Pretty even to start, Bucks down 15-13 about halfway through the first.
Bucks drop coverage is getting abused so far.
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Portis now 5 for his last 30 from three. Need to get him going.
If anyone ever tries to argue that Doncic should be an MVP candidate, they just need to play the tape of the last 3 minutes of this game when Holiday has just absolutely dominated Doncic when Luka was trying to guard him. He's making Doncic look like Bryn Forbes on defense.
Bucks 8 of 14 from 3 point range, in the 1st Quarter.
Portis and Connaughton get hot from three. Bucks go 8 for 16 from deep in the first quarter. Bucks up 33-25 despite only 4 total points from Middleton and Giannis (Middleton only took 1 shot).
Bucks with a horrible offensive 2nd quarter.
Down 5 after a 10-0 Mavs run.
Officiating has been, let's just say, questionable.
Bucks have ONE FT in the first 22 minutes. Holiday was as upset as you'll ever see him after being hacked on some post-ups.
Giannis without a FT. That's just ridiculous.
Giannis wins a tip but sends it right to Doncic for a breakaway dunk
Bucks now down 7.
A loss here wouldn't be crushing, but in retrospect if you play a few guys on Friday night and actually try to win that one it would have been better for seeding.
About to lose contact. Down 9.
Giannis and Middleton are completely passive.
Dallas making scoring look easy, compared to the Bucks making it look really hard. Another rough 3rd Quarter, for the Bucks???
The Bucks defensive strategy is getting eaten alive by the Cavs.
Bucks go on a 14-0 run to go up 5 even with Giannis bricking 2 FTs.
Giannis with a good quarter but clanking two FTs and then jacking up a long three early in the shot clock ends up with the Bucks going from up 5 to down 1.
Bucks go on a long run, and then fall apart. From up 5 to down 4 fast.
Middleton with a bad turnover. He's been invisible so far. 5 points.
Mavs strategy is just to switch Doncic onto Portis. Portis is helpless.
The story of the game is that the Bucks went 8 for 14 from three in the first quarter and have been 4 for 17 since.
Middleton has been G-league level today. 3 for 11 on many open shots.
If they lose, the Bucks will fall to the 3rd seen and be only half a game out of 4th.
Bucks down 7.
Doncic is killing Giannis.
I don't think he was going to win the MVP anyway, but Giannis might have dropped out of contention today with this game on national TV. He's played passively and the Bucks are now down 8 with a very disappointing performance so far.
It's mostly been Middleton with the clunker today, but Giannis has been a step slow on defense and been pretty pedestrian on offense (for him).
All the good that came from winning against the Sixers and Nets on the road was just pissed away by not even trying to win Friday and the terrible performance today.
If you rest guys on Friday, this type of performance is just unacceptable.
Bucks with no 2 point FGs in the last 10 minutes.
Giannis clanking FTs.
Middleton horrifically bad.
Middleton has been terrible in this game.
That all being said, I hate the way the league schedules games in the second half. Yes, a noon Sunday game is great for ratings, but not when you consider it’s basically 4 games in about 5 1/2 days and two of them were road games that required travel. That’s bullshit. Yes, I know they rested guys on Friday night but cmon now.
To me, you just can’t leave guys open on the wing or Luka will find them and set them up perfectly like he’s done all day. I’d rather let Luka get 50 points from the FT line than leave shooters wide open like the Bucks did today.
Jason Kidd gets a little measure of revenge today. It looks like maybe he’s learned a few things in the years after he was Bucks’ coach. Even with a couple key guys missing, they schooled the Bucks’ defense today.
@MichiganPacker posted:Just horrific execution in the 4th.
Reporter: How do you feel about your team's execution?
John McKay: I'm in favor of it.