Thursday to Friday (01:30).

Milwaukee (30-17) : reception of Denver, in the evening of Wednesday to Thursday (02:00).