The Milwaukee Bucks no longer have the longest winning streak in the NBA. On Wednesday, Milwaukee had a seven-game winning streak and lost 119-104 to the Atlanta Hawks, the modern owner of the league’s best winning streak (tied with Dallas). The Bucks came out mighty, leading by as many as ten points in the first quarter, and then the Hawks took the lead and did not relinquish it until the end of the game.
The Milwaukee Bucks lost all four quarters, earning their lowest total since a mid-November win over the Houston Rockets. Milwaukee got a nice night from its superstar, Giannis Antetokounmpo, according to one data-driven basketball website that uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to evaluate the quality of a player’s shot.
ShotQuality is punishing the Milwaukee Bucks for their offensive woes
According to ShotQuality:
We exploit computer vision and artificial intelligence to provide player location data that forms the basis of the most predictable shot models in basketball.
On Wednesday, Milwaukee scored just 104 points compared to ShotQuality’s expected 118 points. After better-than-expected performances by both teams in Tuesday’s win over the Detroit Pistons, AJ Green and Giannis Antetokounmpo scored well below expectations on Wednesday. Despite giving up 31 points, SQ expected Antetokounmpo to score 37 points based on more than 90 variables used to examine a player’s shot quality. Meanwhile, Green should have scored well in double figures based on the shots he took, which is a far cry from his six points on 2-of-11 shooting. As for Antetokounmpo, he shot just 58% of his free throws and 57% of his field goals, well below his 61% mark on the season.
Unfortunately for the Milwaukee Bucks, it wasn’t bad luck that led to their home loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Despite scoring 119 points, SQ expected Atlanta to score over 130 points offensively. Superstar guard Trae Young scored 17 points out of SQ’s expected 25 points.
The Bucks are regrouping for Friday’s game against Boston
The Milwaukee Bucks will have a day off before embarking on a two-city tour. The Boston Celtics will visit on Friday, and Khris Middleton will make his long-awaited season debut. Middleton missed the first 21 games of the season while recovering from off-season ankle arthroscopy.
Middleton played in 55 games last season, scoring 15.1 points per game while shooting 49% from the field. The 32-year-old is two years removed from his third All-Star season, in which he scored 20.1 points per game.
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