Let’s call it as it is: things have been pretty rough for Jason Kidd and the Milwaukee Bucks after the first seven days of November.
Milwaukee ended the month of October with a 110-91 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, then followed it up with three straight road defeats to Charlotte (121-126), Detroit (96-105) and Cleveland (119-124).
IS IT THE FOULS?
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished the Nov. 7th game against the Cavaliers with 40 points and nine rebounds, and shot an astonishing 76.2% from the field, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Bucks from a four game losing streak.
Afterward, Coach Kidd was vocal about a blatant discrepancy in terms of fouls issued—not just in the Cleveland contest, but in the three previous games. From the Associated Press:
Milwaukee was called for 31 personals compared to 18 for Cleveland, and the Cavs attempted 38 free throws.
Kidd pointed out that over the past three games, opponents have tried 95 free throws to 40 for Milwaukee.
”I just got fined,” he said. ”That’s one way. The other way is by expressing to the officials and I did that the whole night. The different crews that we’ve had have been awful.”
Coach Kidd hasn’t been happy with the refereeing as of late.
A SILVER LINING
If there was anything positive to take away from the losing streak, Coach Kidd explained, it was the performance of Malcom Brogdon. Again, the AP:
Brogdon has picked up his scoring. He has three straight 20-point games for the first time in his career. ”He worked extremely hard this summer on his game,” Kidd said. ”He knows what’s coming. He knows what to expect.” … C John Henson had two fouls in the first three minutes and was plagued by foul trouble all game. He also picked up a technical.