Look out NBA, Bucks' Giannis is finding his range from 3
Welcome to the 2019-20 edition of the Bucks Weekly Spotlight. Each Thursday we'll track the progress of the players who are trying to help Milwaukee make a championship run, give updates on other players from the previous week and sometimes take a look at who is lighting it up for the Wisconsin Herd.
This is the 4th edition of the 2019-20 Bucks Weekly Spotlight
SPOTLIGHT ON …
Forward Giannis Antetokounmpo
Look out NBA, Antetokounmpo is finding his range on 3-pointers.
Giannis is taking a lot more 3s this season. A. Lot. More. He’s averaging 5.0 3-point attempts per game – his career high of 2.8/game came last season. He’s also making 1.6 per game, more than double his career best of 0.7 in 2018-19, thanks to hitting 31.8% of those shots.
In four games this past week, Antetokounmpo made 10 of 25 3s (40.0%) including going 3-for-4 agains the New York Knicks on Monday and 4-for-8 at Detroit on Wednesday.
Antetokounmpo has made a 3-pointer in 15 straight games, connecting on 35.6% of those attempts during that span while averaging 2.1 makes per contest.
No surprise that he’s also averaging 32.5 points per game in those 15 games despite being on the floor for only an average of 31.7 minutes.
While he’s no Steph Curry (yet), here’s some of the players who have a worse 3-point percentage this season than Giannis (all of whom have 50+ attempts): Marco Belinelli (30.5%), Spencer Dinwiddle (31.5%), Wayne Ellington (30.9%), Kawhi Leonard (31.3%), Lauri Makkanen (31.0%), Malik Monk (27.0%), Terrence Ross (30.4%) and Russell Westbrook (22.9%).
Be afraid, rest of NBA. Be very afraid.
https://twitter.com/statcenter/status/1202532611656179713
BUCKSHOTS
-- Khris Middleton continues to be eased back into the lineup but he did play 25 1/2 minutes in Wednesday’s win over the Pistons, his highest amount since returning from injury. In four games last week, he averaged 20.6 minutes, 15.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.0 steals while shooting 54.3% from the field and making all six of his free-throw attempts.
-- With Milwaukee having back-to-back blowouts of 40+ points, D.J. Wilson saw nearly 24 minutes of action against both Charlotte and the Knicks. He had 11 points and three boards vs. the Hornets and 19 and five against New York, making 8 of 9 shots in the latter. Against Detroit, a 24-point Bucks win, Wilson played nearly 16 minutes and had six points and five rebounds.
-- In the Bucks’ first three games of the week, George Hill made the most of his limited playing time. Averaging just 18.0 minutes per game, he nevertheless put up 14.0 points and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 65.2% from the field in those three contests. Alas, against the Pistons, he had just three points in 15 minutes, although he did contribute four rebounds and three assists.
-- It was a good week to spread the minutes around, especially in the last three games. Only Antetokounmpo averaged more than 25 minutes per game over the four games – and he was at 25.4. The blowouts allowed players such as forwards Thanasis Antetokounmpo (12 minutes, 10 points, three assists in one game) and Dragan Bender (13.5 minutes, 7.5 points, 75.0% shooting over two games) as well as two-way guard Frank Mason (5.1 minutes , 2.0 points over two games) to see some action.
-- Mason also played on Tuesday with the Wisconsin Herd and had 23 points, six rebounds and five assists.
