It was a big night for young Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo in the season opener, but Jason Kidd and his crew came away with some lessons learned in a 107-96 defeat to the Charlotte Hornets.
The reformed Bucks roster impressed at times, but fell into a hole early in the game. However, they eventually chipped their way back into the contest behind a tremendous night by Antetokounmpo, who posted 31 points and nine rebounds.
Milwaukee battled back to within eight but wasn’t able to complete the comeback, as the Hornets hit timely threes throughout to keep J-Kidd’s crew at arm’s length.
“We had shots that we didn’t make, we took some bad shots on top of that. Offensive rebounding and the threes are something we’ve got to get better at. Anytime we made a run, they made a three. That’s something where we’ll look at the video and we’ll get better,” Jason said. “I give the guys there at the end credit, they fought to the end. We had some opportunities to get that thing under to seven. We missed a couple but that’s basketball. We’ll go back and look at the video and see what we can get better at. It’s a lot of good stuff, but there’s a lot of work to be done.”
GIANNIS’ GREAT START
The Greek Freak was undoubtedly the player of the game for Milwaukee. The fourth-year guard neared a double-double with a game-high 31 points. He filled the stat sheet with five assists, a steal and a block as Milwaukee’s primary ball handler.
Antetokounmpo was incredibly efficient as well, shooting 13-of-21 from the floor to guide Milwaukee. Jason has high hopes for his star point man as the season goes along, and he hopes the rest of the Bucks will follow his lead.
“Giannis was great tonight. We need that for the whole season,” Jason said. “He was off the charts. He’s got to get his teammates to join him.”
BROGDON SHOWS PROMISE
Rookie Malcolm Brogdon was also impressive, in his NBA debut, turning in 21 minutes off the bench. He made the most of his time, contributing eight points, five rebounds and five assists.
“Malcolm was great tonight,” Coach Kidd said. “Being on the floor with (Matthew Dellavedova) and also running the show. That’s a positive for us.”
BATTLE OF THE DEEP BALL
The big difference maker in this game was three-point shooting. Long-range shooting was a point of emphasis for Jason’s squad going into the season, and they shot just 3-of-16 from three-point range.
On the other end of the floor, Milwaukee defended the three well at-large. Charlotte finished shooting just 30 percent from beyond the arc, which was a good sight to see for Kidd. Unfortunately, a few clutch threes by the Hornets left a sour taste on what was an otherwise solid night defending the perimeter.
“The timely threes hurt. For us, they shot 30 percent from the three-point line,” Jason said. “We’ll take that. But when you’re behind, your margin of error, it’s very slim.”
NEXT UP
Jason and the Bucks now look forward to their second game of the season, back at home on Saturday night against the Brooklyn Nets.
“There is some positive stuff that we can build on—only eight turnovers,” Jason said. “We have to be patient. We took some bad shots tonight at the group. Look at the 50-50 balls – they got them all. We’ve got to win that battle to have any chance to win.”
The Bucks will take two days off before the Saturday night meeting to sharpen a few aspects of their game. Milwaukee will host Jason’s former team at 7 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on FS-Wisconsin.
