The Grizzlies were certainly diminished (Desmond Bane and Dillon Brooks absent), but facing Ja Morant and his band has never been easy for a few weeks. Lonely, the leader of Memphis made a thick copy with 33 points, 14 assists and 8 rebounds, having still needed 27 attempts for that.
The Bucks defense did what was necessary, especially in the last quarter (4 points), to limit it as much as possible in this precious victory, after two losses in a row.
“As there were missing players on their side, he had to do more”, explains Mike Budenholzer. “From George Hill to Jrue Holiday and the greats, everyone was focused on him, pushing him to work on every action. There are positive things to remember, from our effort on him, in this meeting. “
“Jrue on one leg, that’s a bonus”
The coach of the reigning champions underlined it: Jrue Holiday was back. Injured in the ankle for two weeks and replacing, he played 22 minutes against Memphis, each time playing the end of the quarter.
“We limited his playing time and we wanted him to be available for the end of the match, that was the most important thing for us”, says Mike Budenholzer. “I would have liked to play more”, smiled the leader. “I try to find my timing, my legs, my sensations. I felt like I hadn’t played for a long time. “
His line of statistics reflects this lack of rhythm well because he finished with 9 points at 2/8 to shoot, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 lost balls. But as Khris Middleton had already said before the meeting, regardless of the minutes and his physique, a Jrue Holiday on the floor, it changes a lot of things for the Bucks.
“Jrue on one leg, that’s a bonus”, explains Giannis Antetokounmpo. “If he plays two minutes in a match, it’s always a bonus. To have it at the end of the match, to conclude the quarters, to make the decision, to go into the ‘dunker’ position, to screen, to make differences when I am on the bench, or when Khris is not there, that helps, that’s for sure. It helps us not only Khris, George Hill and me, but also in defense. He deals with the best opposing players and takes rebounds. It’s great to have him back with us. “
The numbers show it well since with the former Pelicans, the Bucks have a record of 24 wins for 10 losses this season. Without him, it’s much worse, with only 4 successes for 9 losses.
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | 37 | 32.6 | 53.5 | 28.2 | 71.3 | 1.8 | 9.4 | 11.2 | 6.1 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 28.5 |
| Khris Middleton | 34 | 31.7 | 43.3 | 39.0 | 89.3 | 0.6 | 4.9 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 3.3 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 19.6 |
| Jrue Holiday | 33 | 33.1 | 49.9 | 38.2 | 70.9 | 0.9 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 6.7 | 2.8 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 18.4 |
| Bobby Portis | 37 | 28.5 | 48.2 | 42.8 | 78.4 | 2.8 | 6.5 | 9.3 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 2.8 | 15.3 |
| Grayson Allen | 39 | 28.4 | 42.4 | 39.3 | 85.1 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 12.0 |
| Pat Connaughton | 43 | 27.6 | 47.7 | 40.3 | 80.0 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 4.6 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 10.6 |
| Demarcus Cousins | 17 | 16.9 | 46.6 | 27.1 | 81.6 | 1.4 | 4.4 | 5.8 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 9.1 |
| Jordan Nwora | 36 | 20.3 | 41.3 | 37.4 | 73.7 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 8.5 |
| Brook Lopez | 1 | 28.2 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 8.0 |
| george hill | 36 | 25.6 | 43.3 | 30.7 | 94.7 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 6.9 |
| Wesley Matthews | 18 | 21.0 | 45.4 | 40.0 | 50.0 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 6.6 |
| Donte Divincenzo | 7 | 17.8 | 21.3 | 27.3 | 92.3 | 1.6 | 3.0 | 4.6 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 5.9 |
| Sandro Mamukelashvili | 23 | 11.6 | 42.7 | 37.1 | 75.0 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 3.7 |
| Rodney Hood | 34 | 15.8 | 35.6 | 32.0 | 92.9 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 3.6 |
| Thanasis Antetokounmpo | 28 | 11.8 | 46.3 | 9.1 | 62.5 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 3.3 |
| Semi Ojeleye | 17 | 17.1 | 22.4 | 23.1 | 81.8 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 3.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 2.8 |
| justin robinson | 17 | 11.6 | 31.6 | 27.0 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.8 |
| Ja’vonte Smart | 13 | 12.3 | 25.6 | 22.2 | 83.3 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 2.4 |
| Lindell Wigginton | 1 | 4.5 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Georgios Kalaitzakis | 9 | 5.3 | 45.5 | 50.0 | 44.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.8 |
| Langston Galloway | 3 | 16.2 | 7.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Javin Delaurier | 1 | 2.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
| Luke Kornet | 1 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
| Jeff Dowtin | 1 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
