Bucks Defense is Broken
Although the Milwaukee Bucks offense has looked atrocious recently, it’s their defense that has me troubled. In a slump like the Bucks are in, where they have lost 9 out of 10 games, it’s always valuable to be able to rely on your defense to carry you on a night when you can’t put the ball in the hoop. The Bucks offense hasn’t scored over 100 points in 5 of their last 8 games but their defense has given up more than 100 points in 15 straight games, including last nights loss to the Utah Jazz.
Whenever I think of the Milwaukee Bucks defense the words over help, chaos, confusion, and turmoil all come to mind. The Bucks defenders all look like they are running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying desperately to guard the ball. The weak side defenders usually have two feet in the paint, ready to help when the on ball defender gets beat off the dribble. Then they are scrambling to recover as offenses have learned to pass the ball around the perimeter until, inevitably, they find a guy wide open for a three or a layup. Earlier in the year the Buck’s opponents were missing some of those three’s but they definitely aren’t missing any more.
As I watched the Bucks play the Jazz last night I found myself thinking that the Bucks should completely trash their defensive scheme and look to model their defense after Utah. Utah leads the league in opponent points per game at 95.3 and their scheme appears to be a solid, easily communicated idea that all players are on board with. I don’t think the Jazz have superior defensive talent, besides Gobert, that would make it hard for the Bucks to replicate their system. I have broken down their defensive scheme (probably not very accurately) and what appears to make them successful.
The first aspect that stands out to me about Utah’s defense is that they very rarely give up offensive rebounds. It appeared that every time the Bucks would take a shot the Jazz always had about four guys in or around the lane, boxing out their men, to secure the defensive rebound. The Bucks were able to get nine offensive rebounds last night but based on the film they were off wild shots or long rebounds.
Read the whole article at https://bucksball.wordpress.com/2017/02/02/bucks-defense-is-broken/
